Martayan Lan Rare Books

    Martayan Lan ranks among the leading dealers in rare books and manuscripts in the world, covering early printed books in all subjects from the fifteenth century to the year 1800. We canvas the globe to find and acquire books that are rare, illustrated, important in the history of their subjects and in fine condition; whenever possible, we endeavor to handle copies of such works which are themselves significant, whether owing to former owners who were historically important, an unusual or beautiful binding, or the presence of interesting annotations. Although we pride ourselves on handling books in any subject that meet one or more of these criteria, fields of particular strength include the history of science, (especially the quantitative sciences of measurement), travel and discovery, and art and architecture. Sub-specialties within these subject fields include the history of astronomy and computing-we are the leading purveyors of first editions of Galileo and Kepler in America; the earliest printed books relating to the discovery and settlement of America as well as the history of European knowledge of Asian civilization; and architectural theory and the art and science of perspective. Our books are generally printed on the European continent, and we accordingly handle relatively little printed in English.

    Notable recent rarities we have handled in these varied fields include first editions of all the major treatises of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo; a Columbus Letter-the first printed announcement of the discovery of America (1493); and a stellar copy of one of the most important treatises on the science of perspective, Pacioli's Divina Proportione (1509).

  With world-wide sources of supply developed over a generation, we deal in books of acknowledged importance and those canonized on such collector's lists as Printing and the Mind of Man or Horblit's 100 Books Famous in Science.