Only recorded copy of a very early illustrated edition (3rd) of this anonymous collection of ‘nouvelles,’ a literary genre presenting brief prose narratives taken from bourgeois life. The Parangon des nouvelles honnestes utiles et delectables, following the famous Les cent nouvelles nouvelles (c. 1460), collected vernacular tales purporting to be..... More about Le Parangon des nouvelles honnestes utiles et delectables

A very fine (and quite unusual) example – here in vibrant contemporary hand-color – of the printmaker Matthäus Merian the Elder’s (1593-1650) renowned series of engravings recording the famous ‘Dance of Death’ mural formerly in the courtyard of Basel’s Predigerkloster. Contemporary hand-colored copies of this work are very rare. Merian’s..... More about Todten-Tantz, wie derselbe in der löblichen und weit-berühmten Stadt Basel, als ein Spiegel...

First edition, first issue of this landmark in science by Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), here in a remarkably well preserved, unrestored example.  “The work summarized Newton’s discoveries and theories concerning light and color: the spectrum of the sunlight, the degrees of refraction associated with different colors, the color circle (the..... More about Opticks: or, a Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. Also Two...

Rare first and sole edition of one of the few works published in Europe to record detailed, first-person observations made at Jesuit astronomical observatories in China in the 17th century, and one of the first works to convey information on Chinese observational data and astronomical traditions to a Western audience... More about Observationes Mathematicae, et Physicae in India et in China Factae à Patre Francisco Noël...

Extremely rare first edition of this luxuriously illustrated anthology of extracts from papal sermons delivered between 1703-09, in Latin prose and facing Italian verse: an unusual example of Baroque ecclesiastical culture from the pontificate of Clement XI. On the basis of extreme rarity and contents, the volume numbers among those... More about Sei omelie di nostro Signore papa Clemente Undecimo Esposte in versi da Alessandro Guidi

Rare first edition of an early illustrated mineralogical treatise devoted to the element iron, written by the noted Venetian physician, apothecary and collector Giovanni Girolamo Zannichelli (1662-1729). While Zannichelli’s stated purpose is to introduce readers to his iron-based medicinal distillation, called ‘Iron Snow’ or ‘Snow of Mars’ (nix ferris; nix..... More about De ferro ejusque nivis praeparatione dissertatio physico-chymica in qua varia de ipso metallo...

First edition of a sumptuous festival book commemorating the inauguration of HRE Charles VI in 1717 as Count of Flanders, featuring an allegorical frontispiece and 6 large folding plates, including four engravings of the extravagant fireworks displays that followed the ceremony. Graet’s text provides a meticulous day-by-day account of the... More about Relation de l’inauguration Solomnelle de Sa Sacrée Majesté Imperiale et Catholique, Charles...

Rare first and only edition of one of the first, if not the first Western monograph devoted to a Russian work of art, namely the icon of the 4th-century warrior saint Theodore Straelates housed in the Rieterkirche St. Marien und Christophorus in Kalbensteinberg, Bavaria, an important pilgrimage church located on... More about Slavonisch-Russisches Heiligthum mitten in Teutschland; Das ist: Der grosse Heilige und...

Rare first edition of the polymath Poleni’s letters to his contemporaries on astronomy, mathematics, hydraulics and physiology, which establish the author’s place as one of the foremost Italian scientists of his day. The collection includes letters to J. G. Marinoni (on the recent eclipse of the sun, and experiments in..... More about Epistolarum mathematicarum fasciculus

Very rare first and only edition of this highly unusual 18th-century German work recording a lively conversation among early book printers – held from beyond the grave – in which they debate their respective roles in the invention and perfection of printing with movable type. The interlocutors are Johannes Gutenberg... More about Merckwürdiges Gespräch im Reiche der Todten zwischen den Ersten Erfindern der...

Rare first and sole edition of this encyclopedic illustrated survey applying the latest mathematical methods to theoretical as well as practical sciences (e.g. geography), by the 22 year old cartographer Mayer. The work was published shortly before the author joined the Homann Cartographic Bureau, where he served as one of... More about Mathematische Atlas in welchern auf 60 Tabellen alle Theile der Mathematic vorgestellet; und...

Extremely rare first edition of a 1751 Portuguese report concerning a deadly encounter with a fearsome monster on Brazil’s western frontier, in the Andes Mountains of Chile, near the province’s border with Peru, Paraguay and Tucuman. The pamphlet – illustrated with a striking woodcut of the creature on its front..... More about Monstruo prodigioso, que appareceo no Reino de Chile. Relação de hum monstruo prodigioso, que...

Rare first octavo edition of this unusual illustrated compendium of alchemy and arcana, here in a pristine, unopened and uncut example. The Mirabilia Mundi, apparently the only work by the Piedmontese writer Joannes Jacobus de Maldiny, is a brisk primer of secret knowledge published during alchemy’s ‘last stand’ against the..... More about Mirabilia Mundi, sive de scientiarum artiumque omnium origine et progressu tractatus