Rare, second Italian-language edition (first 1522) of the Herbarius latinus, important for the dissemination of botanical/medical knowledge in popular culture and particularly for the adoption of this originally German-printed Latin work for readers in the Veneto. The second section, with 96 chapters, includes information on laxatives, aromatics, fruits, seeds, gums..... More

Scarce first edition of "the first book on exercise and health, and an important source for the study of gymnastics among the ancients"; "one of the earliest books to discuss the therapeutic value of gymnastics and sports generally for the cure of disease and disability, and an important study of..... More

First edition, and an important annotated copy, of the foundational text of scientific botany and the first articulation of the modern concept of species. Andrea Cesalpino’s (1519-1603) comparative plant taxonomy – “the first rational system of plant classification” (PMM) – far surpassed any rival system of his day. De plantis..... More

Rare first edition of this commentary on Cesalpino's Peripeteticarum Quaestionum (1571) by Nicolai Taurelius, Professor of Medicine and Philosophy in Altdorf, of interest for the contemporary reception of Cesalpino as well as the spread of his doctrines outside of Italy. The work takes the form of a classical commentary, with..... More

Very rare first and only edition of an early important collection of 201 medical case-studies, or observationes, by the physician and botanist Paul de Reneaulme (1560-1624), a native of Blois, who is best remembered for his finely illustrated work on plants, the Specimen historiae plantarum (1611). The present work, notable..... More

Scarce, French-language edition of Du Laurens'works, with a set of 26 anatomical engravings derived from Vesalius and others. "This is the second edition of the French translation of Du Laurens' collected works... which preceeded the publication of the Latin text. In addition to the author's textbook of anatomy and his..... More

First edition (? see below) of Becher’s popular alchemical handbook, which “rapidly became a standard text on elements, principles, and chemical processes” (DSB II.550) containing an engraved representation of the Prague Medal as well as a title engraving of the chemist with allegorical figures. “Becher’s views on chemistry have much..... More

Very rare first and sole edition of this professional guide to assaying gold, silver and assorted precious metals by a practicing Madrid assayer, of interest for the international as well as mercantile history of Spain in the last years of her imperial period. The work treats the physical properties..... More

Rare, second edition and a mint copy of this popular Italian illustrated obstetrics guide. Containing plates of anatomical diagrams, illustrations of tools including several types of forceps, and somewhat atypically in our experience, a depiction of a lying-in bed without the mother to make viewing of a 'system' of blankets..... More

An attractive early 19th-century manuscript of anatomical drawings of the human (male) body, many with muscles keyed and labeled in a minute German script. The notebook is attributed by a German pencil annotation inside its upper cover to the Austrian painter Adam Brenner (1800-1891), who studied principally with Leopold Kupelwieser..... More