First edition and an outstanding copy of the first illustrated encyclopedia published at the dawn of the discovery period. As a comprehensive contemporary picture of geographical and historical knowledge, the 'Nuremberg Chronicle' as it is called, offers nothing less than a history of the world, and, in its own fashion... More about Liber cronicarum cum figuris et ymaginibus

Rare 1540 (first quarto) Tudor translation of an important early medical work on the curative properties of the American wood known as ‘guaiacum,’ a text first published in Latin in 1519 as De Guaiaci Medicina et Morbo Gallico by the German scholar, poet and reformation thinker Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523)... More about Of the Wood Called Guaiacum that healeth the frenche pockes, and also helpeth the goute in the...

Very rare first edition (1565) – virtually unacquirable for the past half century or more – of the first printed work devoted to the botanical and medicinal discoveries made in the Americas, a treatise which, through its later expansions and numerous translations, would remain “for many years the most important... More about Dos libros. El uno trata de todas las cosas q(ue) trae(n) de n(uest)ras Indias Occide(n)tales,...

Rare first edition of the naturalist Charles de l’Ecluse’s (Carolus Clusius; 1526-1609) botany of Sir Francis Drake’s 1577-80 circumnavigation (the first by an Englishman), the first printed book in botanical literature to be substantially based on a specific trans-Atlantic voyage of any kind, and indeed the first substantial record of..... More about Aliquot notae in Garciae aromatum historiam

First edition of this potted version of Venetian history as seen through the portraits and other paintings hanging in or decorating some of the public rooms of the Palazzo Ducale after the fire of 1577, of art historical interest for the disposition of numerous famous Venetian paintings during the 16th... More about Dichiaratione di tutte le Istorie, che si sontengenono nei Quadri posti novamente nelle Sale...

Scarce edition of three alchemical texts—comprising the first illustrated appearance of the ‘Twelve Keys’ of Basil Valentine, and the first printed editions of Thomas Norton’ The Ordinall of Alchemy, and John Cremer’s ‘Testament’—collected by the pre-eminent Rosicrucian apologist Maier. The first work shows the intimate dependency of 17th C alchemy..... More about Tripus Aureus, hoc est, Tres Tractatus Chymici Selectissimi, nempe I. Basilii...

Stunning copy of this "important and influential history of the Ottoman Empire, based on an important collection of source material, which includes Leonard of Chios letter on the fall of Constantinople, Spandugino's account of Ottoman life and manners, and the accounts of Giovio, Menavino, Barletius and others.- Atabey 1088 The... More about Historia Universale dell'Origine Guerre, et Imperio de Turchi con le vite de tutti gl'imperatori...

Scarce augmented edition of this illustrated technological classic, "second only to Agricola in the number of original contributions to the literature of mining and metallurgy and the beauty of the graphic treatment of the crafts." - Dibner 89 (1574) It is testimony to the work's usefulness as a practical handbook... More about Aula Subterranea Domina Dominantium Subdita Subditorum. Das ist: untererdische Hofhaltung, ohne...

Two important and generously illustrated botanical works produced by respected Linnaean correspondents at the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg. Amman’s Stirpium rariorum contains useful descriptions of 285 plants from Eastern Europe and “Ruthenia” (now Ukraine), enhanced with 35 clear engravings. According to Hunt, Amman “made a notable contribution..... More about Stirpium rariorum in Imperio Rutheno sponte provenientium icones et descriptiones

Rare first and only complete edition of an early work on fossils in the Americas by “one of the founders of paleontology” (Mancini, p. 131), the Franciscan historian and naturalist José Torrubia (1698-1761). La gigantologia Spagnola is a much-expanded version, composed in Italian, of an essay which first appeared in..... More about La gigantologia spagnola

Scarce first edition of this work describing various species of marine life found in the Adriatic, illustrated with four plates of unusually high quality coming from a regional press, of interest for the continuing life of the Kircherian tradition in the study of Natural History in opposition to the taxonomic... More about Epistola Selectas de re naturali obervationes complectens accessere ex historia naturali curiosa

Scarce first printing of this elaborately produced facsimile of a 14th-century manuscript containing Philip the Fair's legislation concerning wagers of battle, the chivalric custom of settling disputes by force of arms rather than by the rule of law. This legislation, along with the ordinances of Louis IX against dueling (which... More about C'monies des gages de bataille selon les constituions du roi Philippe de France, reprnt en onze...

Rare first edition presentation copy of a work on fossilized reptile footprints found in the New Red Sandstone formations of Corncockle Muir, located near Templand in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The naturalist William Jardine (1800-74) here records many specimens he found on the family estate, as well as items collected... More about The Ichnology of Annandale or Illustrations of Footmarks Impressed on the New Red Sandstone of...