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
A fine and fresh copy of the editio princeps of the Hippocratic corpus, a collection of texts assembled in the third century B.C., including the Hippocratic Oath and many of the foundation texts of western medicine, traditionally attributed to the legendary physician and teacher Hippocrates of Cos. “It is uncertain..... More
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
Rare first Italian edition and first edition in any vulgate language of “the first handbook of modern systematic mineralogy” (Horblit/Grolier, Latin no. 1546). “Agricola’s most important work...after De re metallica itself, was De Natura Fossilium which was the first systematic mineralogy... The De Ortu et Causis Subterraneorum is considered the..... More
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
Rare first edition of the author’s first work, generally regarded as the most important treatise on mechanics since Archimedes and a critical influence on Galileo. The work is notable for its commitment to establishing mechanics on a rigorously mathematical basis, for its powerful argument that mechanics and statics are separate..... More
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
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
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
Scarce first French edition of this classic on the natural history of Latin America. Streeter noted, “[Acosta] provided great detail in his descriptions of sailing directions, mineral wealth, trading commodities, Indian history, etc. Consequently his work operated more strongly than any other in opening the eyes of the rest of..... More
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
Very rare first edition of this handsomely illustrated work on barbers giving detailed instructions on both the medical and aesthetic aspects of the profession. Published at a time when barbers saw their territory increasingly contested by professional surgeons, Malfi’s work stresses the medical knowledge of barbers and their expertise in..... More
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
Rare complete suite and an unusually fine copy of the quintessential 17th-century Italian Cry book, creatively adapting depictions of Bologna trades by Caracci made at the end of the 16th century into a full-fledged book of cries. Caracci's drawings were engraved by Simon Guillain in 1646 under the title of... More
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
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
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
Rare augmented edition of this analytic catalogue of the contents of the botanical garden at Bologna by Gaetano Monti, radically revising the 1724 edition of his father, Giuseppe Monti. The earlier publication employed Tournefort’s classificatory system, organizing plants according to structure of fruit and flower, but the younger Monti here..... More
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
Very rare first and sole edition of the first treatise published by the pioneering French mineralogist Jean-Baptiste Romé de L’Isle (1736-1780), and his sole work on marine biology, concerning the “movement, generation and nature” of the freshwater polyp. In the present work Romé hypothesizes, drawing on observations by the naturalist..... More
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
First edition and fine copy of this work on plant classification which eclipsed all previous taxonomies, and whose general arrangement of families remains current today. Jussieu’s taxonomy was based on the species contained in the Jardin du Roi, supplemented by material provided by some of the great 18th-century Pacific discovery..... More
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
Rare, boldly printed broadside announcing the early exhibition of one of the most famous discoveries in the history of American paleontology, that of the ‘Warren Mastodon,’ excavated in 1845 from a peat bog near Newburgh, New York, and since 1906 on display at the Museum of Natural History. The animal... More
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