Rare Leipzig printing of Agricola's first book devoted to mining, "a pioneer delineation of mining and metallurgy" (DSB), and of particular interest to the study of occupational diseases. In the form of a dialogue between a mining employee (Bermannus) and two doctors, the work treats the properties and relationships of... More about Bermannus, sive de re metallica. Ab accurata autoris recognitione & emendatione nunc primum...

Rare second edition (first 1555) of the first treatise on the art of perfume making, Giovanni Ventura Rossetti’s Notandissimi secreti de l’arte profumatoria, a volume published in Venice and highlighting that city’s central role in the history of the olfactory arts: Venice developed its cosmetological status both through its ready..... More about Notandissimi secreti de l’arte profumatoria, per far ogli, acque, paste, balle, moscardini,...

Early edition, with Latin commentary, of the most influential illustrated technological compendium of the Renaissance, "the first independent work on machinery published" - Zeitlinger. In 1569 King Charles IX appointed Besson master of the King's engines, and gave him exclusive rights to publish his designs; he quickly produced this lavishly... More about Theatrum instrumentorum et Machinarum

First and sole edition of this profusely illustrated landmark on early technology, and along with Agricola’s De Re Metallica (1556), the most influential and copied of all the early illustrated manuals of inventions and machines. Its influence was felt in such later works as Böckler’s Theatrum machinarum (1662), Grollier de..... More about Le Diverse et Artifiose Machine... Nelle quali si contengono varii et industriosi Movimenti,...

First edition of this illustrated Italian translation of the Roman poet Persius (CE 34-62) by Galileo’s correspondent, friend, and fellow member of the Accademia Linceo, containing “the first illustrations prepared with a microscope that were set forth in a printed book” (Singer p. 148), including the anatomical ‘bee’ engraving made..... More about Persio tradotto in verso sciolto e dichiarato da Francesco Stelluti, Accademia Linceo da Fabbriano.

Rare, anonymously authored German-language treatise on the art of surveying, first published in 1616, with copious practical information on measuring any type of terrain. Extensively illustrated with more than 100 woodcut geometrical diagrams and woodcut images of surveying instruments, the work shares much in common with the popular German manuals... More about Ein begründter und verständiger Bericht von dem Feldmessen wie man Aecker, Wisen, Gärten,...

First edition, and a fine copy, of one of the great classics of science. Complete copies, such as ours, have become difficult to find on the market. This book is notable for its importance in the fields of electricity and air pressure and for its account of the discovery of... More about Experimenta Nova (ut vocantur) Magdeburgica de Vacuo Spatio Primùm à R.P. Gaspare Schotto . . ....

Rare first edition – illustrated with a fine folding etched map – of the hydraulic engineer Jean-André Floquet’s project proposal for the ‘Canal de Provence,’ a waterway intended to link Marseille with Aix-en-Provence and the Durance River to the north. The etched map is a reduced-size version of an exceptionally..... More about Canal de Provence, ou Canal d’Aix et de Maresille.

First and only edition of a landmark book on bridge engineering, important not only for its bold solution for a complex site but also for many novel machines used in the course of construction. "Since its appearance the present work has been recognized for its great utility to engineers charged... More about Description d'un nouveau pont de pierre, construit sur la riviere d'Allier a Moulins

First edition of this lavishly illustrated mining classic describing an amalgamation process for removing gold and silver from various ores. As the process did not require the usual smelting of the ore, it saved an enormous quantity of fuel and was widely adapted throughout the Habsburg Empire and elsewhere in... More about Ueber das Anquicken der gold-und silberhaltigen Erze, Rohsteine, Schwarkupfer und Huttenspeise

Rare first edition of this handsomely illustrated treatise on the cultivation and manufacture of linen, a staple of the textile and paper industries until the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney (a mere two years after this book was published) and cheaper methods of paper processing curtailed its... More about Coltivazione e governo del lino mazuolo

First edition. Published during the War of 1812, an early American pamphlet describing two methods for supplying a diver with air. The author envisions a naval force of three to four hundred men duly supplied with air, at depths of 3-7 soundings, capable of making a formidable surprise attack in... More about Diving, or an attempt to describe upon Hydraulic and hydrostatic principles, a method of...

Extremely rare illustrated brochure announcing the introduction of mass public transport to Paris, the second city to adopt the ‘omnibus’ after its invention in Nantes by Stanislas Baudry in 1826. As the present work makes it clear, however, the original purpose of such carriages was hardly to transport workers to..... More about [Title label]: Nouvelles Voitures dites Omnibus. [Drop title]: Nouvelles Voitures a 25...