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

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

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

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

Scarce first Latin edition (following the original German by a year) of one of the most widely diffused Northern European surveying and drafting books, of great interest for the history of scale drawing, architectural drafting, and precision instrumentation, by the Flemish-born polymath and instrument maker Levinus Hulsius (1546-1606). The third..... More

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

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

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

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

Extremely rare 18th-century pamphlet listing and describing 13 machines recently invented by Carlo Castelli (active 1780-1810s), emeritus professor of physics, member of several learned scientific academies, and Provost of the Collegiata della Sta. Maria Fulcorina in Milan. The 4-page prospectus notes that these inventions are available for order from the..... More

Extraordinary folio album of 28 fine full-page and double-page drawings executed by the student Charles-Gilbert Gilberton (b. 1788- d. after 1853) at the Paris École impériale polytechnique during the academic years 1809-10. The portfolio provides a valuable visual record of how young engineers and architects were trained in the graphic..... More

Rare first and only edition – illustrated with 2 large folding lithographs – of an ambitious early 19th-century project proposal for improving the navigability of the Seine between Paris and the port of Le Havre. Jacques-Joseph Frimot (1790-1866), hydraulic engineer of the Corps Royal des Ponts et Chaussées, here confronts..... More

Extensive sammelband of 17 early 19th-century Italian agricultural treatises relating to exotic crops, pest control, farm storage, seed scattering, etc. Cotton, peanuts, potatoes, wheat, swedes (a root vegetable popular in England), clover, apples, and other crops are discussed, as is an American decorative annual, Madia sativa, which appears to have..... More