HAÜY, René Just
8vo. (192 x 120 mm). [8], 236 pp., including half-title, woodcut head- and tailpieces, 8 folding engraved plates by Sellier after Fossier bound at end. Near contemporary mottled half calf over marbled boards, spine with gilt decoration and morocco label lettered in gilt (extremities rubbed). Text and plates somewhat browned mostly to outer margins, minor occasional spotting, light brown stain near gutter of half-title (this also with tiny repair of tear at fore-margin). In all a very good, clean copy. ---- Dibner 92; Horblit 47; Sparrow 93; Norman 1021-1022, Ward & Carozzi, Geology Emerging, 1984: no. 1020; Wilson, History of Mineral Collecting, 1994: 53-6. - FIRST EDITION of the work that laid the foundation for the mathematical theory of crystal structure. Often thought of as the founder of crystallography, Hauy proposed the idea of the crystal molecule and recognized that, based on the discontinuity principle, there are limited varieties of a crystal species. (Dibner). Haüy's first printed book, this work was instrumental in establishing a solid foundation on which modern theories of crystal structure rest. In it, Haüy brought together the advances in crystallography made by Romé de l'Isle, Bergman and others into a coherent structural theory, based on the structural unit, the "molecule constituante" (later renamed by him to "molecule integrante"). Haüy's model depicted crystals as built up out of these molecular units which were polyhedral in form. Haüy also theorized a common "nucleus" or "primitive form" for all crystals of the same "species." This primative form was often revealed by cleavage of a crystal symmetrically along its angles and edges. Haüy's theory of crystal structure changed little in its essentials during the remainder of his career, which went on for almost forty years after the publication of the Essai. (Mineralogical Record online Library).
WADA, Tsunashiro
8vo (267 x 176 mm). [4], vii [1], 144, [2] pp., half-title, 4 plates of crystal structures bound after p. 96; 31 heliotype plates of photographs of mineral specimens, numbered I-VI, VII-1, VII-2, VIII-XXX, each preceded by guard sheet of tissue paper with brief plate explanatory text; unnumbered leaf of title of the work in Japanese bound at the end; separate leaf of errata tipped in to front-pastedown, text illustrations and diagrams. Publisher's original dark-blue cloth, spine and upper board lettered in gilt (light soiling of boards, extremities rubbed, corners bumped, upper board slightly cockled towards lower corner). Minor pale brown spotting in places, else clean and crisp throughout. A very good copy, complete. ---- VERY RARE FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, published the same year as the Japanese first edition Nihon Kobutsushi. "This work gives one of the few accounts in English of the mineralogy of Japan. Notwithstanding the comparitively small geographic size of Japan and the fact that its mineral resources are limited, the country has produced a large number of mineral species, many of them of peculiar interest either because of rarity or of the beauty of their crystallization. This volume provides an excellent summary of the subject. Concise accounts of the species known to occur are given together with exact statements about localities and numerous chemical analyses. A series of fine black and white heliotype plates illustrate notable specimens, such as the well known quartz twins, fine stibnites and topaz crystals" (Schuh). Most public library catalog entries give incorrect collations, e.g., stating only 30 (of 35 present) plates and ignoring errata leaf and the leaf with the title in Japanese. The only good bibliographic description of this edition is by Schuh (Schuh's Annotated Bio-Bibliography, Mineralogical Record online), but it also does not mention the presence of the 4 plates of crystal structures found in our copy between pp. 96 and 97. Our copy conforms in collation with the copy of the Univ. of California (see California Digital Library, oclc: record: 1049680924). - Visit our website to see more images!
IZARN, Joseph
8vo (200 x 125 mm). viii, 421 [1] pp., including half-title, a folding table and errata-page at the end. Contemporary half calf, spine with gilt-lettered morocco label and rich gilt tooling, marbled edges and endpapers. Text generally crisp and clean with minor occasional spotting and little browning, clean tear at fore-margin of p.1/2, a few marginal paper flaws away from text area. Provenance: from a French collection of astronomical works. A very good+ and wide-margined copy with the pages at the lower edge mostly uncut. ---- RARE FIRST EDITION of this early work on meteorites which theorized that meteorites (or aerolites) were formed in the Earth's upper atmosphere. The first section recounts the various opinions on the nature of meteorites before 1700 followed by descriptions of numerous eyewitness accounts of meteorite falls. Joseph Izarn was a medical doctor in the French army and a professor of physics, then General-inspector of the universities of France until 1815 (see Schuh). Bibliographical references: Poggendorff: I, col. 1174; Annalen der Physik 15 (1803), pp. 437-62; Burke, Cosmic Debris, 1986, p. 59; Journal de Physique: 56 (1803), pp. 441-58; Curtis Schuh, Annotated Bio-Bibliography of Mineralogy and Crystallography 1469-1919 (online resource). - Visit our website to see more images!
TRITHEMIUS, Johannes
8vo (142 x 95 mm). 64 unnumbered leaves, including final two blanks H7-8; title within elaborate woodcut border, woodcut initials. Signatures: A-H8. Bound in later hardback with probably original vellum spine (ink lettered) and boards back with marbled paper (wear to extremities, boards rubbed, corners bumped). Text with light even browning, title-page working loose; large historiated woodcut initials, margins trimmed close in some places affecting printed marginals; a few text markings in red crayon. Provenance: Jean-Baptiste Verdussen, bookseller-publisher and first director of the Royal Academy of Antwerp with his copper-engraved bookplate to rear paste-down (in an oval, a stork feeds another with a snake, with the motto "Virtus Pietas Homini Tutissima"). ---- RARE COLOGNE EDITION of this work by Johannes Trithemius, best known for his cabbalistic Steganography, used to create coded, keyed texts. In this work, addressed to Emperor Maximilian in 1508, the author deals with the question of demons, of which he distinguishes six genera: those of the four elements (genus igneum, genus aereum, genus terrestrium, genus aquaticum), a 'subterranean' genus (subterraneum) and a 'lucifuge' genus (lucifugum), which hates light. The work is largely based on Psellus' 11th century treatise on demons. Content: 1. De fide & intellectu. 2. De fide necessaria ad salutem. 3. De miraculis infidelium. 4. De scriptura sacra. 5. De reprobis atq[ue] maleficis. 6. De potestate maleficarum. 7. De permissione divina. 8. De providentia dei. Bibliography: VD-16 T-1987; Adams T-978; STC German (BL London) 870. Not in Machiels, BN Paris. - Visit our website to see more images!
GAUTIER D'AGOTY, Fabien
4to (274 x 216 mm). [i]-xxxviii, [1]-119 [1] pp., 80 color plate reproductions. Copy no. 23 of 52 printed. Bound in half faux leather over cloth, spine with gilt-lettered morocco label (a trifle soiling of cloth). Text and plates clean and bright. Fine copy. ---- Very rare Facsimile reprint with additions in English of Histoire Naturelle ou Exposition Générale de toutes ses parties gravées et imprimées en couleurs naturelles, avec des notes historiques which was printed in a very small number of 52 copies only. "This facsimile edition of the Histoire Naturelle was published as part of a series of limited reproductions of rare, illustrated mineralogical works prepared by Wendell E. Wilson of the Mineralogical Record. This reprint contains translations of the Privilège Du Roi and d'Agoty's preface. Additional introductory material provides historical information about the author and the printing history of the book, as well as a descriptive list of the plate contents in English. The complete text in French of the original is reproduced as are plates 1-70. Nine of the plates are reproduced twice to show the difference between first and second state impressions" (Schuh). References and bibliography: Curtis Schuh, Annotated Bio-Bibliography of Mineralogy and Crystallography 1469-1919 (online resource); W.E. Wilson, History of Mineral Collecting, 1994; W.E. Wilson, "Fabien Gautier d'Agoty and his Histoire Naturelle Régne Mineral, 1781", Mineralogical Record 26, (1995). - Visit our website to see more images!
HILL, John
4to (210 x 127 mm). viii, 9-51, 56-132, 133*-140*, 133-420, [16] pp., folding letterpress table, general index. Some mispaginations (pp.52-55 skipped, pp. 133-140 repeated). Signatures: A-F4 G2 H-Q4 R8 S-3H4 3I2. Bound in contemporary full calf, spine with 5 raised bands richly gilt in compartments and with gilt-lettered red morocco label to second compartment, boards with double ruling in gilt, board edges with blind tooling, red-sprinkled edges (rubbing to extremities, lower board scratched, endpapers with marginal brown-staining from printer's glue). Text with light even age-toning, but generally crisp and clean throughout; short clean tear to fore-margin of H2. Provenance: J. L. Boevey (inscription to first flyleaf); Sir William Strachan, 4th Baronet (armorial bookplate to front pastedown); from a French private mineralogy collection. ---- RARE FIRST EDITION of this work by John Hill in which minerals and their physical properties such as hardness, color, weight, surface texture and uses are arranged in a series of tables. Despite the somehow misleading title this book has noting to do with fossils in the modern sense. John Hill (1707-1775) was an English apthecary & naturalist. He conducted the British Magazine from 1746 to 1750 and contributed articles to various other periodicals. "Somewhat vilified by his contemporaries on account of his abrasive, highly competitive, ambitious character and scandalous behaviour, John Hill nevertheless made significant contributions to both medicine and geology. [. . .] His geological contributions made him a significant though much neglected figure in the Georgian history of the science. [. . .] Friendly relations, joint collecting trips and positive co-operation with the naturalist Emanuel Mendes da Costa (1717-1791) degenerated to accusations of philosophical piracy and plagiarism over plans to produce a volume on 'fossils' (in the sense of any geologicalmaterial) after da Costa was elected FRS in 1747. In the event, two quite different works were published, with Hill beating the somewhat beleaguered da Costa to press. Hill's A History of Fossils (1748), the first of a three-volume series on natural history, was followed by his Fossils Arranged According to their obvious characters in 1771 and a work on spars (1772). Characterised by a competent grasp of earlier literature, an innate desire to systematise an approach to geological materials somewhat emulating Linnaeus's approach to botany, Hill's geological works are replete with original observations and expressions of his personal opinions" (Duffin, p.11). The book is very rare. The last copy recorded at auction was sold 50 year ago (Sotheby's London, 4th Nov. 1974, lot no. 222). References & Literature: Christopher J. Duffin, John Hill (1714-1775) : a neglected Georgian Apothecary and Geologist. In: Geology and Medicine: Exploring the Historical Links and the Development of Public Health and Forensic Medicine" Celebrating the Tercentenary of Sir John Hill. London, 2014. - Visit our website to see more images!
BERNOULLI, Daniel
4to (252 x 193 mm). [8], 304 pp. Title and first text page with large engraved vignette, first dedication leaf verso with large woodcut intitial, 12 folding engraved plates by I.M. Weis bound at end. Signatures: [pi]4 (A-2P)4. Contemporary polished cat's paw calf, spine with 5 raised bands gilt-tooled in compartments and with gilt-lettered red morocco label to second compartment, red-dyed edges, marbled endpapers (extremities rubbed, some wear and chipping to head of spine, board edges and corners). Text and plates crisp and clean throughout with only light even browning and minor occasional black spotting. Collated and complete. A very good+ copy in untouched contemporary binding. Provenance: old ownership inscription on head of title page; University library of Vilnius (early ink stamp to title). The curator of rare books in the library has confirmed to us that was a duplicate copy deaccessioned long time ago. ---- FIRST EDITION of Daniel Bernoulli's most important work, the foundation of modern hydrodynamics (a term first employed in this book), and containing his formulae for calculating the velocity, duration and quantity of liquid issuing from an opening in a container. Other chapters deal with water oscillations, a theory of machinery (including an extensive treatment of the screw of Archimedes) and an important section which introduces his kinetic gas theory. References & bibliography: Roberts & Trent, Bibliotheca Mechanica, pp. 34-35. Norman 215, PMM 179 (mentioned). - Visit our website to see more images!
MAIER, Michael
8vo (163 x 104 mm). 224 pp., including letterpress title with woodcut device; additional engraved title showing personifications of the sun, moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury; 7 engraved text illustrations; woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Bound in contemporary vellum over thin boards, spine lettered in ink (vellum soiled). Light even browning internally, minor faint dampstaining to first pages, occasional minor spotting. Very good copy in untouched binding. Provenance: dated ownership inscription to front pastedown, upper book block inscribed "Sulphuus". Very good copy in untouched binding. ---- SECOND EDITION, very rare, of this alchemical and emblematic work by Michael Maier concerning the seven metals and the planets supposed to correspond to them. The work was first published in 1618, the same year as his Themis Aurea devoted to the Rosicrucians. Michael Maier's career is closely linked to alchemy; he served Rudolf II, who was very interested in the subject, and then became interested in the Rosicrucians. His various alchemical works generally include a few engravings. This one contains 7 superb engravings, one of which is particularly striking, depicting an elephant fighting with a kind of chimera. References & bibliography: Duveen 383; Gardner 436; Caillet 7006, Stanislas de Guaita 544 - Visit our website to see more images!
ROMÉ DE L'ISLE, Jean-Baptiste Louis
8vo (190 x 121 mm), [7] viii-xxxii, 427, [3] pp. including initial and final blank, half title, 2 folding tables, 10 folding engraved plates, woodcut head- and tailpieces. Signatures: a-b8 A-2D8. Contemporary French marbled calf, spine with 5 raised bands gilt-tooled in compartments and gilt-lettered red morocco label, red-dyed edges, marbled endpapers (light rubbing to extremities). Text and plates bright and crisp throughout with only minor spotting in places, light ink soiling of final plate verso. Provenance: from a French private mineralogy collection. An exceptional copy. ---- FIRST EDITION. "The Cristallographie ranks as one of the great contributions to the science of crystals. In it Romé de l'Isle attempted to make a comprehensive classification of crystals. By the time he wrote this volume, he was extremely familiar with the subject, and this work greatly supassed all previous works in scope and detail. To apply his classification, he adopted a morphological approach in which he attempted to relate the diverse forms of crystals of the same substance. As a general morphological concept he introduced the idea of the "primitive form." All crystals of the same inorganic substance, no matter how different in appearance had a fundemental and common geometrical form-the primative form-to which their actual crystal shapes related. The justification for this idea was derived from the previous work of Carl Linneaus who had tried to expain the genesis of minerals by means of an analogy with the procreation of living creatures, and classified cystals by the similarities of their crystallized forms. In this first edition of the Cristallographie, Romé de l'Isle identifies 110 crystal forms by which minerals crystallize. Grouped under each of these shapes are described the minerals that exhibit similar habit, including the approximate angles between crystal faces. These forms were all derived form a common saline ingrediaent in every mineral that worked at a molecular level. Although he believes that these primitive forms existed, it is never made clear how they should be defined for any group of crystals" (Mineralogical Record Bibliography). Bibliography and references: Norman 1847; Wellcome 4, 553; Burke, Origins of the Science of Crystals, 1966: 69-71; Dana's 7th (Bibliography): 69; DSB: 11, 520-4 [by R. Hooykaas]; Freilich Sale Catalog: nos. 460-1; Hoover Collection: no. 691; Hooykaas, R., "De kristallografie van J.B. de Romé de l'Isle (1783)". - Visit our website to see more images!
DELAFOSSE, Gabriel
1858-1862. Four parts bound in four volumes (three of text and one atlas). 8vo (217 x 140 mm). Text volumes: [4], 546; [2], 486, [2]; [4], 628, 8 pp.; Atlas: [1-5] 6-16, [1] 14-24 pp., 40 double-page lithographed plates of crystal structures. Half-title and title to each volume; vol. I and II bound without final blank; 8 pp. of adverts in vol. III bound at end. Uniformly bound in 20th-century half green calf over marbled boards, spines with 4 raised bands each, silver lettering and tooling in compartments (silver of lettering partially gone). Several pages still uncut and unopened. Text little browned mostly to outer margins, some scattered foxing to text and plates (few pages and plates stronger), vol. I and atlas with light water-staining at lower margin of few gatherings and plates. Provenace: from a private collection of mineralogy books; traces of removed bookplates at pastedowns. Very good, complete and wide-margined set. ---- RARE FIRST EDITION of "Delafosse's most comprehensive work [. . .] drawn from his courses at the Ecole Normale, the Museum [Nationale d'Histoire Naturelle], and the Sorbonne, and published after he attained recognition as a major figure in mineralogy" (DSB). In The New Course of Mineralogy, the author concentrates his text on the practical use of minerals in industry. Gabriel Delafosse (1796-1878) was a French mineralogist, geologist and chemist who worked at the Natural History Museum in Paris and for sometime at the University of Paris. In the field of crystallography, he contributed to development of the idea of unit cells of crystals. Delafosse "considers that their chemical composition should be studied. It thus defines the difference between the 'integral molecule' (molecule) and the 'chemical molecule' (atom) of the crystals. By seeking the provision of the atoms inside the physical molecule, Delafosse is one of the first, in mineralogy, to apply the atomic theory. From this study on the chemical composition of minerals result from many work on the conditions of crystallization. Thus isomorphism and polymorphism with Eilhardt Mitscherlich (1794-1863) will be discovered, then will appear the concepts of dimorphism, homeomorphism, etc." (Schuh). References: Schuh's Annotated Bio-Bibliography, The Mineralogical Record, online resource; DSB 15 & 16 Suppl. I, p.115. - Visit our website to see more images!
4to (197 x 153 mm). [16], 469 [1] pp., title printed in red and black and with woodcut vignette, 5 engraved plates (1 folding); woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces; includes final blank leaf nnn4. Bound in contemporary full calf, spine with 5 raised bands, richly gilt in compartments, gilt lettering in second compartment, red sprinkled edges (rebacked with original spine leather preserved, slight bumping of corners, minor wear to extremities). Text and plates with light even browning, occasional minor spotting and dust-soiling, few annotations and markings in light ink, few pages with light dampstaining at lower margin. A very good copy. ---- FIRST EDITION, VERY RARE, of this work on alchemy by the German physician Barchusen, who taught chemistry in Utrecht. "The Pyrosophia includes a picture of Barchusen's laboratory at Utrecht as well as plates illustrating chemical apparatus" (Thorndike). "The pyrosophia is a formal, systematic textbook that deals with the principles of chemistry, both theoretical and practical and then attemps to demonstrate their applications to natural philosophy, medicine, metallurgy, and alchemy. The bulk of the work is descriptive, preparative iatrochemistry of a conventional type; but the syllabi of bis laboratory courses for 1695 to 1697, included as an appendix to the volume, show an increasing tendency to emphasize chemistry as the analysis and synthesis of bodies by fire, relegating the preparative iatrochemistry to a secondary part of the course. All the syllabi contain sections devoted to metallurgical assay and to alchemy. In this last part, the students were shown how most alleged transmutations could be explained in terms of displacement reactions of metals" (DSB). Caillet states that the second and third parts, which deal with metal and hermetic science, are very curious and well worth consulting. An edition from 1696 mentioned by Ferchl probably refers to Barchusen's "Pharmacopoeus synopticus". References & bibliography: DSB I, p.451; Ferchl 22; Schmieder 512, 1; Ferguson I, 71; Caillet 717; Bierens de Haan 159; Wellcome II, 99; Thorndike VIII, 618f; not in Duveen. - Visit our website to see more images!
Three parts in one volume. 4to (314 x 243 mm). [10], 153 [1]; [3] iv, 88; [1], 246-264 pp., including engraved frontispiece portrait of the author, 7 engraved maps and plates (5 folding), the 2 maps in the section of the Narrative are printed on light blueish paper. "A Narrative of the Munity" has separate title-page and pagination. Contemporary polished brown calf, gilt-decorated spine with (later) green morocco lettering piece, board-edges gilt tooled (expertly rebacked preserving most of the original spine leather, minor wear to corners); protected in custom-made cloth slipcase with red morocco lettering piece. Text crisp and clean throughout with only some minor age-toning, occasional light offsetting from plates; few pages with light spotting, first and final page with brown staining of outer margins from binder's glue. Provenance: William Lloyd, Aston (armorial bookplate to front pastedown, dated 1806). A fine, wide-margined copy. ---- VERY RARE FIRST EDITION. One of very few copies specially printed and issued to include the "Narrative of the Mutiny" with the 1790 title-page and with separate pagination. It opens with the first part of the first edition of the account of A Voyage to the South Sea, which breaks off at the end of chapter XII (after p.153) and is followed by the first edition (1790) of A Narrative of the Mutiny, on board of His Majesty's Ship Bounty (pp. iv,1-88) and is concluded by the final part of A Voyage to the South Sea, which opens with chapter XIX (pp. 246-264). Chapters XIII-XVIII are thus replaced by the Narrative of the Mutiny. This first version of the Narrative was published during Bligh's absence when he was on his second voyage to the South Sea, and was written and edited from Bligh's journal by James Burney under supervision of Joseph Banks. A second version was included in the first edition of the official 1792 report. "One of the most remarkable incidents in the whole of maritime history" (Hill) took place after leaving Tahiti near Kotu Island on April 27, 1789. Bligh was set by Fletcher Christian with 18 loyal seamen in the small ship's launch. A six weeks journey, more than 3000 miles, led to Timor. Even during this voyage Bligh was capable of doing a large number of valuable cartographic and scientific observations. "Bligh presented copies to the Lords of the Admiralty and other influential people in the hope that his account of the mutiny would absolve him from any blame that might be leveled against him because of the incident. (. . .) Bligh, known in the British navy as "Bread-Fruit Bligh", made two voyages to the South Pacific to transport this product to the British West Indies. During the first voyage he was in command of the ill-fated Bounty (1787-1790); during the second he was commander of the Providence (1791-1793). He had earlier served under Captain Cook, as sailing master on Cook's third voyage around the world. In 1805, Bligh was appointed governor of New South Wales, but from 1808 to 1810 he was imprisoned by rebellious soldiers. He was promoted to admiral in 1811." (Hill). "Seine Charaktermängel waren Eitelkeit, Heftigkeit und Hochmut; seine Bedeutung als Nautiker und Entdecker bleibt unbestritten" (Henze). The first printing of the complete official edition of Bligh's account of his voyage and the subsequent celebrated "mutiny on the Bounty." A brief Narrative of the Mutiny had been published in 1790 "for the purpose of communicating early information concerning an event which had attracted the public notice," and it had been expected that the account of the preceding voyage would be published later as a separate volume. It was decided, however, to print the entire work, with a revised Narrative, as a convenience to the reader, and as an excuse to correct and expand the original text. Bligh, himself, was on his second breadfruit voyage in 1792, and this edition was actually written and. . . Visit our website for further reading and images!
8vo (255 x 160 mm). ix, [4], 14-96 pp., one color plate, text diagrams and tables. Publisher's blue cloth, "Colours of Double-Stars" stamped in gilt on front board and spine, original yellow endpapers (head of spine with minor repair), cloth spotted and stained, corners bumped, light wear to extremities). Pages opened bu uncut. Text little age-toned, but in all clean and bright throughout. Provenance: William Parsons, 3rd. Earl of Rosse, Birr Castle (armorial bookplate of Smyth to front pastedown), presented from the author and inscribed on front pastedown, 'Presented to Lord Rosse, F.R.S. etc. etc. etc. with the respects of Admiral Smyth & D. Lee, Hartwell, 10 December, 1864." ---- RARE FIRST EDITION, and one of a few copies printed for presentation, of the work on the color and brightness of stars, published one year before the author's death. William Henry Smyth was an admiral of the Royal Navy and a British astronomer. In 1817 he met the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi in Palermo and visited his observatory. This awakened his interest in astronomy. So in 1825 he took leave of the Navy and established a private observatory in Bedford, England. Smyth's Sidereal Chromatics can be regarded a landmark work in 19th century astronomy, providing the most precise observations of the colors of double stars ever recorded. The work provides both a theory of the origin of the colors of double stars and a method for describing them as accurately as possible. Detailed diagrams compare Smyth's measurements of more than one hundred double stars with his own previously published observations and those of his astronomy colleague, Father Benedetto Sestini. This edition also includes Smyth's famous color chart, an attempt to standardize the process of identifying double star colors. - Visit our website to see more images!
4to (241 x 178 mm). 284, [12] pp., woodcut initials and text diagrams, 13 folding engraved plates bound at the end. Contemporary polished and mottled calf with cat's paw motif, spine with 5 raised bands richly gilt in compartments, boards ruled in blind, red-dyed edges, marbled endpapers (spine lettering piece gone, old repairs to joints and spine ends, lower corners bumped, head of spine chipped, boards scratched). Text and plates with light even browning and some minor scattered spotting; a few ink marginals in places. Provenance: Jérôme de Lalande (his name stamp and book's content list in his own hand to first flyleaf and a few side notes to text throughout); Charles van Hulthem* (engraved bookplate to front pastedown). Loosely inserted is a receipt dated Febr(?) 3, 1785 with notes about this work written on verso, signed M. Delambre and dated 20 Febr. 1786. ---- VERY RARE FIRST EDITION AND AN INTERESTING ASSOCIATION COPY FROM THE LIBRARY OF FRENCH ASTRONOMER JÉRÔME DE LALANDE WITH MANUSCRIPT NOTES BY JEAN-BAPTISTE DELAMBRE. The book contain meteorological and astronomical observations on aurora borealis, sunspots, the moon and stars, and results of experiments on light and colors and the mercury thermometer. The plates show geometrical and astronomical figures and of a thermometer. "The illustrations contain one showing the author's graduation of the thermometer on quite a novel plan, which however was never adopted to use" (Sotheran 2643). Our copy contains a highly interesting sheet of a receipt with the handwriting of Jean-Baptiste Joseph Delambre on the reverse, signed and dated 20 Feb. 1786. The handwritten added text of the "Bordereaux" on the front reads: "De laquelle somme je ferai tenir compte à M. Lefevre, par M. Geoffroy Dassy, en me remettant le present / A Paris, le 3 Fbre(?) 1785." At this time Delambre was employed as tutor to the son of Jean-Claude Geoffroy d'Assy (or Dassy), the Director-General of Finance, who facilitated his studies by allowing him to attend the courses of the astronomer Jérôme Lalande, and by setting up an observatory in the attic of his hotel in Assy, which he retained after the death of its owner, who was guillotined in 1794. The position as tutor was ideal for Delambre, as he lived in Geoffroy d'Assy's house and, deciding to accept a much lower salary than that offered by d'Assy, took a small pension and enjoyed living cheaply but learning all he could. Delambre's interests shifted from the study of Greek language and literature to Greek science, and he read widely on the subject. His interest in Greek astronomy soon led him to read up on modern astronomy, and around 1780 he read Lalande's Traité d'astronomie. He began attending Lalande's astronomy lectures at the Collège de France and soon impressed Lalande with his knowledge. In 1783, when Lalande was looking for a new assistant to carry out observations for a new edition of his Traité, he turned to Delambre, who was his best student. Lalande lent Delambre some equipment, and the observational data he collected with it went into the third edition of Lalande's Traité d'astronomie, which appeared in print in 1792. *Charles Joseph Emmanuel van Hulthem (1764-1832) was a bibliophile from the Low Countries whose collection of books provided the first kernel of the Royal Library of Belgium. During the Belgian Revolution of 1830, his house in Brussels was on the front lines and his considerable collection of books, medals and antiquities was severely damaged. In 1837, the collection of approximately 60,000 manuscripts and printed books that he had left was acquired by the Belgian state for 315,000 francs and formed the basis of the collection of the Royal Library of Belgium (Wikisource). References: Houzeau-Lancaster 3464; DSB IV, p.25. . . Visit our website for further reading and images!
4to (290 x 230 mm). xxx, [2], 311 [3] pp., including errata leaf, stipple-engraved frontispiece portrait of the author and her daughters, 17 engraved plates, list of subscribers, advertisement leaf at end, blank leaf 2H2 present. All pages uncut. Contemporary simple half vellum with marbled paper over pasteboards (paper edge chipping, bumping and heavier wear to edges). Text and plates bright and crisp throughout; frontispiece and title page a trifle dust-soiled; frontispiece working loose and with short tears at gutter; light finger soiling to p.74-75. Provenance: John Carteret Hyde Seale, Baronet of Mount Boone (armorial bookplate to front pastedown). Exceptionally well preserved, clean and unpressed copy internally. ---- RARE FIRST EDITION. Margaret Bryan was a pioneering female teacher of the natural sciences, running a boarding school for girls in Blackheath from 1795 to 1806. When she relocated to Margate the "curriculum in her schools differed from that of most peer institutions by including mathematics and science as suitable subjects for girls" (ODNB). In 1797 she published by subscription this Compendious System of Astronomy, with a portrait of herself and two daughters as a frontispiece, the whole engraved by William Nutter from a miniature by Samuel Shelley. She dedicated her book to her pupils. The lectures of which the book consisted had been praised by Charles Hutton after he received from her the manuscript fo his persual. In a letter dated Jan. 6, 1797 he replied: "I herewith return the ingenious MS. of Astronomical Lectures you favored me with the sight of, which I have read over with great pleasure; and the more so, to find that even the learned and more difficult Sciences are thus beginning to be successfully cultivated by the extraordinary and elegant talents of the female writers of the present day. Should you, Madam, give to your friends and to the public to benefit by the publication of these your learned and useful labours, I beg to have the honor of being considered one of the encouragers of so useful a work; Your most obedient, and most humble servant, Charles Hutton." Margaret was so pleased with Hutton's comments that she had the book printed before the year was out. Hutton's letter of praise was printed and dated at the end of the preface. Ref: W. B. Ashworth jr, Scientist of the Day - Margaret Bryan, Jan. 6, 2020, Linda Hall Library (web resources). - Visit our website to see more images!
Oblong 4to (210 x 280 mm). [viii], 32, 40 pp., engraved frontispiece by D. Berger bound before title, 34 engraved plates. Contemporary German binding, tan paper-covered boards, red-sprinkled edges (corners scuffed and bumped, board edges worn, paper over boards rubbed, soiled and chipped at edges). Plates at foot mostly uncut. Text and plates with light even browning, minor occasional spotting, frontispiece and title working loose and with light pale foxing, title also with vertical crease; brown spot at foot of p.31/32; pale ink smudge on p.15/16; plate numbers added in pencil. Provenance: old ownership inscription on first flyleaf ("Ball" or "Bath"). Very good, complete copy in untouched binding. ---- FIRST AND ONLY EDITION of Bode's first celestial atlas "Presentation of the stars" intended for the amateur astronomer who could not (or did not want to) afford a professional atlas. Johann Elert Bode (1747-1826), a self-taught astronomer, served as director of the astronomical observatory of the Berlin Academy of Science for nearly 40 years. He was editor of the Astonomisches Jahrbuch and published several popular astronomy texts and atlases. In 1801, Bode himself published a comprehensive atlas, the Uranographia, with the largest maps up to that time in measuring 103 x 67 cm. Bode's Vorstellung der Gestirne is based on Flamsteed's famous Atlas coelestis (1726), of which the artist Jean Nicolas Fortin published a small version in 1776, measuring only 23 x 18 cm. "Bode was going to publish such a work in German, but also corrected and extended the catalogue database, so that his charts show more stars and improved positions. In addition to the Fortin version Bode added four more plates: Two with detailed drawings of deep sky objects as clusters, nebulae, and visual binary stars as they are seen through a telescope (Plates XXX and XXXI); and two charts of the sky in the "ancient times Greeks of Romans" (Plates XXXIII and XXXIV, showing the sky for around 374 v.Chr., the society of these times was highly interested in antiquity). Since the rotational axis of Earth sways once in 23000 years, an effect called "precession", several of the southern constellations were visible better, others worse than nowadays" (T. Rivinius, online presentation of the republication of Bode's atlas by the Förderkreis der Landessternwarte Heidelberg e.V.). The atlas contains 34 charts, including 5 celestial hemispheres, two maps of nebulae and star clusters, a map of the alignment of the principal stars, and 26 star maps centered on principal constellations visible from Berlin. Bode added over 1,500 newly discovered stars to his charts. The star charts feature allegorical constellations, and were each hinged to the edge of a page in the volume, so that they fold out of the volume. The frontispiece was engraved by D. Berger and features the title on the base of a column, at the foot of which sits a group of putti examining a celestial globe. Bibliogreaphy: Poggendorf II, 218; Graesse I, 459; Brunet I, 1024; DSB II, p.220; Roller-Goodman I, 127; Warner, Sky explored, p. 35, 2. - Visit our website to see more images!
4to (279 x 221 mm). xi [1], [2], 311 [1] pp., with an engraved frontispiece (plan and elevations of the observatory, drawn by the Rev. W.B. Clarke) and errata leaf. Original cloth, printed paper labels to boards and spine (cloth sunned and soiled, upper corners scuffed, cloth over edges somewhat frayed in places, endpapers foxed). Pages uncut and unopened. Minor age toning and dust-soiling mostly to outer margins, minor off-setting of frontispiece to title (as usual), p.9/10 creased, pp. 173 + 180 with finger-soiling. Provenance: Trayna (inscribed on front-pastedown). ---- RARE FIRST EDITION of this catalogue of 7385 stars, chiefly in the Southern Hemisphere; also known as the "Brisbane Catalogue" after Sir Thomas Brisbane, the founder of the Parramatta Observatory. Richardson, of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, received the results of the work done at the Parramatta Observatory by Brisbane and his two assistants, Rumker and Dunlop, in 1830, and constructed this catalogue consisting almost entirely of tables. - Visit our website to see more images!
8vo (204 x 124 mm). The supplements are dated 1793 (I), 1795 (II), 1797 (III), and 1808 (IV), the "Erläuterungen über die Einrichtung und dem Gebrauch seiner astronomischen Jahrbücher. . ." is dated 1811, and the "Namen- und Sachregister. . . 1776 bis 1829" is dated 1829. Contemporary uniform green half calf, spines lettered in gilt (little rubbing to spines and extremities, spine ends occasionally slightly chipped). Internally little browned (first volumes a bit stronger), occasional foxing and brown-spotting, some volumes with dampstaining in places. Provenance: Teyler Museum, Haarlem* (ink stamps "Bibliotheque Musée Teyler Haarlem to title pages and upper and lower edges); Dieter Schierenberg b.v. (acquired from them in 1986). A very good set with all the supplements and index volumes. ---- Kirchner 9517; Houzeau/L. 15593; Poggend. I, 217; DSB II, 220 - FIRST EDITION. A Run of consequtive volumes of the earliest series of the Berlin Astronomical Yearbooks, published and edited by the German astronomers Johann Heinrich Lambert (1776-80) and Johann Englert Bode (1781-1829). The volumes with a large number of astronomical contributions, "and a collection of the latest treatises, observations, and news, which are included in the astronomical sciences, with contributions by Bessel, Herschel, Littrow, Olbers, Pfaff, and many others . The engraved plates depict comet orbits, the moon, sunspots, solar eclipse trajectories and astronomical devices. Die Jahrgänge mit den vielseitigen astronomischen Beiträgen, "nebst einer Sammlung der neuesten in die astronomischen Wissenschaften einschlagenden Abhandlungen, Beobachtungen und Nachrichten. Mit Beiträgen von Bessel, Encke, Gruithuisen, Herschel, Littrow, Olbers, Pfaff und anderen. Die Tafeln zeigen Kometen und Sonnenflecken, Pons'schem Kometen und Sonnenfinsternis, astronomischen Geräten sowie Sternwarte und Navigationsschule in Hamburg. *This is an ex library copy from the famous Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the only museum in the Netherlands that has been open to the public continuously since 1784. Its authentic interior, containing the original objects, has remained the same since then. So Teylers can justly lay claim to the title of being the first and oldest museum in the Netherlands. The library is interesting for itself. There is no other library in the Netherlands with such a beautiful and complete collection of literature from the 18th and 19th centuries about botany, zoology, and the earth sciences. In total, the book and journal collection consists of more than 125,000 volumes. Major acquisitions continued to be made until approximately 1940. Since then, the library has no longer been a place for finding out about the latest scientific developments, but primarily as a museum room of historic interest. (source: Tylers Museum website). - Visit our website for additional images and information.
1864-78. 4to (348 x 265 mm). 5 parts bound in one volume. [8], [1]-19, [2] pp., in total 50 lithographed plates, numbered I-L (10 plates per fascicle), each fascicle with separate title page, each plate with descriptive letterpress; prospectus leaf bound in at beginnig, smaller sheet of addenda bound-in at end of fascicle 4. 20th-century red morocco over marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt, original printed wrappers for each of the 5 fascicles bound-in. Light even age-toning of text and plates, very minor pale spotting in places. Provenance: illegible red stamp on first title-page. A very well preserved and complete set. ---- RARE FIRST AND ONLY EDITION of this ambitious work, "commenced by one of the greatest crystallographers of the time. At the suggestion of Wilhelm Joseph Grailich, Schrauf set his goal to depict every crystalline form known for each mineral species. The species are arranged alphabetically with each plate showing 16 well executed figures of crystals. Each plate is accompanied with a leaf of descriptive letterpress. The text contains crystallographic descriptions of the figures, fundamental dimensions and angles, but without tables relating the inclinations between the various crystal faces. These tables were to be published in a companion volume that never appeared. Many of the figures are by Schrauf himself, and in all cases references are given to the original authority. Due to the tremendous labor, expense and time involved in preparing the plates, only 5 Lieferungen of a projected 20 were ever issued. Each of these contain 10 plates and bears its own title page with dates ranging from 1864 to 1878, when Schrauf abandoned the project. It was not until Victor Goldschmidt published his own Atlas der Krystallformen (Heidelberg, 1913-23) that Schrauf's idea was carried through to completion" (Schuh). Reference: Schuh's Annotated Bio-Bibliography, Mineralogical Record online. - Visit our website to see more images!
