[ZANON, Antonio.]
4to, 240 pages. Woodcut ornament on title, woodcut headpiece and initials. Near-contemporary vellum, sides faintly ruled in blue, blue morocco label (faded) on spine, marbled endpapers. Binding a little marked otherwise a clean and large copy. Upper cover lettered in gilt ?Board of Agriculture 1801? and with the later stamp of the Ministry of Agriculture on verso of title. FIRST EDITION. On the use of marl and other sources of lime such as fossils for use as fertiliser. Antonio Zanon (1696?1770), agronomist and economist, was the author of a dozen works on agriculture and related subjects. He was one of the promoters of the first agricultural academy in mainland Italy, the Società d?Agricoltura Pratica in Udine, which was followed within a few years by other similar academies in most of the main cities.
TUSSER, Thomas.
4to, pp. 160, 143?145, (1). Title within woodcut border and with the date first, text in black letter, printer?s device on last page. First 7 leaves cleaned probably at the time of binding and with very neat restoration in lower corners, final leaf a little soiled and stained and with small repair in two corners, upper margin cut a little close on some leaves. 19th century green straight-grained morocco (spine faded, extremities a little rubbed and head of spine slightly worn), gilt edges and inner gilt dentelles, all edges gilt. Inscribed on front free endpaper ?From the library of [William S.] Higgs / Sotheby, [26th] April 1830 / lot 672. £2/6s/? W.T. ? perfect.? Later in the library of Prof. Robert ?Bobby? Boutflower, CBE (1890?1961), a notable figure in post-war British agriculture. Later edition, but many of the earlier editions are known in very few copies, of the second printed book on agriculture in English, and probably the biggest-selling book of poetry of the reign of Elizabeth I. ?This celebrated book must be regarded more as a series of good farming and domestic directions and axioms, than as a regular treatise upon agriculture? Such are the works of Tusser, writings which were long the handbook of the English country gentleman. That they were popular is evidenced by the rapid succession of copious editions? ?Tusser?s book is also interesting from the information it gives us of the habits of the farmers of more than three centuries ago. It is evident that they were able to obtain fish, for in his directions for the daily diet he mentions for Lent, herrings and salt fish,?while for Christmas fare they seem to have enjoyed many of the modern standing dishes? (McDonald). STC 24382. Fussell, The old English farming books, pp. 8?9. McDonald, Agricultural writers, pp. 23?30.
STIRRUP, Thomas.
4to, 5 leaves, 212 pages, and 3 engraved plates. With the longitudinal half-title, title within typographical border with sun ornament, woodcut and typographical headpieces and initials, woodcut diagrams. Some light browning throughout, but generally a very good copy. 18th century speckled calf, very neatly rebacked and edges repaired in the 20th century, and endpapers replaced at the same time. 18th century inscription of John Prior on front flyleaf. SOLE EDITION of Stirrup?s third and last book. It was preceded by his book on the carpenter?s rule of 1651, and by Horometria, on dialling, first published in 1652. Stirrup was a specialist maker of dials, scales and quadrants. Wing S5687. As in the ESTC, A4 has been cancelled and removed, but there is no indication in this copy that B2 is a cancel. Taylor, Tudor & Stuart, 222, with variant title and imprint. According to auction records, of the three copies sold in the last fifty years, this is the only complete one.
YOUNG, Thomas.
2 parts in two volumes, 4to, pp. (vi), (ii), 212, 26, 4 engraved plates; pp. iv, (213)?535, (1) blank, (8), 13 plates. Original drab blue wrappers (spine of part 1 chipped, spine of part 2 slightly worn at ends), uncut and unopened. Preserved in a quarter blue morocco box. Paper slightly browned, otherwise fine copies in original state. Bookplates of H.F. Norman, M.D.; bookplates of David L. DiLaura. FIRST PRINTINGS, and rare copies in the original wrappers, as issued. ?The Bakerian Lecture delivered in November 1801 is an epoch-making contribution to the theory of light in all its phases. Hooke, Huygens and above all Newton had discussed the nature of light in the seventeenth century. Huygens propounded the wave theory in 1690, whereas Newton was predominantly in favour of a corpuscular theory?? (PMM). Young, however, proposed and demonstrated a theory that ?radiant light consists of undulations of the luminous ether?, that is, a wave theory of light. In ?An account of some cases of the production of colours?, Young opens with the clear statement of what would come to be known as Young?s interference principle, giving definite evidence for the wave theory of light. He then describes an experiment he performed, later known as the ?double slit? experiment, that has been called most beautiful experiment in physics. It indicated that light consists of waves, as the distribution of brightness can be explained by the alternately additive and subtractive interference of wavefronts. ??Young calculated and reported the wavelength and frequency associated with prismatic colours. They are remarkably accurate? (DiLaura). Printing and the Mind of Man 259. Dibner 152. G&M 1488 (first paper). DiLaura, Bibliotheca Opticoria, 593. Norman catalogue 2275 and 2276 (these copies).
PIDDINGTON, Henry.
8vo, pp. xxiv, 360, 1 folding barometrical chart (torn without loss and repaired from behind), 4 folding charts of different oceans with 3 leaves of references (one folded), and 2 transparent storm cards in pockets on the front and rear endpapers. Original brown cloth, faded, rubbed and worn on the tips of corners and fore-edge, endpapers dust-soiled but the text clean. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author: ? Rear Admiral Austen C.B. etc etc with the Author?s respectful Comp[limen]ts? Second edition. ?Piddington's most abiding contribution, however, was to the understanding of maritime meteorology, and to the appreciation of tropical cyclones as a natural hazard of titanic impact on land. In 1839 he began research on the hurricane which occurred in the Bay of Bengal on 3?5 June that year, the first in a series of influential memoirs on the storms of the Indian seas. Inspired by the publication of Colonel William Reid's Attempt to Develop the Law of Storms (1838), Piddington's research was based on logs, data, and information from ships' captains, interpreted in the light of his own maritime experience. This work came to the attention of the government of India, which on 11 September 1839 invited observations of extreme meteorological phenomena; these would be sent to Piddington for his collation. Piddington also corresponded with R. W. Redfield, who was actively investigating the formation of storms in and around North America. ?The result was The Horn-Book for the Law of Storms for the Indian and China Seas (1844). Written in terms seamen could understand?the book was immediately adopted by mariners and the shipping world generally. An expanded edition, entitled The Sailor's Horn-Book for the Law of Storms?the work for which he is now chiefly remembered?was published in 1848. In it Piddington introduced the term 'cyclone', derived from a Greek word meaning coiled like a snake, to emphasize the helical character of cyclonic air movements? The traditional character of a hornbook was maintained by placing within the dust jacket thin plates of translucent horn, each engraved with the diagram of a cyclone and the points of a compass. When one of these plates of horn was placed on the ship's chart, a comparison of the existing wind direction with the diagram indicated the source of an approaching cyclone, and allowed the vessel to take an avoiding course? The Sailor's Horn-Book ran to six editions and was recognized as the standard book on the subject for thirty years? (ODNB). Shaw, Manual of meteorology, pp. 293 and 297?298.
NIGHTINGALAB, Florence.
Sepia photograph mounted on card, image size 97 x 143 mm., with long manuscript note on verso. Scattered foxing on the mount, otherwise in good condition. The note on the verso of this photograph of Florence Nightingale?s famous lamp explains that the purpose of the lamp was to provide not light, but heat. Nightingale ?saw the difficulties of obtaining a little hot water in the hospital where she worked & by her efforts some small lamps heated by a candle were ordered. Two metal dishes, or trays to hold the liquid formed part of the equipment, either of which the user could slide into the side of the lamp above the candle & so keep the contents hot & ready for use.? This particular lamp was given by Nightingale to Hospital Sergeant Edward Baker of the 34th Border Regiment, during the Crimean War. Baker lived in Chichester, and after his death it passed to a lady living in nearby Bognor, who allowed it to be photographed. The firm of Russell & Sons was one of the earliest professional photographers in Chichester, founded by James Russell in about 1858. His sons all joined the business with several studios mostly in and around Chichester. The studio in Southgate, Chichester, operated between 1888 and 1911. This photograph and its provenance completely alter the legend of ?The Lady with the Lamp?, a nickname gained by Nightingale from a report in The Times during the Crimean War, saying that she moved among the wounded at Scutari in the darkness, holding a lamp for light, after all the medical officers had retired for the night. In fact these metal lamps were first produced in 1855 expressly for heating food as well as for giving off light. Made of tin, the heating compartment was at the top, the candle section in the middle, and a storage compartment at the bottom, and Nightingale introduced them into the hospital at Scutari to supply a small quantity of hot water when required. See the Newsletter of the Fairy Lamp Club, issue LXIII, May 2012.
ZACUTUS LUSITANUS.
Small 8vo, 1 leaf, pp. 422, (35), 1 leaf (longitudinal title, verso blank). Title within typographical border, one woodcut in the text. Title cut close on fore-edge and repaired from behind with slight loss to border in two places, lower inner corner repaired with loss of border and ?L? in London, short tear in lower margin, first few leaves lightly browned, small hole in Dd3 with loss of a few letters, upper margin cut close in places but lower margin with some uncut edges. Modern quarter calf and marbled sides. Early signature of Edward Houndle on title-page. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, second issue (see below), of the Praxis Medica Admiranda of the Portuguese physician Abraham Zacuth (1575?1642), better known as Zacutus Lusitanus. The first edition of 1634 was published in Amsterdam, to where Zacutus fled after the Jews were were expelled from Portugal in 1625. The book is a selection of rare cases of every conceivable sort, including magic, mystic and spagiric medicine (ESTC). It begins with diseases of the head in Book I, Book II is on the abdomen and genitals, and Book III is on fevers and various diseases, including a 70-page appendix at the end headed ?Various Observations concerning Certain Rare Diseases? This part includes a wide variety of cases, including several of professional incompetence, ignorance or negligence. An apparently unrecorded issue. The first edition in English, and Zacutus?s only work to appear in English, was published the year before. It has exactly the same title and imprint, but a different date (1665) and collation, with 4 preliminary leaves (title, and 3 leaves of advertisements signed a1?a3) and no longitudinal title. It is not in Wing or Early English Books Online. The present issue has only one preliminary leaf (the title) which is on a stub and is possibly a cancel; the three advertisement leaves may be lacking or may have been omitted from this issue. ESTC records 3 [i.e. 2] copies of the 1665 issue, 1 at the National Library of Wales and 1 at the RCP Edinburgh (imperfect), but does not record an issue dated 1666.
WRIGHT, Rev. Thomas.
8vo, 2 leaves, pp. (5)?207, 3 folding engraved plates; 2 leaves, pp. 27, (1). Original blue boards and drab paper spine lettered in manuscript ?Wright?s Irrigation?, uncut. Plate 2 loose, joints cracked and paper spine worn at foot, but a very clean and fresh copy. Pencilled signature of John Buckby on front endpaper. FIRST EDITION of Thomas Wright?s third book on the subject over a period of 19 years. Much of this provincially printed book is devoted to remarks on previous published writers on the subject, especially George Boswell of Dorset and William Smith the mineralogist and geologist. The dissertation on the size of farms has a separate title (Large Farms, recommended in a national view? London: Printed for James Scatcherd? 1796) and pagination. It had previously been published in 1796 but remaining sheets were evidently added to this work. Fussell, More old English farming books, p. 122. McDonald, Agricultural writers, p. 218.
POPE, Thomas.
8vo, 9 leaves, pp. (ix)?xxxii, pp. (33)?288, 18 engraved plates mostly from drawings by the author, and some with erratic numbering. With the half-title and errata leaf. The first plate is bound as a frontispiece, the second plate is a duplicate on ordinary paper of the last plate. Original orange boards (a little worn round the edges) and sheep spine (restored and coloured black). Paper lightly browned and plates spotted (probably as in most copies). Signature in three places of Geo. M. Cargan, New Orleans, 1840; signs of the Franklin Institute bookplate removed; bookplate of the Bibliotheca Mechanica. FIRST EDITION. The first American book on bridge building. More than half of the book is an historical account of bridges of all periods and in all parts of the world, with an index giving their locations, dates and spans. This is followed by a mathematical description of the author?s patented design of a ?Flying Pendent Lever Bridge?, with details of its advantages and a schedule of costs. The third part is on the strength of timber and other materials, and the last part gives a description of Pope?s ?Patent Chain Bar Arc?, which promises to ?carry any weight required, without lateral pressure?? Roberts & Trent, Bibliotheca Mechanica, p. 264 (this copy).
ROY, William.
4to, 162 pages, 1 leaf (blank), 11 folding engraved plates, 4 folding letterpress tables. Some dust-soiling in the outer corners of a few leaves, otherwise a fine copy. Modern boards, uncut. OFFPRINT (first separate edition) of Major-General William Roy?s third and last paper on his triangulation connecting the Royal Greenwich Observatory with the Paris Observatory, which resolved the dispute over the difference in longitude between the Paris and Greenwich observatories, and resulted in the founding of the Ordnance Survey. ?In the triangulation of the 1780s Roy quite consciously laid the foundations for such a survey by procuring from the foremost instrument maker the most advanced equipment yet produced; by establishing a base-line at Hounslow from which triangulation could be extended in all directions ? not just towards France; by elaborating methods and procedures in his papers for the Philosophical Transactions which were suitable for both the particular Anglo-French scheme and a more general national triangulation; and, perhaps most importantly, by securing the backing of the duke of Richmond, the master-general of the ordnance, who had lent men and equipment for the triangulation. In his description of the work Roy made clear that he saw the Anglo-French triangulation as part of a larger future British project: in his 1790 paper in the Philosophical Transactions he recommends ?that the trigonometrical operation, so successfully begun, should certainly be continued, and gradually extended over the whole island? (ODNB). The plates include the map of Kent and Sussex and the French coast, and show the instruments used in great detail, in particular Jesse Ramsden?s specially made theodolite.
MUZQUIZ, Miguel de.
Folio, pp. xxx, 250, and 13 engraved plates (1 folding). Contemporary limp vellum (some minor marks and wear to lower edges). A fine copy with good margins. FIRST EDITION. The text analyzes in detail the treatment of silk, wool and yarn, the preparation of textiles and the steps of dyeing, with detailed instructions for natural methods and pigments. The copperplates show the main operations that are used in the Real Fábrica de Madrid, with the workers that participate and the necessary equipment to execute the process of coloration. The final, folding plate shows the layout and process of the author?s business where he dyed material for the five largest guilds in Madrid. Not listed by Ron, Bibliotheca Tinctoria.
REED, Edward J.
Large 4to, title leaf + pp. 413?465, and 6 lithographed plates (numbered XVI?XXI) of diagrams. Contemporary blue morocco, sides with ornate gilt border, spine gilt, marbled endpapers with inner gilt dentelles, gilt edges; a fine presentation binding with the author?s monogrammed initials in nautical emblems in centre of upper cover. Bookplate of Robert J. Hayhurst. Presentation copy, inscribed on front free endpaper ?Arthur Wilson Esq. etc. etc. With the kind regards of The Author. Kirk Ella, Feb. 29, 1872.? OFFPRINT of Reed?s highly important paper on naval architecture. The first comprehensive theory of structural loading was by W.J.M. Rankine in 1866, who showed that a curve could be drawn showing how the load varied along the length of the ship. Reed realised the importance of Rankine?s work and initiated action within his department to apply it to ship design. The work was carried out by White and John (acknowledged on the last page), and led to the present paper by Reed to the Royal Society. The implications of this work were enormous. Once the weight distribution was obtained, the waterline at which the ship was balanced on a wave in both the hogging and sagging condition had to be found and hence the distribution of buoyancy. Once the loading on the hull was known, it was possible to design a structure without excessive factors of safety, leading to significant weight saving. See David K. Brown, Warrior to Dreadnought. Warship design and development 1860?1905. ?Under Reed there was a complete revolution in the way ships were designed; rules of thumb gave way to calculations based on theoretically sound principles and careful experiment? (ODNB).
PORTA, Giambattista della.
4to, 6 leaves, 230 pages, 1 leaf (imprimatur). Including the inserted dedication leaf and its conjugate blank. Woodcut device on title, woodcut headpieces and initials, diagrams in the text. Some foxing, and paper of some gatherings browned, several small holes in blank areas of title, small hole in 10 leaves with loss of a few letters in 3 leaves. Eighteenth century vellum-backed boards, spine lettered in manuscript. Two early signatures on title deleted; signature of R.S. Creed, 1955, on front endpaper. FIRST EDITION. ?Porta?s contribution to the theory and practice of Renaissance optics is found in book XVII of the Magiae of 1589?[expanded into] the De refractione of 1593. He did not invent the camera obscura, but he is the first to report adding a concave lens to the aperture. He also juxtaposed concave and convex lenses and reports various experiments with them? His comparison of the lens in the camera obscura to the pupil in the human eye did provide an easily understandable demonstration that the source of visual images lay outside the eye as well as outside the darkened room. He thus ended on a popular level an age-old controversy. Porta?s work lies conceptually and chronologically between Risner?s Opticae Thesaurus of 1572 and Kepler?s Ad Vitellionem paralipomena of 1604? (DSB). Parkinson, Breakthroughs, 1593. DiLaura, Bibliotheca Opticoria, 45. Osler 3720, noting that Haeser calls Porta the founder of modern optics. Not in the Becker catalogue, which has the Magiae naturalis. Albert, Norton & Hurtes 1831: ??one of the principle founders of modern optics.? The leaf of dedication to Octavio Pisani, ?Adolescenti erudito?, inserted between the title and A2, is not found in all copies.
WITELO.
Folio, (iv) + 297 leaves. Title printed in red and black with a large woodcut vignette demonstrating optical problems, full-page woodcut of the arms of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the dedicatee, and numerous woodcut diagrams in the text. 18th century Italian(?) half sheep (spine neatly restored), unlettered, marbled sides, some wormholes in the binding just entering the first few leaves. Light browning (heavier in some gatherings) after aa1 which appears to be printed on different paper stock to the first 184 leaves, otherwise a nice copy. Early note of purchase for 15 soldi from one Bottero on front endpaper, small defaced library stamp in lower margin of title. Second edition, a reissue of the first of 1535 with the same collation, of the Perspectiva by the Polish friar and physicist Witelo who flourished in the second half of the thirteenth century. Considered the first textbook of optics written by a European, this was the work from which Renaissance Europe learned optics and the source for many optical texts that would appear subsequently. It influenced Leonardo da Vinci, Giambattista della Porta, Tycho Brahe, Galileo and Descartes, among others, and was the starting point of Kepler?s study of the retinal image. ?While John Peckham?s Perspectiva communis was medieval Europe?s most used basic optics text, Witelo?s Perspectiva was the advanced comprehensive equivalent? There were several reasons for its utility. First, though following Alhazen closely, Witelo imposed a Euclid-like structure of theorems or propositions, including enunciations, definitions and proofs. This made the text more accessible and didactic; significantly more useful as a textbook than Alhazen?s De Aspectibus. Second, Witelo?s Perspectiva included a long first book that introduced all the plane and three-dimensional geometry that would be required to study the subsequent text? Third, Witelo?s Perspectiva included topics not covered in the De Aspectibus, including mirror foci, refraction by glass spheres, and atmospheric refraction? (DiLaura). DiLaura, Bibliotheca Optica, 23. Sarton II, pp. 1027?1028. Thorndike II, pp, 454?456. King, History of the telescope, p. 26. For the first edition of 1535 see Stillwell, The awakening interest in science, 254. This edition is rarer than the first; it is not, for instance, in the NLM which has the first.
SMITH, Robert.
8vo, pp. iv, (iii)?vii, 218, and 6 engraved plates (4 folding). Contemporary mottled sheep (ends of spine worn, joints cracked but perfectly firm), later red morocco label on spine. Armorial bookplate (defaced with lower portion missing) on front pastedown and later bookplate of J. Hainstock Anderson on front free endpaper. FIRST EDITION. The first successful English book on the control of vermin. There had been three or four small works on catching vermin published prior to Smith?s book, most of them short works now known in only a few copies or even only one copy. Smith himself published a 48-page pamphlet The complete rat-catcher in 1768, presumably before expanding it into the present book-length treatise which went to three editions in less than twenty years. It includes all manner of animals including some that we no longer consider vermin such as badgers, otters, owls, hawks, and the nightjar. He does include that modern nuisance, ?the sheep-killing dog? Smith was rat-catcher to Princess Amelia, daughter of George II, and his rat trap was still being recommended by the Royal Agricultural Society of England as the best example of its kind more than a century later. The Preservation of Grain Act of 1532 was passed by Henry VIII as a result of a series of poor harvests coupled with population growth resulting in food shortages. Therefore the Tudors declared war on that part of the wildlife population that was deemed a threat to food supplies, and it was the duty of every parishioner to despatch these pests at every opportunity. The practice continued essentially uncontrolled into the twentieth century.
[PIERRE DE LIMOGES.]
Small 8vo, 64 unnumbered leaves. Printed in double columns, 35 lines, title-page with large woodcut. Near-contemporary wooden boards with remains of a bind-stamped morocco spine on upper cover, rebacked, new endpapers, clasp missing. A clean copy. Bookplate of M. Novati. Probably the third edition (there were three editions published in Venice in 1496) of ?the second earliest printed work on the eye, Grassus?s De oculis (1474) being the first? (Becker). This work is often attributed to John Peckham, or to Petrus de Lacepiera whose name appears in the colophon, but its author is now accepted to be Pierre de Limoges (Petrus Lemovicencis, d. 1306), a Parisian who helped to found the Sorbonne at the end of the thirteenth century. Written in the late 13th century, De Oculo Morali was produced for preachers in the hope of making homilies interesting and relevant by making morals parallels to the principal aspects of Perspectiva ? the medieval study encompassing the eye, vision, and optics. It contains in the first four chapters a description of the eye, which at such an early date is of considerable interest. ?The purpose of the De oculo morali is purely ethical but it contains a description of the eye, together with a brief account of eye diseases and their treatment? (Sarton II, p. 1029). On the title-page is a woodcut of a monk teaching, and pointing to his eye. Klebs p. 243 (reference only, under Peckham). DiLaura, Bibliotheca Opticoria, 6. Becker catalogue 222 (Italian edition, under Lacepiera). Wellcome I, 5029 (Italian edition).
PECHAM, John.
4to, ff. 47, (1) blank. Oval woodcut Jesuit device on title, woodcut initial and headpiece, diagrams in the text. Old vellum (edges and spine repaired), new pastedowns and front free endpaper. Giovanni Battista Borelli?s copy, inscribed on the title ?Ex lib. Borelli? and the price paid in the same(?) hand. A late edition of this classic work on optics, which was the most influential text on the subject for three hundred years, and the work on which Pecham?s fame has chiefly rested. Written between 1277 and 1279, ?the Perspectiva Communis was the most widely used of all optical texts from the early fourteenth until the close of the sixteenth century, and it remains today the best index of what was known to the scientific community in general on the subject? (DSB). ?This is the second edition of Pascal DuHamel?s slight editing of, and commentary on, Georg Hartmann?s edition of Peckham?s optics textbook, with some additional woodcut figures in the text. This is essentially a reprinting of the edition of 1556, save that it does not include Hartmann?s preface of 1542. The periodic appearance of Peckham?s Perspectiva Communis demonstrates its continued use as a textbook on optics in the Renaissance up to the time of Kepler? (DiLaura). DiLaura, Bibliotheca Opticoria, 35.
MAUROLICO, Francesco.
4to, pp. (vii), 84. Numerous woodcut diagrams and one woodcut illustration of the anatomy of the eye in the text. C1 and C4 are cancels, and in this copy these two leaves are bound in after the complete gathering C which retains the two cancellands. Neat repairs to inner margin of title and upper inner corner of first 4 leaves, neat repair to tear in fore-edge margin of D4. Modern vellum, brown morocco label on spine. Inscription of the Jesuit college of St. Ignatius on title; bookplate of David L. DiLaura FIRST EDITION of the most important work on optics of the sixteenth century. Edited by Cristoforo Clavio, the work?s publication some 35 years after Maurolico?s death was occasioned in part by Galileo?s discoveries concerning the telescope in 1610. It is extremely rare. ?The greatest part of his Photismi was already written by 1554, and the whole work was completed at the end of 1567, that is, before the publication of Alhazen?s Opticae thesaurus. It does not follow that Maurolyco was not acquainted with Alhazen?s book, because he might have read a manuscript of it, or the Alhazen tradition might have reached him indirectly. However, his own Photismi was very different: it was composed in the Greek mathematical style with which he was familiar. Its full title describes its contents: ?Light concerning Light, consisting of a Chapter on Shadows & Reflection followed by Three Books on Refraction of which the first deals with transparent bodies, the second with the rainbow, the third with the structure of the human eye and the forms of spectacles? ?Maurolycus? Photismi may have been the best optical book of the Renaissance, but as it remained unpublished it could not exert any influence before 1611? (Sarton, p. 85). ?Maurolico [1494?1575] did important work in optics; indeed, according to Libri, ?it is in his research on optics, above all, that Maurolico showed the most sagacity? (Histoire, III, 116). The chief record of this research is Photismi de Lumine et Umbra, in which Maurolico discussed the rainbow, the theory of vision, the effects of lenses, the principal phenomena of dioptrics and catoptrics, radiant heat, photometry, and caustics. Maurolico?s work on caustics was anticipated by that of Leonardo da Vinci (as was his research on centers of gravity), but Leonardo?s work was not published until long after Maurolico?s. Libri further characterized the Photismi de lumine et umbra as ?full of curious facts and ingenious research?, and Sarton suggested that it might be the most remarkable optical treatise of the sixteenth century outside the tradition of Alhazen, or even the best optical book of the Renaissance (Six Wings, 84, 85).? The two cancelled leaves, present here in two quite different states of text and illustration, were unknown until seen in this copy. During the printing Clavio changed his mind about the clarity of the text and diagrams accompanying Maurolyco?s explanation of the pinhole camera, which is the earliest such explanation. DiLaura, Bibliotheca Opticoria, 57. Sarton, Six Wings: Men of Science in the Renaissance, pp. 84?85. Vasco Ronchi, Optics, the science of vision, pp. 39?40. Lindberg, Theories of Vision from Al-Kindi to Kepler, pp. 178?182. Henry Crew (trans.), The Photismi de Lumine of Maurolycus. A Chapter in Late Medieval Optics. Wolf, History of Science, Technology, &c. in the XVIth and XVIIth Centuries, pp. 245?248, showed that Maurolico?s work on optics anticipated that of Kepler in some respects. Riccardi, I, 142 (the 1575 edition that he cites is a ghost.).
SIEBE, Henry.
Small 8vo, pp. xii (including the frontispiece), 299, + 48 pages of publisher?s adverts dated May 1874. Woodcut figures in the text. Original green pictorial cloth, upper cover and spine decorated in black and gilt, bevelled edges, grey-brown endpapers, a nice copy. Neat inscription on front endpaper. FIRST EDITION of the first book-length history of diving, from the earliest times. ?The science of diving has already reached a point of perfection which fully entitles it to an important place among the industries of the time? (preface). Henry Siebe was the only surviving son of the Prussian immigrant engineer Christian Augustus Siebe, founder of the firm which made the first successful diving helmets in 1830.
PECHAM, John.
Small folio, 20 leaves. With the final errata leaf, large woodcut on title depicting a master and his students and with Sessa?s cat and mouse device beneath, some fine woodcut initials, and 77 woodcut diagrams in the margins. Small repair to upper outer corner of last leaf. Modern limp vellum with ties, in a black morocco solander box. A fine and large copy. Bookplate of David L. DiLaura. A handsome early edition of this classic work on optics, which was the most influential text on the subject for three hundred years. Pecham endeavoured to reconcile all the available authorities ? Aristotle, Euclid, Augustine, al-Kindi, Ibn Rushd, Grosseteste, Bacon, but most of all, Ibn al-Haytham or Alhazen. This is the first edition to be edited by Luca Gaurico (1476?1558), the expatriate Neapolitan scholar who also edited the works of Archimedes and Ptolemy. ?The work on which Pecham?s fame has chiefly rested is the Perspectiva Communis, probably written between 1277 and 1279 during Pecham?s professorship at the papal curia. In the first book Pecham discussed the propagation of light and color, the anatomy and physiology of the eye, the act of visual perception, physical requirements for vision, the psychology of vision, and the errors of direct vision. In Book II he discussed vision by reflected rays and presented a careful and sophisticated analysis of image formation by reflection. Book III was devoted to the phenomena of refraction, the rainbow, and the Milky Way? ?Pecham?s optical system included significantly more than a theory of direct vision. He briefly discussed the doctrine of species; treated at length the propagation of rays; and developed a theory to explain how solar radiation, when passing through noncircular apertures, gives rise to circular images. He expressed the full law of reflection and applied it to image formation by plane, spherical, cylindrical, and conical mirrors; in this analysis he revealed an implicit understanding of the nature of the focal point of a concave mirror? ?The Perspectiva Communis was the most widely used of all optical texts from the early fourteenth until the close of the sixteenth century, and it remains today the best index of what was known to the scientific community in general on the subject? (DSB). Probably the third or fourth edition (an inferior edition was published in Leipzig also in 1504); there were two incunable editions. DiLaura, Bibliotheca Opticoria, 8: ?This?edition is particularly interesting and important.? See Stillwell, The Awakening Interest in Science, II, 205.
[PIERRE DE ALIMOGES.]
Folio, 61 leaves (of 62, lacking the initial blank). Without signatures or pagination, 39 lines plus headline, incipit on f. 9 preceded by 7 leaves containing a table of contents by Mathias Farinator, large capital supplied in red and text rubricated on f. 9. Bound in half russia by Bauzonnet between 1831 and 1840, spine ruled in gilt (joints rubbed and cracked at ends), marbled sides and endpapers. A few leaves with short early marginalia, old library stamp on flyleaf. Very fine copy with wide margins. Second edition of ?the second earliest printed work on the eye, Grassus?s De oculis (1474) being the first? (Becker). It contains a description of the eye, together with a brief account of eye diseases and their treatment. Written in the late 13th century, De Oculo Morali was produced for preachers in the hope of making homilies interesting and relevant by making morals parallels to the principal aspects of Perspectiva ? the medieval study encompassing the eye, vision, and optics. Perspectiva originated with De Aspectibus, the Latin translation of Katib al-Manazir by the great Arabic scholar known in the West as Alhazen. Much of the natural philosophy of vision in the Kitab al-Manazir found its way into De Oculo Morali, via De Aspectibus, becoming similes for the moral life. Although the author was given in the book as John Pecham (Joannis Pithsani), Archbishop of Canterbury, the treatise was written by Pierre de Limoges, a physician, astronomer and cleric who helped to found the Sorbonne at the end of the thirteenth century. The work was first printed Anton Sorg not after August 1476. Klebs p. 243 (reference only, under Peckham). DiLaura, Bibliotheca Opticoria, 1. Becker catalogue 222 (Italian edition, under Lacepiera). Wellcome I, 5028. Sarton II, p. 1029.
PECHAM, John.
8vo, (viii) + 48 leaves. Woodcut device on title, woodcut diagrams in the text. Light foxing throughout. 18th century French mottled calf (rubbed, ends of spine and tips of corners worn, upper joint cracking at foot), marbled endpapers, red edges. Early signature of Jo. Ant. Girardi and the name Fontanini on title; bookplates of Charles Verzon and David L. DiLaura. FIRST EDITION IN ITALIAN of Pecham?s classic work on optics, translated and with an added commentary by Giovanni Paolo Gallucci using Hartmann?s edition of 1542. This was also the first translation into any vernacular language and made Pecham?s work available to a wider audience. ?Gallucci?s glosses feature examples taken from everyday life? The long section on mirrors discusses the reflections of colors, the angles of incidence, transparency, the function of lead on glass mirrors, mirrors made of iron or diamond, spherical or plain or shaped like a column, and the appearance of images on broken mirrors? (DiLaura). Pecham?s book was written just over three hundred years before this translation appeared, and was the most influential text on the subject throughout that time. DiLaura, Bibliotheca Opticoria, 44. Pecham is identified as ?Archbishop John of Canterbury? in the title.
PRONY, Gaspar C.F.M.R. de.
2 volumes, 4to, pp. xii, 621, (3), 72, and 15 folding engraved plates; 1 leaf, pp. 38, 203, (1), and 38 large folding engraved plates. Half-title in volume 1. Modern marbled boards using old materials (a few small nicks in ends of spines), red morocco labels on spines, uncut, a fine and large copy. FIRST EDITION. ?Prony?s Nouvelle Architecture Hydraulique is the first French work to deal with the Watt engine of which it contains the earliest published illustration. The work as a whole is concerned with the raising of water but was written in two parts divided in date owing to the French Revolution. The first part is largely devoted to the principles of statics, dynamics, and hydrodynamics but its final section and the whole of the second part show the practical application of these theories, in particular to the steam engine? ?Quite apart from its role in the development of engineering education in France, the book is of significance for what it reveals on the spread and influence of the Watt engine, more so as Prony received so much of his information first hand from those involved? (from a longer description by Julia Elton, Catalogue 9, describing this copy). The magnificent, large and detailed engraved plates include, among many others, an illustration of the first of Watt?s engines to be erected in France, known as the Chaillot engine, and of the first steam engine built entirely in France, by the Périer brothers.
POTT, Percivall.
Large 4to, 4 leaves, pp. (5)?802, and 12 engraved plates. Tear in lower margin of Pp2 repaired on verso at an early date. Contemporary diced russia (joints neatly repaired), spine richly gilt, green morocco label, sides with floriated gilt borders and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, yellow edges. Collected edition of this great surgeon?s works, and the only one in quarto. It includes his works on wounds of the head, ruptures, fractures and dislocations, chimney sweeps? cancer, etc., etc. Pott was surgeon to St. Bartholomew?s Hospital, and the principal English surgeon of his time.
