Catalogue Selections

First edition of this very rare account of the mineral springs at Leuk (or Leukbad), an ancient little town in the Swiss canton of the Valais. The mineral springs are very hot and their therapeutic actions included curing rheumatism, gout, paralysis, scaly eruptions, and female complaints. Naterer, a medical doctor, has provided a chemical analysis of the water and outlines their therapeutic use.

The attractive and charming frontispiece depicts the town situated in a deep valley.

Fine copy. Presentation copy from the author.

Ferchl, p. 378.

First edition. Nau (1766-1845), was professor of natural history at the University of Mainz and, later, professor of the same subject at the Forestry School at Aschaffenburg. He was also conservator of the mineralogical collection at Munich.

This is a summary of all the developments which had taken place in the science of forest management during the previous fifty years in Germany. Nau clearly had a complete command of the literature as nearly every section contains bibliographical references.

Fine copy from the library of Graf von Seinsheim.

❧ Humpert 3125. Mantel, I, 17. Poggendorff, II, 255-56.

Fine copy from the library of His Serene Highness Prince Fürstenberg at Donaueschingen with his stamps on title and final leaf.

Schwenke, Adressbuch der Deutschen Bibliotheken, 915.

Fine copy. From the library of His Serene Highness Prince Fürstenberg at Donaueschingen.

D.S.B., IX, p. 620.

"The work stemmed from the visits he made to Britain to examine the bridges there on behalf of the Ponts et Chaussées, assessing the possibilities of this new structural form. In his report to Becquey he recommends its adoption, giving in the Mémoire that follows, precise plans and details of such notable examples as Brown's Berwick bridge and those of Marc Brunel on the Isle de Bourbon as well as describing Telford's Runcorn and Menai schemes. He also summarizes the experiments on wrought-iron chains carried out by Telford, Barlow, Brown and Brunel. The book as a whole is thus a brilliant synthesis of theory and practice."­Elton, Cat. 4, item 32.

"For fifty years, this report was one of the most important books covering the design of suspension bridges."­Timoshenko, History of Strength of Materials, p. 73.

Fine copy. Ex Bibliotheca Mechanica.

Peters, Guillaume Henri Dufour and the Early 19th Century Cable Suspension Bridges, p. 42­"the first theoretical and practical book on suspension bridge construction, giving precise plans and details, as well as the first widely used theoretical work on analytical statics." Poggendorff, II, 260-61. Roberts & Trent, Bibliotheca Mechanica, pp. 234-35.

Second edition, revised and with notes by Joseph Liouville (1809-82), professor of mathematics at the Collège de France. This was a standard textbook of the day.

Apart from the considerable foxing, a very good copy. Ex Bibliotheca Mechanica.

The medical theories of Nemesius (fl. 390-400 A.D.), one of the greatest Greek Christian philosophers of late Antiquity in the Middle East, were attacked first by Berengario da Carpi in 1521 and Vesalius in 1543.

The present edition was edited by Nicasius Ellebodius, who also supplied the Latin translation.

Fine copy with the errata on M₃ recto.

D.S.B., X, pp. 20-21. Durling 3329.

First edition of this rare thesis on typhus; there is no copy in OCLC. Neret, a native of Nancy, suggests how the disease is spread and provides a very detailed account of the course of the disease including incubation, invasion of the body, eruptions of the skin, and the final crisis. He provides six interesting case histories.

Fine copy.

First edition in English, with considerable additions based on his own experiments by the translator William Lewis, author of the Commercium Philosophico-Technicum (London: 1763-65). Neumann (1683–1737), contributed significantly to the establishment of Stahlian chemistry in Germany and its dissemination throughout Europe. “He distinguished clearly between pure and applied chemistry and insisted that the chemical approach to nature was vastly superior to the mechanical philosophy.”–D.S.B., X, p. 26.

“The text is divided into three approximately equal parts covering the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms. One of the best textbooks of the period, it contains (according to Cole) ‘the first exposition of Stahl’s phlogiston theory in English.’ A bibliography of Neumann’s publications appears in the preface.”–Neville, II, p. 222.

A very good copy. Bookplate of William Downes on front paste-down.

❧ Cole 973. Partington II, pp. 702–706.

"He published his prelections at the request of his friends, so that the scope of his teaching might be known. He was an energetic and successful chemist."­Ferguson, II, p. 137.

As Court apothecary, he took on the demanding job of running one of Europe's busiest pharmacies.

I. First edition of Neumann's lectures on saltpeter, sulphur, antimony, and iron.

II. First edition of his notable work on amber. There are a number of references to the researches on the nature of amber undertaken in Boston by Boylston, Atkins, and Prince.

III. First edition of Neumann's lectures on salts, cream of tartar, sal-ammoniac, and formic acid; very rare with no copy in N.U.C., OCLC, or RLIN.

Fine copies. With two contemporary engraved armorial bookplates -- "Ex Bibliotheca Kleiniana" and "Ex Bibliotheca Gralathiana."

D.S.B., X, pp. 25-26. Ferguson, II, pp. 136-37. Partington, II, pp. 702-06.

Second edition in Latin and an influential book on the Continent. Newton published this edition in Latin to reach the Continental audience which had been little influenced by his optical experiments. The edition served its purpose and caused numerous demonstrations of his theory of colors to be performed in Paris. Newton’s optical theories began to spread significantly outside Great Britain as a result of this book. See Westfall’s Never at Rest, pp. 794-95.

A very good copy with the signature, dated 14 Mar. 1822, of Stephen Peter Rigaud (1774-1839), historian of science, astronomer, and Savilian professor of geometry at Oxford. Stamp of the Radcliffe Observatory on verso of title. With the bookplate of William A. Cole, the distinguished collector and bibliographer of chemistry. <> ❧ Babson 138.

Fourth edition, and the final edition to be revised by Newton, of this great classic. It contains the complete set of 31 Queries which reveal some of Newton’s most influential and speculative writing.

Fine crisp copy. Contemporary armorial bookplate of Edward Powell.

❧ Babson 136.

Second edition, revised and enlarged by Newton. This is the second issue with the title-page dated 1718 (1st issue: 1717). For this second edition, the first in octavo, the plates were newly engraved to suit the new format. While Newton left the body of the treatise largely untouched, “the number of Queries at the end was increased from 16 to 31, including the celebrated Query No. 28 on the nature of light.”–Babson, I, p. 67.

Very good copy with a few plates just shaved. Contemporary signature on free front endpaper: “Ex libris Hci Jefferson. ex Coll: Div: Joh: Cant: Dec: 27mo die, 1719. Pre: 6.”

❧ Babson 134.

First edition of what I believe to be the scarcest of all of Newton’s books on the market. This was, in the 18th century, the most popular mathematical work by Newton, being reprinted a number of times both on the Continent and in England. Newton compiled the Universal Arithmetic in a “cavalier fashion by plundering the papers connected with his Observations on Kinckhuysen early in the 1670s. Since things Newton touched had a way of turning to gold, the work did not merely summarize algebra but advanced the science — in its analysis of imaginary roots, for example. Leibniz reviewed the published work anonymously in the Acta eruditorum in highly laudatory terms [in 1708].”–Westfall, Never at Rest. A Biography of Isaac Newton, p. 398.

Newton’s disciple and successor in the Lucasian chair at Cambridge, William Whiston, edited and published the present work. The book also contains Halley’s “Method of finding Roots of Equations Arithmetically,” which was originally published in the Philosophical Transactions of 1694.

Over the years, I have had, with the exception of this book, all of Newton’s printed publications. This book is truly uncommon.

Very good copy. Stamp on title of Stonyhurst College.

❧ Babson 199.

First edition, a complete set of the first series, of the first modern scientific periodical, being a monthly publication containing original papers, translations of important foreign articles, notices of research, and a news section concerning discoveries, instruments, publications, and scientific meetings. These Journal volumes contain, inter alia, two papers of outstanding importance: John Dalton’s “New Theory of the Constitution of Mixed Aeriform Fluids,” his first announcement of the theory of mixed gases, the foundation of his chemical atomic theory; and Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle’s “Account of the New Electrical or Galvanic Apparatus of Sig. Alex. Volta, and Experiments performed with the Same,” the foundation of electro-chemistry.

“In July 1800 Nicholson’s Journal enjoyed its greatest coup, when it gave the first report of its proprietor’s sensational electrolysis of water, in collaboration with Anthony Carlisle. The Journal immediately became the accepted vehicle and the powerful reinforcer of the resulting scientific fashion for electrolysis, a fashion which Humphry Davy effectively exploited in his own brilliant demonstration of the newly possible art of scientific careerism. Another illustration of the changes wrought by this fresh medium of scientific communication may be seen in the work of John Dalton. He used the monthly journal to engage critics of his theory of mixed gases and thereby was encouraged to persevere in the work which finally led to his chemical atomic theory.”–D.S.B., X, p. 108.

The First Series contains contributions by Accum, Dalton, Davy, Kirwan, Nicholson, Priestley, Fourcroy, Chaptal, Venturi, Humboldt and many other notable scientists.

A fine set. Ex Bibliotheca Mechanica.

“Second edition, with Improvements” (1st ed.: 1790); this is a wonderfully fresh copy in fine contemporary condition. Nicholson (1753-1815), translator of Fourcroy and Chaptal, and editor of the first general scientific periodical in England published independently of the academics, was one of the important British figures in the new chemical movement.

“The author produced a text in which he ‘attempted to keep clear of every system’ with regard to nomenclature and theory. Since he believed the ‘antiphlogistic hypothesis equally probable with the modified system of Stahl’ he explains both...The text is divided into two Books, I. General Chemistry includes heat, construction of thermometers, combustion, methods of making experiments with gases, an account of balances and elective attractions; II. includes general principles of bodies, acids, metals, mineral combustibles, vegetable and animal products. The useful treatment in I. of thermometers and balances is not found in many texts.”–Cole, p. 402–(describing the 1st ed.).

Very fine copy.

❧ Cole 977–“In the second edition the author has revised the work to some extent and inserted new discoveries.” Neville, II, p. 228. Partington, IV, p. 19-20.

"The author produced a text in which he 'attempted to keep clear of every system' with regard to nomenclature and theory. Since he believed the 'antiphlogistic hypothesis equally probable with the modified system of Stahl' he explains both...The text is divided into two Books, I. General Chemistry includes heat, construction of thermometers, combustion, methods of making experiments with gases, an account of balances and elective attractions; II. includes general principles of bodies, acids, metals, mineral combustibles, vegetable and animal products. The useful treatment in I. of thermometers and balances is not found in many texts."­Cole, p. 402­(describing the 1st ed.).

Very fine copy. 18th century engraved armorial bookplate of "Sr Rd Bempde Johnstone, Bart."

Cole 977­"In the second edition the author has revised the work to some extent and inserted new discoveries." Partington, IV, p. 19-20.

Second and final edition, extensively revised, of Nicholson’s great two-volume dictionary of chemistry which first appeared in 1795. “The author did not call this a second edition since it is in effect a totally new work, greatly enlarged and extensively rewritten to bring it up to date. The Appendix contains, in addition to tables, Davy’s Bakerian Lecture read Nov. 19, 1807 on the decomposition of the fixed alkalis by electricity.”–Cole 975.

A very good copy.

❧ Neville II, p. 227.

"There are two catalogues of his library: one in 8vo [the present one] with an engraved frontispiece, printed 'sumptibus Haeredum', Amsterdam in 1698. The other is the duodecimo catalogue for the auction sale held by the Jansson-Waesberghe firm, beginning on 24 November the same year. The octavo catalogue may have been printed by the heirs to elicit an offer for the library as a whole; but the frontispiece and the preface give the impression that the primary purpose of this catalogue was memorial."­Pollard & Ehrman p. 205­(& see Table XXV & no. 219).

This catalogue contains, besides Nicolai's books (rich in medicine and chemistry), his portraits of scholars by Rubens and Frans Hals, a long series of Greek and Roman coins, and some ancient marbles.

Very good copy. Signature of "C. de Coup. 1701" on title.

First edition of this description of one of the most celebrated French collections of the Romantic period. This is Nodier’s account of his collection in its final state. He was obviously considering retirement and the realization of his main asset, and for this purpose had again prepared extensive investigations of the books to be sold as Nouveau Mélanges, a part of which he had published in the Bulletin du Bibliophile; death overtook him on 27 January, 1844, by which time his entire text had been set up in proof.

This copy lacks, as is quite often the case, the “Introduction” (7 pp.), “Notice bibliographique” (24 pp.), and the “Table & Prix” (28 pp.) but does contain Nodier’s note on Duvergier’s “Invention de l’Imprimerie” (3 pp.).

Very good copy. 1254 entries.