4 p.l., 24 pp. Small 4to, early 20th-cent. green half-calf & marbled boards by Sizer, spine lettered in gilt. London: Printed for R. Wodenothe, [1652 or 53?]

First edition of this notable book on fruit culture, part of the growing movement during the Commonwealth towards the improvement of orchards. “The preface is by Samuel Hartlib who here states that the writer of the work was not known to him and that moreover he was unable to discover his name. However, it was said that he was ‘an aged minister of the Gospel’ of Loving-land near Yarmouth, who spent his leisure over a period of... More

Four folding engraved plates. Four parts in one vol. [all published]. 8vo, cont. half-sheep & paste-paper boards (occasional minor dampstaining, first 40 leaves with two unimportant wormholes in lower outer margin), spine gilt, black leather lettering piece on spine. Leipzig: Roch, 1801.

First edition, all published, of this important mineralogical and geological journal; this set comes from the library of the great geologist and mineralogist Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749-1817), professor at the famous Freiberg Bergakademie. According to D.S.B., VI, p. 456, this is the first “special periodical for geology and mineralogy…Despite the recognition it received, it ceased publication on the death of its... More

Three text leaves with Chinese characters, final conjugate leaf a full-page woodcut with about 65 Chinese characters, & a large folding engraved plate printing in Chinese characters the Kangxi Emperor’s edict of 1716. 58, [1] pp. Large 4to, orig. decorative wrappers, uncut. Nuremberg & Altdorf: Monath & Kussler, 1802.

First and only edition of an extremely uncommon book. Murr (1733-1811), a resident of Nuremberg, was a scholar with polymathic interests. He edited several intellectual journals, published on libraries and art museums, etc.

This work is, in large part, concerned with the Chinese Rites Controversy and the famous “Red Decree.” The Jesuit missionaries who came to China in... More

Engraved folding frontis. & five folding engraved plates. xv, [1], 339 pp. 8vo, orig. grey boards, red leather lettering piece on spine. Munich: J. Lindauer, 1792.

First edition of this collection of sixteen monographs of scientific, natural historical, and practical articles written by the members of a private scientific society established at Ingolstadt, of which Schrank was the informal leader. The authors include Schrank (six essays on ornithology, botany, and geology); Joseph Bernhard Haim, a mining official at Salzburg (chemical and mineralogical observations); Johann Evangelist Helfenzrieder, professor of mathematics at Ingolstadt (on aeronautics and lightning rods); Matthias Brunswiser, physician at Burghausen (on city cemeteries);... More

12 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. patterned wrappers, orig. block-printed title label on upper cover, new stitching. Tokyo: Shosanodo shoten, 1909.

First edition of the catalogue of a part of the library of the famous Shoheizaka Gakumonjo school, which was located in what is today Ueno Park. The school had its origins as a private Confucian temple, constructed by Razan Hayashi (1583-1657), but was turned into a state-run school under the direct control of the bakufu in 1797, following the Kansei Edict. The school, an official academy of the Tokugawa shogunate, produced many outstanding leaders.

The catalogue describes 64 titles printed in 667 volumes, chiefly devoted to Chinese studies, printed at the academy before its closure in 1871, following the Meiji Restoration. Title, number of volumes, author, and year are given. Tetsunosuke Tomita (1835-1916), the prominent banker and governor of Tokyo, found the woodblocks of these 64 publications and issued the present book to record their existence. More