Many illus., mostly in black but some in red, pink, gray, green, yellow, blue, etc. Ca. 1821 folding leaves of text. 1083 chapters in 50 parts in 54 vols. (parts 14 & 15 in one vol., parts 24, 34, 42, & 47 in two vols. each, plus one vol. of table of contents). 8vo (266 x 188 mm.), orig. blue wrappers, orig. manuscript labels on each upper wrapper, new stitching. [Probably Kyoto: written in 1690 & this is a mid-Edo copy].

A rare and extremely important text, finely illustrated and complete in 50 parts; it remained unpublished until 1936. WorldCat lists no copy of this manuscript in North America (the NYPL’s copy is a microfilm). This... More

2 p.l., lvi, 502 pp. 8vo, 19th-cent. sheep-backed marbled boards, flat spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Paris: Dessain, 1779.

A most unusual copy, very probably Chardin’s own copy, of this sale catalogue; it is the first of several sales, here held under the maiden name of his wife “Filheul,” by which Chardin, one of the most important Parisian booksellers of his time, periodically disposed of a portion of his vast stock. We know of later sales in 1806, 1819 (in London), and 1824.

This did not prevent Chardin from selling many rare books and MSS. directly to collectors throughout his career... More

One folding engraved plate. xxiii pp. Large 4to, attractive modern decorated paper over semi-stiff boards. Rome: A. de Rubeis, [1739].

First edition of one of Boscovich’s first publications. “Early in his career his interest was drawn to the problem of the size and shape of the earth, an issue intensively discussed in the first half of the eighteenth century, since its resolution was thought to be crucial in an eventual choice between a Cartesian cosmology of vortices, which predicted an earth slightly elongated at the poles, and a Newtonian one of inertial motion under attractive forces, in which case the globe... More

Engraved frontis. port. of Cervantes by Virtue, several engraved head-pieces, & 67 engraved plates. xxiii, [8], [xxv]-xxxii, vi, [2], 90, [14] (first leaf a blank), 355 pp.; xii, 388 pp. Two vols. Large 4to, cont. speckled calf (joints very expertly repaired), spines gilt, brown & green morocco lettering pieces on spines. London: J. & R. Tonson & R. Dodsley, 1742.

First edition of this esteemed translation and a wonderful association copy; this set belonged to Edward Gibbon and bears his bookplate in each volume. Gibbon was known for the wide range of his reading and he refers to this work in several of his letters and writings. He clearly liked this... More

20 engraved plates (including one double-page) & several engraved vignettes (including one on the title). 2 p.l., xviii, [2], 460 pp., 2 leaves of subscribers. Large folio, cont. mottled calf (title with a little dampstaining round edges), spine richly gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Grenoble: Cuchet, 1778.

First edition of one of the most famous and attractive of all geological books in which the author “established once and for all that basalt, a rock important scientifically because of its distinctive characteristics, its widespread occurrence, and the manner of its association with other kinds of rocks, was the product of volcanic action.”–D.S.B., IV, p. 548... More

Title within architectural woodcut border incorporating the date “1534.” Largely printed in black letter. 67 leaves, [8] pp. Small 8vo, antique calf by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, spine gilt, red leather lettering pieces on spine. [London: Printed by H. Wykes?], 1567.

An early edition of the first text on surveying printed in English. The first edition was printed by Richard Pynson in 1523; all early editions are rare, as copies were used to death. Our copy is most unusual as it is fine and large with a number of lower edges uncut.

Fitzherbert’s book is concerned primarily with giving instruction to land stewards and overseers of the... More

4 p.l., 162 leaves. Small 4to, cont. blindstamped panelled pigskin, remains of two deerskin ties. Zurich: C. Froschauer, 1542.

First edition of a very rare book on the market; this is a lovely fresh copy in contemporary blind-stamped pigskin. This, Gesner’s second botanical work, is “an alphabetically arranged catalog of plant names in four languages, the first of its kind, and an indication of the growing interest in botany beyond purely philological investigations into the writings of the classics. The Greek names are based on the works of Dioscorides. This early work is already characteristic of Gessner’s life-long endeavour to arrange scientific... More

Several diagrams in the text. 1 p.l., 33 (i.e. 29) pp. Large 4to, orig. blue wrappers, uncut. London: W. Bulmer, 1814.

First separate edition, with new pagination. This offprint belonged to Carl Friedrich Gauss, with the “Gauss-Bibliothek” stamp on the title. This copy was no doubt sent by Herschel to Europe’s leading mathematician.

The present work is an important contribution to mathematical notation by Herschel, who was, with Charles Babbage and George Peacock, a founder of the famous Analytical Society, a group of Cambridge mathematical reformers. They wanted to leave behind the fluxional, Newtonian notation so prevalent in 18th-century Britain and... More

Wooden board with thick frame (1360 x 650 x 70 mm.), orig. metalwork pieces on sides & corners, with orig. metal fittings on top to facilitate hanging perpendicularly outside the shop. Both sides carved with characters of the same text, one side artfully carved in sosho tai (a calligraphic cursive script), the other side finely carved in gyosho tai (a semi-cursive script), with furigana reading marks. Characters painted with black pigment & highlighted in gold lacquer. [Japan]: date of manufacture of the board is engraved on one of the cornerpieces (in trans.): “February 1804” by “kazarishi Kinjiro Kamiya” (“ornamental metalwork... More

2 p.l., viii, 494 pp., 1 leaf of errata. Large thick 8vo (245 x 160 mm.), cont. aubergine straight-grained morocco, sides gilt & inlaid to an elaborate “cathedral” design in the shape of a “gothic” window enclosing a cathedral rose inlaid in ochre, light-green, & red, four bands on spine, two of the compartments lettered in gilt, the others gold-tooled & partly inlaid in light-green morocco, aubergine morocco doublures & triplures brilliantly gilt & blind-tooled, a.e.g., by Joseph Thouvenin (signed at foot of spine “THOUVENIN”), in Paris, ca. 1825. Paris: [Privately Printed by] Firmin-Didot, 1823.

Limited to 340 copies, of which this is one of thirty copies on large “papier vélin,” reserved for presentation to the members of the Société des Bibliophiles Français and magnificently bound in very fine mosaic cathedral-style binding by Joseph Thouvenin. Privately printed, this is one of the earliest Russian private library catalogues and was written by the owner himself with the aid of Charles Piquet. More

Numerous woodcut diagrams in the text. xxxii, 133 pp. 8vo, cont. blond calf (very short crack at foot of upper joint), triple gilt fillet round sides, spine nicely gilt, contrasting morocco lettering piece on spine, a.e.g. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1741.

First edition and a fine copy, printed on large and thick paper. This is a further work by Maupertuis to determine the shape of the earth through the accurate measurement of a degree of the meridian, using the results of the French expedition to Lapland in 1735. He argued “that a theory of the moon’s motion, based on parallax observations... More

A richly illustrated manuscript, important and influential in the history of medicine and surgery in Japan, revealing the introduction of European medical knowledge in Japan, through Ambroise Paré’s Chirurgie, Scultetus’s Armamentarium Chirurgicum, and Spigelius’s Opera. This is a luxury copy (only one similar set survives, at Nagasaki), in oblong folio format, and written and finely illustrated on fine thick mulberry paper. Our manuscript contains 134 exquisitely drawn and richly hand-colored illustrations.

Chinzan (or Eikyu) Narabayashi (1648-1711), belonged to a family of professional interpreters in Nagasaki and became proficient in the Dutch language. He had contact with several Dutch... More