Four folding engraved plates. xxxviii, [2], 184 pp. 4to, cont. mottled calf, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Paris: David l’aîné, 1749.

First edition of one of Alembert’s most important books. “During the late 1740’s, d’Alembert, Clairaut, and Euler were all working on the famous three-body problem, with varying success. D’Alembert’s interest in celestial mechanics thus led him, in 1749, to publish a masterly work, the Recherches sur la Précession des Equinoxes…The precession of the equinoxes, a problem previously attacked by Clairaut, was very difficult. D’Alembert’s method was similar to Clairaut’s but he employed more terms in his integration... More about Recherches sur la Précession des Equinoxes, et sur la Nutation de l’Axe de la Terre, dans le...

53 fine plates on 30 sheets. 2 p.l., xxxix, 99, [4] pp. 4to, cont. Spanish green morocco, cover with gilt fillets round sides, flat spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine, characteristic Spanish marbled endpapers, a.e.g. [Madrid: en la Imprenta Real de la Gazeta, 1781].

First edition — and a superb copy in contemporary Spanish green morocco — of one of the most beautiful and influential of the Spanish writing books; this work and that of Palomares, published in 1776, made Spain an 18th-century center for calligraphy and fine handwriting.

The calligraphic world of later eighteenth-century Spain was formed by the Palomaristas and the Anduagistas... More about Arte de Escribir por Reglas y sin Muestras, establecido de Orden superior en los Reales Sitios de...

viii, 239 (i.e. 235) pp. 8vo, cont. French red morocco, triple gilt fillet round sides, flat spine richly gilt, a.e.g. [London]: 1773.

The second of the auction catalogues prepared for the sale of the library of James West. This is a splendid copy bound in contemporary French red morocco and entirely ruled in red (including the title-page) with prices in a contemporary hand. This copy belonged to the famous book collector Michael Wodhull (1740-1816), who has characteristically recorded on the free front flyleaf the price, date and place of purchase as well as signed it.

West (1704-73), treasurer of the Inner Temple and President of the Royal Society, formed a collection of printed books “exceedingly rich in early English ones. It contained no fewer than thirty-four Caxtons, and a large number of works from the presses of Lettou, Machlinia, the anonymous ‘Scole mayster’ of St. Albans, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, and the rest of the old English typographers, many of which were unique copies. His manuscripts were exceptionally interesting and valuable.”–Fletcher, English Book Collectors, p. 205–(& see pp. 203-07). His library was also strong in scientific, historical, and philosophical works as well as books dealing with law and crime. West bought at all the great sales and dispersals in England for nearly fifty years, including those of Rawlinson, Harley, and Folkes. More about Bibliotheca Westiana: A Catalogue of the Curious and truly Valuable Library of the late James...

Added engraved title & 40 engraved plates (three are folding). 1 p.l., 106 pp., one blank leaf. Small 4to, cont. English panelled calf (corners renewed, rebacked, some dampstaining in gutter at foot to first ten leaves). Rome: A. de Rubeis, 1703.

First separate edition, originally published as the second part of the author’s Observationes circa viventia (1691). Our edition — which is actually the original printing of the second part with a new title-page — is very rare with only one copy located by WorldCat.

Buonanni (1738-1725), one of the most learned Jesuits of his time, was a pupil of Athanasius Kircher, and succeeded his master... More about Micrographia Curiosa sive Rerum minutissimarum Observationes, quae ope Microscopii recognitæ...

Three vols. 12mo, bound in cont. German brown morocco for Duke William of Brunswick (1806-84), with his elaborate arms inlaid on all six covers, sides elaborately gilt, spines richly gilt, a.e.g. Paris: Baudry, 1825.

First edition to be printed on the Continent. Certainly no other copy of The Spy has ever been bound in such an “over the top” fashion.

Very fine set with the elaborately gilt bookplate of Duke William [Wilhelm], nephew of King George III of Britain, in each volume. The first volume lacks the half-title. More about The Spy; a Tale of the Neutral Ground; referring to some Particular Occurrences during the...

xx, 76 pp. 8vo, orig. green cloth, upper cover lettered in gilt. [Manchester: Chas. Sever, Lithographer], 1900.

The rare catalogue describing a vast and storied collection. The collection had its beginnings with the peculiar story of Francis Egerton (not the above), the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (1736-1803), also known as the “Canal Duke.” “The Duke of Bridgewater was one of the great and eccentric success stories of English history. Like that other ducal oddity, the 5th Duke of Portland, he was rejected in love and remained a bachelor. Bridgewater had one big idea: to construct a canal from Manchester to Liverpool to... More about Catalogue of the Bridgewater and Ellesmere Collections of Pictures and Statuary at Bridgewater...

Lithographed title with vignette depicting both sides of the medallion of the Société lithographique de Mulhouse, lithographed leaf of table of contents, & eight lithographed plates (two in color). Large 4to, later blue wrappers (title a little dusty), newly stitched, uncut. Paris: “chez l’Auteur Rue Casette No. 18,” [1816].

First edition of one of the great rarities of lithography. Engelmann (1788-1839), a native of Mulhouse, first learned of lithography in 1813 and began to experiment on some stones. Realizing he needed more information, he decided to go to Munich to see the process at first hand. “For several weeks Engelmann studied... More about Recueil d’Essais Lithographiques dans les différents genres de dessin tels que manière de...

Illus. in the text (Vol. 6 has 13 full-page illus.). Six vols. 8vo, modern wrappers (first leaf of Vol. IV with small defect obscuring one or two characters, Vol. VI with two natural paper flaws touching a few characters of text), new stitching. [China]: two Prefaces dated 1644.

First edition of this influential Chinese ophthalmological work, which records 108 types of eye diseases and has more than 300 prescriptions as well as illustrations and plentiful data. The book discusses medical records of ophthalmology and the theory of five orbiculi (illustrated in the first volume), the eight regions of the whites of the eyes... More about Fu shi yan ke shen shi yao han (alternative title: Yan ke da quan) [trans.: Dr. Fu’s Study and...

Mezzotint frontis. port. of George III (a little foxed), arms on each title, & two engraved views of the library serving as head- & tailpieces. Five vols. Large folio, cont. red straight-grained morocco (minor scuffing), panelled & tooled in gilt with centerpiece stamped monogram "GR" surmounted by a crown on covers, spines gilt, dentelles gilt, a.e.g. London: W. Bulmer & W. Nicol, 1820-29.

The catalogue, "sumptuously printed" by Bulmer, of the magnificent library of King George III (1738-1820), donated to the nation by his son, George IV. This is a royal copy, having belonged to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and the... More about Bibliothecae Regiae Catalogus. [Compiled by Frederick Augusta Barnard].

9 p.l., 127, [1] pp. Small 4to, 19th-cent. red half-morocco & marbled boards (minor staining here & there, A6 a bit chipped at head but not touching text), spine lettered in gilt. London: R. Field for R. Mylbourne, 1625.

First edition and quite uncommon. Hart (d. 1639), physician, studied in Paris and took his medical degree at Basel in 1609. He then travelled to Germany and on to Prague. Upon returning to England, he settled in Northampton where he established a practice and lived there for the rest of his life.

“Hart’s first published work was The Arraignement of Urines (1623), an abridged translation of De incerto... More about The Anatomie of Urines. Containing the Conviction and Condemnation of them. Or, the second Part...

Woodcut printer’s device of the golden compass on title. 119 pp. Small 8vo, 18th-cent. Belgian mottled calf (head of spine a little chipped, joints rubbed), sides gilt, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine (label partly flaked away). Antwerp: C. Plantin, 1570.

[as usual, bound after]:

PHILIP II, King of Spain. Philippi II. Regis Catholici Edictum De Librorum prohibitorum catalogo observando. Woodcut printer’s device of the golden compass on title. 8 unnumbered leaves. Antwerp: C. Plantin, 1570. More about cum Regulis confectis per Patres a Tridentina Synodo delectos, auctoritate Sanctiss. D. N. Pij...

3 p.l. (lacking the first leaf, a blank; title a little soiled), 143, 152-66 pp. Small 4to, cont. English limp vellum. London: N. Okes for N. Bourne, 1623.

First edition of one of the great early English accounts of the exploration of the interior of Africa and the first to be published separately (others appear in collections); it is a classic account of the search for gold.

Ghana, the earliest known empire of the western Sudan, first entered the historical consciousness of North Africa near the end of the eighth century but probably originated long before. Famous to North Africans as the... More about The Golden Trade: or, A Discovery of the River Gambra, and the Golden Trade of the Aethiopians. ...