Engraved frontis. port. of Leybourn and numerous woodcut diagrams & tables in the text. Title printed in red & black. 6 p.l., 84, 177-279 pp. Small folio, cont. sheep (some wear & rubbing, a few unimportant stains). London: R. & W. Leybourn for E. Brewster & G. Sawbridge, 1653.

First edition under this title. “Of all the seventeenth-century writers on surveying, William Leybourn probably exerted a greater influence on the practicing surveyor than any other, with the possible exception of John Love. Leybourn’s first contribution to surveying was a short pamphlet, Pantometria or the Whole Art of Surveying, published in... More

xxiv, 616 pp.; 1 p.l., [3]-688 pp. Two vols. Small 8vo, cont. mottled sheep (head of spine of Vol. II chipped), spines gilt, red morocco lettering pieces on spines. Paris: Lacombe, 1766.

Second (first pirated) edition of the first modern chemical dictionary. Although technical dictionaries had appeared earlier, this was the first attempt to cover the whole field of chemistry, pure and applied, in an encyclopedic manner. The introduction traces the progress of chemistry from its origins to the time of Stahl and Boerhaave. The book was an immediate success and it was several times reprinted and translated; it produced... More

4 vols. Small 8vo, 19th-cent. quarter green morocco & marbled boards. Paris: P. Fr. Didot jeune, 1778.

Second “genuine” edition. “It is the genuine second edition as written by Macquer, whose name now appears on the title and whose reputation had by this time greatly increased. An important addition is the 168-page article on gas, a topic that was almost entirely new and had not been mentioned in the first edition…While the number of articles remains almost the same, the work is nearly twice as long owing to the inclusion of an up-to-date account of chemistry and much new material.”–Neville... More

Engraved frontis. viii, 47 pp. 8vo, later wrappers (title a little browned), uncut. London: Printed for W. Parker…, 1777.

First edition of “an important milestone in the early literature of gas analysis…Magellan (1722-90), was an Augustinian prior who emigrated to England and Protestantism in 1764. Elected F.R.S. (1774), he published this account of his researches on gases, addressed to Joseph Priestley. The glass apparatus for impregnating water with fixed air (carbon dioxide) is described in detail. Newly improved by ‘Mr. Parker,’ the apparatus was superior to that used by Priestley and described by him in 1772. Carbon dioxide was prepared... More

Woodcut device on title & 17 folding engraved plates. 6 p.l., 570, xxii pp. Large 4to, cont. mottled sheep (a few minor scuff marks), spine nicely gilt, contrasting vellum lettering piece on spine. Paris: de l’Imprimerie Royale, 1754.

Third edition, greatly enlarged, of the first exhaustive treatise on the aurora borealis. Mairan attributed the phenomenon to an extension of the sun’s atmosphere, which at times enveloped the earth and blended with our atmosphere. “Inquiry into the history and physics of the aurora borealis; the chapter on the relation between the aurora and the magnetic declination is of special interest.”–Wheeler Gift... More

Finely engraved frontis. of the interior of the Imperial Library in Vienna, 43 folding engraved plates, 17 engravings in the text (including 8 full-page), engraved plan of Vienna on title, engraved headpiece, & one initial. Title printed in red & black. 12 p.l. (incl. the frontis.), 210 pp., one leaf of errata. Folio, cont. mottled sheep (dampstain, for the most part quite faint, in lower portion of final 40 leaves), spine richly gilt, contrasting leather lettering piece on spine. Vienna: L.J. Kaliwoda, 1745.

First edition, first issue, of this luxuriously printed and illustrated volume; this is a particularly fine and... More

One folding engraved map. xxviii, 332 pp., [4] pp. of ads; iv, 401 pp., [11] pp. Two vols. 8vo, orig. cloth-backed blue boards, paper labels on spines, uncut. Gloucester: R. Raikes for G. Nicol, 1789.

First edition and a lovely set in fresh original condition. Marshall (1745-1818), wrote a series of studies of farming in various English countries published between 1787 and 1798. The two volumes on Gloucester were the fifth and sixth of the eventual twelve volume series.

“Modern agricultural historians have generally held that Marshall’s works on English farming are superior to those of his rival, Arthur Young... More

Two engraved maps (one folding & the other double-page). 4 p.l., 413, [1] pp.; 2 p.l., 366, [6] pp. Two vols. 8vo, orig. blue paper-backed boards (spines & corners a little worn & rubbed), uncut. London: T. Cadell, 1788.

First edition. Marshall (1745-1818), wrote a series of studies of farming in various English countries published between 1787 and 1798. The present two volumes were the first in the series which eventually comprised twelve volumes.

“Modern agricultural historians have generally held that Marshall’s works on English farming are superior to those of his rival, Arthur Young, as they are more systematically... More

Woodcut vignette on title, one full-page woodcut, & several smaller woodcuts in the text. Black letter. 11 p.l., 88, [10] pp. Small 4to, late 18th cent. calf (upper joint cracked but strong, small paper flaw on blank outer margin of title, fore-edges faintly dampstained), spine lettered in gilt. London: J. Wight, 1575.

The third edition of the first English gardening manual; the first edition appeared in 1569 and all 16th-century printings are rather rare on the market. Mascall took most of his text from David Brossard’s Art et Manière de Semer et Faire Pépinières de Sauvageaux (Paris: 1552) with certain... More

Two hand-colored folding engraved maps & one folding printed table. xvii pp., 1 leaf of errata, 597 pp. 8vo, cont. speckled calf, red morocco lettering piece on spine. London: Printed by B. Macmillan for G. Nicol et al., 1798.

First edition and rather scarce. Middleton (1751-1833), land surveyor and agriculturalist, was a member of the London Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. The present work has long been considered to be the best of all of the Board of Agriculture’s surveys of the English counties (see ODNB). Middleton was a prolific writer on rural matters and was... More

Four folding lithographed plates (slightly foxed). 1 p.l., xxiv, 454 pp., 1 leaf of errata. 8vo, cont. boards rebacked with morocco (quite foxed throughout). Leipzig: J.A. Barth, 1827.

First edition. “The present volume represents not only Möbius’ most important contribution, but the source of much of his later work. He had developed the fundamental ideas for his barycentric calculus in 1818 and by 1821 had decided that they warranted a book-length treatment. Since barycentric coordinates are a form of homogenous coordinate, Möbius is recognized by Feuerbach and Plücker as a discoverer of homogenous coordinates.”–Roberts & Trent, Bibliotheca Mechanica, p. 227... More

Several woodcut diagrams in the text. 6 p.l., 250 pp., one leaf of errata. Large 4to, cont. calf (two corners a bit worn), double gilt fillet round sides, spine gilt, morocco lettering piece on spine. London: J. Tonson & J. Watts, 1730.

[bound with]:

—. [Drop-title]: Miscellaneis Analyticis Supplementum. 22 pp., one leaf of errata. N.p.: n.d.

First edition of the de Moivre’s “most important book” (D.N.B.), here bound with the rare Supplementum which is very often missing. The Miscellanea Analytica is the successor to The Doctrine of Chances and contains the first formulation of “De Moivre’s Theorem,” the formula for... More