Added title-page with a large engraved vignette & woodcut diagrams in the text. Both titles printed in red & black. 11 p.l. (including the added title-page), 535 pp., 8 leaves. 4to, fine antique mottled calf (some faint dampstains), sides panelled in gilt, spine richly gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Bologna: Heirs of V. Benati, 1665.

First edition, the copy of William Molyneux (1656-98), astronomer, founder of the Dublin Philosophical Society, and author of the first treatise on optics in English (for more on Molyneux, see D.S.B., IX, pp. 464-66). This is Grimaldi’s only book; in it he describes... More

80 woodcut illus. in the text. 100; 89 folding leaves. Two vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers (minor foxing & rubbing), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers (label on Vol. I no longer present), new stitching. Kyoto: Murakami Kanbei, 1668.

First Japanese edition, in Chinese with Japanese reading marks, of the Yin hai jing wei, a Chinese ophthalmological classic, with 80 woodcut illustrations of various eye diseases. Some Chinese authorities have suggested that Simiao Sun (581-682), the famous physician of the Tang dynasty, was the author of this work, but other evidence supports a later date for the work, at least... More