104 pp. Small 8vo, attractive antique calf-backed marbled boards. Freystadt [Dresden]: 1690.

First edition, and very rare (no copy in North America according to WorldCat), of this pseudonymous second attack by the alchemist/chemist Amelung on the Reformierter Apothecker (1688) of Janusz Abraham Gehema (1617-1715). Gehema was one of the leading proponents in Germany of the “new medicine” of the Dutch and French, which he had learned while a medical student at Leiden, Groningen, and Utrecht.

In the Reformierter Apothecker, Gehema presented his plan to reform the apothecary trade in Germany by reducing and simplifying the range of remedies to only useful herbs... More

1 p.l., 109 pp. Small 8vo, attractive modern marbled wrappers. Berlin: 1815.

The very rare sale catalogue — Loh, Vol. 6, p. 102, locates no copy — of the fine scientific library of Meyer (1739-1811), owner of the Hof-Apotheke in Stettin. He studied chemistry in Berlin under J.H. Pott and A.S. Marggraf, and in 1764 he went to Uppsala University, where he studied botany with Linnaeus and possibly chemistry with J.G. Wallerius. In 1780 Meyer founded a distillery in Stettin to produce French-style brandy and liqueurs according to a process that he had developed in his apothecary shop.

This library of 2227 lots was an important collection of botanical, chemical, medical, and pharmaceutical texts, including all the works of “the chemical revolution.” More

Large engraved vignette on title. Title in red & black. 8 p.l., 626, [69] pp. Folio, cont. blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards, arms on covers effaced. Lyon: J. & P. Prost, 1636.

First edition, Schuh’s issue B (no stated priority) with the dedication to Charles de Neufville. “Very scarce. Compendium of all the author ever discovered or read about the subject of mineralogy. It was published posthumously from notes he left by his Order at Lyon six years after his death. Printed in a double column format in a relatively small type-size, the work is a vast storehouse of all things mineralogical, including new ideas... More

30 black & white brush & ink drawings of diseased horses. Scroll (130 x 27,630 mm.), 94 joined sheets, with several extension flaps, which fold down with additional text, recently & expertly backed. Omi Province (today’s Shiga Province): the most modern date we find in the scroll is 1809.

A remarkably long scroll (90 feet); this is the most comprehensive old Japanese encyclopedia of horse diseases and their treatments we have encountered. The text includes recipes for medicines and acupuncture techniques as well as numerous case histories. There are references in this scroll to texts being copied in 1611. Each of the 94 sheets is numbered. It... More

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

8 p.l., 80 pp. Small 8vo, attractive antique calf-backed marbled boards. Bremen: 1688.

First edition and scarce; WorldCat locates only two copies in North America. “In Germany, no greater supporter, and conveyer into the German context, of the reforming ideas of Bontekoe, Overkamp, Blankaart and Muys could be found during their own time, or later, than Janusz Abraham Gehema (1647-1715). The Danzig-born son of Abraham Jakobson, an ennobled Polish official, chief administrative officer and royal chamberlain to the King of Poland, Janusz Abraham, from the age of fourteen, served in the Polish army as well as with foreign troops…In 1672, his military... More

4 p.l., 281, [15] pp. 8vo, cont. vellum over boards (spine attractively rebacked with leather), trace of ties, spine gilt. Basel: R. Wynter, 1541.

First edition of Gesner’s very rare first book (he had two earlier appearances in books, one as editor and the other as contributor). Gesner published this work at the age of 25, and it reflects his lifelong interest in botany and classification.

This is an alphabetical list of plants’ names compiled from the works of authors on medical topics in antiquity and in the early Middle Ages. The alphabetical arrangement of plants both by their tradition Latin names and... More

Many woodcut illus. 159 folding leaves. Five parts in one vol. Oblong 8vo, orig. dark blue thick wrappers (wrappers rubbed), orig. block-printed title label on upper cover (label rubbed & soiled), orig. stitching. Kyoto, Edo, & Osaka: Hishiya magobei et al., 1859.

A late Japanese edition of one of the earliest Chinese collections of texts on horse medicine. Our book stems from a “late 14th-century compilation [which] does contain genuine works from earlier times. This is the Simu anji ji (Collections for Pacifying Stallions when Administering Flocks), published in 1384. Judging from internal evidence, most of its components are apparently from the 11th and... More

Three double-page & four full-page woodcut illus. 25 folding leaves. 12mo, orig. yellow wrappers (upper wrapper a little soiled), orig. block-printed title label on upper cover, new stitching. Kyoto: Chojiya Kurouemon & Murakami Kanbei, 1869.

Second edition (1st ed.: 1854), of this detailed guide to the medical care of horses. Kurihara (1794-1870), was a historical scholar, specializing in armor, swords, and military uniforms. Closely connected to the prominent Takeda clan, he also wrote a number of works on veterinary medicine and the traditional methods of training horses.

The present work has a new Preface, dated 1868. Kurihara discusses the general principles of horse nutrition, providing... More

Printed in Chinese with Japanese reading marks. Five full-page woodcuts in the text. Eight parts in 15 vols. Large 8vo, orig. wrappers stained with persimmon juice (wrappers rubbed), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, later stitching. [Kyoto]: Preface dated 1575; Murakami Heirakuji, 1642.

A very early Japanese edition; the first edition was published in China in 1575. Yixue rumen was the work of Li Chan (fl. 1573-1619), a Ming dynasty physician. An influential introductory Chinese medical textbook, it is itself a condensation of the important Gu Jin Yi Tong [Old and Modern Medical Generalities] by Xu Chunfu, published in 1556 in 100... 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 many imitators... More

Some illus. in the text. 86; 64; 57 folding leaves. Three vols. 8vo (237 x 164 mm.), orig. wrappers (some worming), orig. manuscript title-labels on upper covers, new stitching. [Japan]: on final leaf of third vol.: “1786” & “1791.”

A most unusual manuscript: a collection of texts, both Chinese and Japanese, entirely devoted to moxibustion, its theories, and its practices. Most Japanese manuscripts and books include acupuncture along with moxibustion. What is particularly interesting to us about this manuscript is that many of the texts by these authors seem not to have been published but passed on by word of mouth.

Moxibustion, or the burning of moxa, comes under the rubric of counter-irritation. It is the process burning of a combustible plant, usually mugwort, on or against certain areas of the skin. More