24; 46 folding leaves. Two vols. 8vo, orig. blue wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, & Edo: Kawachiya Kihei et al., 1848.

Second edition (1st ed.: 1770); both editions are very rare. This book, in Chinese with Japanese reading marks, is the commentary by Asai (1706-80), the famous painter of bamboo and court physician of the Owari fiefdom, on the biography of Bian Que (active sometime in 5th-3rd centuries B.C.), the founding father of scientific Chinese medicine. This biography first appeared in Shiji [Records of the Grand Historian], written by Sima Qian. The... 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... More

Seven vols. 8vo (218 x 160 mm.), orig. wrappers, each with an individual title label on upper cover, new stitching. [Japan: all late Edo].

A fascinating collection of texts on equine medicine, all bound in a similar fashion:

Vol. 1: Manuscript label on upper cover, entitled “Basho hijutsu den” [“Horse Book Secret Methods Passed On”]. Nine brush & ink illus. in the text. 31 folding leaves. This text is concerned with exercising horses in each season, and includes “32 Rules of Exercise.” At the end, we find a date of 1825, the name of the person who provided this information... 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... More

75; 64 folding leaves. Two vols. 8vo (275 x 180 mm.), orig. pale blue wrappers (label on upper covers rather corroded but legible), new stitching. [Japan]: Preface dated March 1755.

A rare commentary by the Japanese Aizu(?) fiefdom doctor Setsuo Kagayama on Wan jin yi tong by Tingxian Gong (1522-1619), physician of the Imperial Medical Academy in Beijing. The Wan jin yi tong is part of a larger work, the Wanbing Huichun of 1585 [Restoration of Health from Myriad Diseases], the author’s most famous work, which had pharmaceutical recipes from about 240 different ingredients.

Gong came from a prominent family... More

Atlas vol.: Woodcut title-page, 33 delicately hand-colored plates (one folding), one page of text. Third vol. of text with 4 double-page & 24 full-page woodcuts. Text vols.: Title-page & 60; 49; 59.5 folding leaves. Three vols. of text & one vol. of atlas. 8vo, orig. patterned blue semi-stiff wrappers, block-printed title labels on upper covers (labels rather rubbed), new stitching. Osaka, Kyoto, & Edo: Kawachiya kashichi et al., December 1810.

First edition, complete with the rare atlas. “The most important Japanese orthopedic work was published in 1810 by Bunken Kagami (1755-1819) with the title Seikotsu shinsho. Based on Chinese medical... 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

Two folding engraved plates. xi, [5], 390 pp. Small 8vo, cont. red morocco, with the arms in gilt of either the Comtesse de Provence or the Comtesse d’Artois (see below), triple gilt fillet round sides, spine nicely gilt, a.e.g. Paris: J.B. Coignard, 1745.

First edition and a lovely copy in contemporary red morocco with arms (see below). “La Garaye (1675-1755), a Breton nobleman and philanthropist, was a diligent chemist who devised a novel method of preparing medicines from minerals by long maceration with neutral salt solutions. He also extracted a number of principles from plants as from Peruvian bark, the... 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

Scroll (263 x 2490 mm.), the six paintings mounted on scroll paper & framed with fine brown silk brocade, inside front endpaper with patterned white paper, outside covered with blue silk brocade, wooden core roller. [Japan]: late-Edo.

A handsomely illustrated scroll, with images and notes very much in the conventions of traditional Chinese medicine. The quality and accuracy of the paintings is very fine. Several of the images show the all-important pairings (kuiawase) of foods that, in combination, were good for health.

The first image depicts an unidentified fish with orange skin. The notes state that eating this fish causes... More

Four full-page brush & ink illus. 14 folding leaves. 8vo (244 x 165 mm.), orig. wrappers (wrappers somewhat soiled), stitched as issued. [Japan: ca. 1820].

Nakagami (1743-1833), a member of the great Koiho (Traditional Medicine) School, was one of the leading practitioners of his day. He was trained in the method of Kan, To, and Ge (perspiration, emesis, and purgation). He started his practice in Kyoto in 1791 and wrote on pathology, leprosy, psychiatric diseases, water cures, and diagnosis of diseases. Most of his texts remained in manuscript.

Our manuscript, based on the secret teachings of Nakagami, is concerned with... More

Title printed in red & black. 103 unnumbered leaves, one blank leaf. Small 8vo, modern vellum over boards. [Colophon]: Augsburg: M. Franck for G. Willer, [1568].

First edition of a Paracelsian rarity. Paracelsus' commentaries on the first five of Hippocrates' Aphorisms had been published the previous year in Cologne. The present edition comprises his commentaries on all 25 aphorisms of the first section, and on six of the second. They are followed by treatises on the medical uses of corals and the herbs hypericum (St. John's worts) and persicaria (peachwort). A slightly different version of the section on hypericum was published... More