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... More

Ten folding leaves. 8vo, orig. wrappers (wrappers a little frayed), orig. stitching. Nanjing: [Privately Printed] by Jiangning Chenshi 江寧程氏, 1910.

A rare work connecting pharmacopeias and ancient philology. In antiquity, the linguistic variety of China was gathered by Yang Xiong 揚雄 (53 BCE-18 CE) in The Imperial Light Carriage Emissary Explaining Discursively the Regional Words in Different States Through the Ages (Youxuan shizhe juedai yushi bieguo fangyan 輶軒使者絕代語釋別國方言), commonly referred to just as Regional Words, or Fangyan 方言. With a rise in interest in ancient philological scholarship, several sequels to Fangyan were compiled in the 18th and 19th... 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

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

39 folding leaves, using pre-printed paper. 8vo (260 x 183 mm.), orig. patterned blue wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: Preface dated 1791 but this is a later copy, probably early Meiji.

A fine manuscript copy of the unpublished work by the doctor and botanist Senshun So (1758-1834), on the varieties of mushrooms found throughout Japan. So devotes much of the text to the medicinal uses mushrooms have. At the end, So discusses how to identify poisonous mushrooms and their antidotes.

So was responsible for the Seikei zusetsu [An Illustrated Book of Agricultural Things], the great agricultural and botanical work, issued in... More

18 folding leaves. 8vo (246 x 167 mm.), orig. wrappers, orig. stitching. [Japan]: Meiji.

This appears to be the text of the notes on ginseng recorded by a disciple of Ranzan Ono. We know that Ono’s final writings were on this herb, composed on his deathbed.

Ranzan Ono (1729-1810), was considered the “Linnaeus of Japan.” He started a school of botanical pharmacology in Kyoto, which, over the years, graduated more than 1000 students. During his long life, Ono travelled throughout Japan, gathering plant specimens and recording botanical remedies. He was familiar with both Chinese and Western texts on herbal medicines... 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

1 p.l., 32 pp.; 1 p.l., 10 pp.; 1 p.l., 5, [1], 7-15 pp. Three parts in one vol. 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. block-printed title-label on upper cover. From printed label pasted on inside of lower cover (partly in trans.): Aichi Prefecture: Mikawa shiryo kanko kai, printed in 70 copies, 1936.

First edition and a rare provincial printing, limited to 70 copies only. Sato (1762-1848), was a leading honzo scholar and writer on agricultural matters. He advised a number of fiefdoms throughout Japan on modern agricultural techniques. The first two parts of this work print Sato’s hitherto unpublished writings on... More