Numerous woodcuts in the text. 35 parts in 16 vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers, new stitching. [China]: Xue ku shan fang, 1890.

Second edition (1st ed.: 1880) of the compiler Gu’s collection of writings by Zewei Bu and Bingzhong Liu (both Tang dynasty, 618-907) on feng shui, divination, geomancy, and Chinese astrology. Both the 1880 edition and our edition are very rare. The texts, which first appeared in the 17th century, have remained very popular, and there is also a 1970 (quite wretched) reprint.

Our edition was edited by Zhimo Xu, who lived in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The texts include Bu’s Xue xin fu, which... More

Large woodcut on title of an astronomer studying an armillary sphere in front of a starry sky by Hans Burgkmair & nine woodcuts in the text. 40 unnumbered leaves. Small 4to, cont. limp vellum, title written in a contemporary hand on upper cover, with the orig. nine-link chain attached to the lower cover with the orig. chain swivel & ring at other end, orig. deerskin ties. Augsburg: V. Otmar, 1548.

A fine copy of the “first German encyclopedia” of general knowledge, here bound in a very remarkable chained binding. Most surviving chained bindings are substantial folios; our example is a smaller format book with... More

Large engraved vignette on title. Two parts in one vol. [44] leaves. Small 4to, modern boards (some browning due to the quality of the paper). Wittenberg: M. Henckeln, [date on Appendix title:] 1665.

First edition and very rare with the additional eight-leaf Appendix. Nottnagel (1607-66), was the highly regarded professor of mathematics at the University of Wittenberg; he wrote a number of books on astronomy, several of which went into later editions. This is a detailed account of the less impressive 1665 comet which arrived only a week after the 1664 comet was last sighted. Again, leading astronomers observed this new comet... More

Eighteen woodcut diagrams in the text, numerous woodcut initials, & a woodcut printer’s device on recto of final leaf. Rubricated throughout in red. Gothic type, 66 lines & headlines. Two columns. 2 p.l., 152 numbered leaves. Folio (310 x 210 mm.), cont. blindstamped pigskin-backed wooden boards (spine a little rubbed, some unimportant worming at front & back), orig. or early clasps & catches. Venice: Bonetus Locatellus for O. Scotus, 20 Dec. 1493.

Second edition, enlarged with the addition of other important astrological texts, of Ptolemy’s Quadripartitum, a textbook of astrology more usually known today under its Greek title, the Tetrabiblos. “Ptolemy’s Quadripartitium ranks as the Bible of Astrology, but... More

18 leaves. Small 4to, attractive modern marbled boards, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Wittenberg: C. Heyden, 1619.

First edition of this rare book which is considered by A.D.B. to be the author’s most important scientific work; it is a careful record of the third of the three bright comets of 1618-19. Schmidt (1570-1637), was “one of the last of the scholars of Germany who taught the language and literature of Greece in the spirit of Melanchthon. [Schmidt] was professor, first of Greek, and next of Mathematics, at Wittenberg. His principal work was an edition of Pindar, with a Latin translation and... More

One large woodcut diagram in the text. 24 unnumbered leaves. Small 4to, modern boards. Nuremberg: G. Schenck, 21 September 1502.

First edition; this is the first of only two books known to have been printed by Georg Schenck and the author’s only book. “In 1502 there was printed at Nürnberg a defense of astrology by Jakob Schonheintz, a doctor of arts and medicine and a Franconian. He signs his preface at Würzburg. The immediate occasion of this defense was ‘the impudence of a certain man who wishes himself to be considered a theologian, although he is anything else than one, who had attacked... More