SCIENCE See also: Astronomy, Inventions, Medicine, Natural History . . .
SCIENCE 
Descartes Illustrated 
Descartes, René. Renati Des Cartes opera philosophica. Francofurti ad Moenum: Sumptibus Friderici Knochii, 1692. 4to. 5 parts in 1 vol. Frontis., [47] ff.; [4] ff., 384 pp.; [16] ff., 168 pp.; [8] ff., 220 pp.; [12] ff., 74 pp., [3] ff.; [18] ff., 188 pp., 7 plts.
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• VD17 1:620459Z. Contemporary stiff vellum. Ex-library with call number on spine and bookplate, but no other markings. A very good copy. (14709)
The
Lives of PlantsDigby, Kenelm. Discovrs svr la vegetation des plantes, fait par le Cheualier Digby, le 23. Ianuier 1660, en presence de Messieurs de l’Academie Royale d’Angleterre.... Paris: Chez la veuve Moet, 1667. 12mo (15. 6 cm, 6.2"). ã8A–G6H4 (-H4, blank); [16], 89, [1 (blank)] pp.
Rare. Searches via OCLC, RLIN, and NUC locate only five copies worldwide: Two in the U.S. (both at same university!) and three in France.
• Duveen D494. Recent calf with covers framed in single gilt fillets, spine with gilt-stamped title label and gilt-ruled raised bands. Leaves with some dustsoiling and dampstaining; now heavily sized, many with margins repaired and a few with stray pencil marks. Lacks final blank leaf (only). In fact, a rather nice copy of a very uncommon item.
Materia Medica — Ancient Knowledge Dioscorides Pedanius, of Anazarbos. Dioscoridis libri octo Graece et Latine. Castigationes in eosdem libros. Parisiis: Apud Petrum Haultinum (colophon: Excudebat Benedictus Prevost), 1549. 8vo (16.7 cm, 6.5"). [20], 392 ff. 
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The work was edited by Jacques Goupyl, and is laid out with the Latin translation by Jean Ruel in side-by-side columns with the Greek text.
Provenance: Early title-page inscription, “F.M. ex dono Eduardi Davenant.”
• Adams D656; Durling 1135; Index aureliensis 154.341; Pritzel 2295. 18th-century speckled calf (front cover) and sheep (back cover) rebacked with lighter-colored sheep preserving original gilt-stamped leather title-label; boards scuffed and worn. Title-page with inked inscription as above (and in same hand, “Illuminat mentem Lectio.” First two leaves creased; first and last few leaves with light to moderate waterstaining. A very few marginalia in a tiny, neat, early inked hand. (20639)
Creationist Guide to the Natural World — A Pretty 4-Volume Set Duncan, Henry. Sacred philosophy of the seasons; illustrating the perfections of God in the phenomena of the year. Boston: Marsh, Capen, Lyon, & Webb, 1839. 12mo (18.5 cm, 7.3"). 4 vols. I: xvi, 389, [1] pp. II: 391, [1] pp. III: 401, [1] pp. IV: 416 pp.
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The practical sciences of agriculture, husbandry, and manufacture have their places here along with much on the physical and biological worlds as such.
Bindings: Publisher's half green morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title and decorations; very attractive.
• American Imprints 55446. Spines slightly darkened; lightly rubbed. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, no other markings. 
A clean, sound handsome set. (27171)
The Amalgamation Process Explained
Royal
OrderGarcés y Eguía, José. Nueva teórica y práctica del beneficio de los metales de oro y plata por fundicion y amalgamacion, que de orden del rey nuestro señor Don Carlos Quarto ... ha escrito y da al publico José Garcés y Eguia. Mexico: Mariano de Zuñiga y Ontiveros, 1802. Small 4to. [5] ff., 12, 168 pp.
Single-click any image where the hand appears on
A work also of considerable
scarcity in the marketplace.
• Medina, Mexico, 9502; Palau 97721; Sabin 16551. Publisher's treed sheep binding, gilt spine extra, spine label mostly perished. All edges carmine. A very good copy.
Geomancy Chiromancy & Metoposcopia — Many Plates Gran-Pescatore, di Chiaravelle. Metoposcopia et chiromantia curiosa. Das ist: Kurtze und deutliche Anweisung Wie man aus dem Gesichte und Gestalt eines Menschen, von dessen Verstand, Gedachtniss, Sitten und seinen Verrichtungen, wie auch Gluck und Ungluck, so wohl Vergangenen, als Zukunfftigen, kan einige vernunfftige
Muthmassung fallen. [with another, as below]. Jena: Verlegts Heinrich Christoph Croker, 1701. 12mo (13.5 cm; 5.25"). Frontis., [5] ff., 250, [18] ff., [30] leaves of plates. [also bound in] Anonymous. Vollkommene Geomantia, oder sogenante Punctier-Kunst. Worin nicht allein, was von verschiednen in dieser bissher ziemlich ohnbekanten Wissenschafft hocherfahrnen Leuthen, Arabern, Welschen, Franzosonen, und Engellandern durch Fleiss und Erfahrung beobachtet worden, der curiosen teutschen Welt zu Dienst zusammen getragen. Freystadt [i.e., Jena]: [Cröcker], 1702. 12mo (13.5 cm; 5.25"). Frontis., 408 p., [3 of 5] fold. plates.
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• Vollkommene: Jantz Collection, 3334. Neither work in Coumont, Demonology and Witchcraft. Contemporary vellum over paste boards, with slightly yapp edges; all edges red. Text unmarked and untattered. A very nice pair of uncommon books. (26955)
“Remarkable
Book” ofMaps
of Eclipses in Europe in
the Early
19th Century
A
Copy in a Remarkable Binding
Hallaschka, Cassian [Franz Ignaz Cassian]. Elementa
eclipsium quas patitur tellus, luna eam inter et solem versante, ab A.1816 usque ad A.1860, ex
tabulis astronomicis recentissime conditis et calculo parallactico deducta, typo ecliptico et tabulis
projectionis geographicis collustrata. Pragae: Typis Theophili Haase, 1816. 4to (23.5 cm; 9.25").
Engr. title, xi, [1],107, [1] pp., 19 [of 20] fold. leaves of plates mounted on leaves.
Click the images for enlargements. Cassian (1780–1847) published this “. . . remarkable book . . . in Prague in 1816. It contain[s] the maps for eclipses between 1816 and 1860. . . . The geometric constructions used by Hallaska anticipated the standard theory of eclipses developed later by Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel” (S. Débarat, “Historical Eclipses in Europe,” in Astron. Abs. Skalnate Pleso 28 (1999), 167–68).
Provenance: Inlaid to front pastedown is a red and green leather bookplate featuring a crowned lion en passant with a doubled tail (particularly associated with Bohemia).
• Binding as above, discoloration in spots and patches to covers. Without the first plate, all others present and crisp. A most remarkable copy of a very scarce book. (26668)
Systematic SkepticismHudson, Thomas Jay. The law of psychic phenomena. A working hypothesis for the systematic study of
hypnotism, spiritism, mental therapeutics, &c. Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1905. 8vo. [2], 409, [5 (adv.)] pp.
• Publisher's cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; cloth lightly rubbed over edges and extremities, with two small creases over the front cover. One page with lower corner torn away. (14304)
An Englishwoman's Translation ofThis German Landmark Humboldt, Alexander von. Cosmos: A sketch of a physical description of the universe. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849–58. 8vo (18.8 cm, 7.4"). 5 vols. I: Frontis., xvii, [1], ix, [1], 369, [3], 18, 40 (adv.) pp. II: xxi, 370–742, 16 pp. III: [6], 289, [1], 8, 32 (adv.)
pp. IV: xv, [1], 291–601, [1], 7, [1], 32 (adv.) pp. V: viii, 500 pp.
Click the interior image for an enlargement. Elise C. Otté (with assistance from Benjamin Horatio Paul and William Sweetland Dallas for vols. 4 and 5, respectively) and first published in 1845 through 1848, with this edition being part of the “Bohn's Scientific
Library” series. The work was written by German naturalist, explorer, and diplomat Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt, famed for his scientific observations of Latin America as well as for the present, groundbreaking overview of natural science. Humboldt's exploits and writings served as an inspiration for countless other scientists (including Charles Darwin), and his encyclopedic approach to describing our world as a whole, in terms of all of its natural phenomena, helped launch science's ongoing search for the unifying principles of the universe.
This translation caused a bit of controversy: Tipped in at the front of vol. I is a printed rebuttal by Bohn of accusations made by the publisher of a rival translation by Mrs. Sabine, regarding the accuracy of Otté's work — which Bohn defends, of course.
• NSTC 2H36378; Sparrow, Milestones of Science, 106 (first ed.). Publisher's embossed red cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title and series identification; spines sunned with heads and feet pulled (in one instance chipped), corners bumped, cloth with spots of minor discoloration; vol. V with binding darkened overall and cloth starting at heads of joints. Married set: Vols. I–IV each with institutional bookplate on front pastedown; vol. V from another set, with a different bookplate. Vols. I–IV institutionally rubber-stamped on front free endpapers and title-pages. Many signatures unopened in vols. I–IV; sewing starting to loosen in vol. V. (23913)
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THE KINSEY REPORT Kinsey, Alfred. C.; Wardell B. Pomeroy; & Clyde E. Martin. Sexual behavior in the human male. Philadelphia & London: W. B. Saunders Co., 1948. 8vo. xv, [1], 804 pp.
• Very good, in publisher's cloth. Front free endpaper torn out. Preliminary pages with a few light creases in fore-margins probably created from paper clips being fastened to them at one time. (10711)
“L’homme fossile en Europe”Le Hon, Henri Sébastien. L’homme fossile en Europe son industrie, ses moeurs, ses oeuvres d’art ... cinquième édition avec une notice biographique .... Paris: J. Baudry, 1878. 8vo (22.5 cm, 8.9"). Frontis., viii, 487, [1] pp.; 3 plts.
a chromolithographic frontispiece, three tinted lithographic plates, and numerous in-text wood engravings.
• Contemporary quarter green sheep in imitation of morocco over paper-covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; joints and edges slightly rubbed, spine showing very faint traces of a now-absent label. Front pastedown with private collector’s 19th-century bookplate and with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings). Half-title with chip to outer margin; pages and plates clean and fresh.
Collection of UncommonScientific “Catechisms” Lewis, William Greatheed. A catechism of hydrostatics; on a new plan ... to which is added, an etymological and pronouncing vocabulary of the technical terms [with 6 others as below]. London: Thomas Dolby, 1825. 12mo (13.5 cm, 5.3"). Frontis. (incl. in pagination), 60 pp.; illus. [with the same author's] A catechism of pneumatics. London: Thomas Dolby, 1825. 12mo. Frontis., 59, [1] pp.; illus. [and] A catechism of hydraulics. London: Thomas Dolby, 1825. 12mo. Frontis., 53, [1] pp.; illus. [and] A catechism of optics. London: Thomas Dolby, 1825. 12mo. 72 pp.; illus. [and] A catechism of acoustics. London: Thomas Dolby, 1825. 12mo. [2], [v]/vi, [5]– 42 pp.; illus. [and] A catechism of magnetism. London: Thomas Dolby, 1825. 12mo. Frontis. (incl. in pagination), 40 pp.; illus. [and] A catechism of electricity. London: J. Robins & Co., 1827. 12mo. [2], v/vi, [5]–46, [8] pp.; illus.
Click the images for enlargements. SEVEN JUVENILE scientific textbooks from Lewis's “Catechisms of the Arts and Sciences” series, six of which areunrecorded by OCLC in any edition (the first edition of the first work is held by one U.S. institution, under the title A Cathechism [sic] of Hydrostatics). Lewis was best known in his day for his Grammar of the English Language and for his imprisonment on charges of sedition; here he freely acknowledges acting more as a compiler than an author, but proudly proclaims the originality and usefulness of the “Etymological and Pronouncing Vocabulary” found in each of these introductions to scientific topics.
In addition to the vocabularies, each work features a number of wood-engraved, in-text illustrations, and four include a frontispiece.
Provenance: Signature on front free endpaper of “Horace Adams / Lowell / Mass.”
• Not in NSTC. Contemporary quarter mottled calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; moderately rubbed overall, but solid and sturdy. Front free endpaper with early inked ownership inscription. Electricity with upper outer corners of title-page and first few leaves ink-stained, occasional light offsetting elsewhere, pages otherwise clean. Some leaves closely trimmed at bottom edges. 
A charming compendium of scientific instruction, illustrated. (26678)
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III . . . |