Titles starting with O from B & L Rootenberg Rare Books & Manuscripts

Printer's device to title. Eighteenth century vellum over pasteboards, some soiling, small portion of vellum missing at foot of spine. Portion of fly-leaf torn away at head, small stain at upper fore-edge of first few signatures, some occasional text browning. From the Marist College main library, Brookland, D.C. with their ownership stamp to title. Wesseling (1692-1764) is remembered today chiefly for his major edition of Diodorus Siculus. The present miscellaneous work includes the author's thoug... more information

Engraved frontispiece portrait of the Duke of Venice plus 3 additional engraved plates (2 folding), 3 woodcut text figures, woodcut headpiece and initials. Contemporary calf, rebacked; an excellent copy from the library of Kimbolton Castle, with its bookplate. Contemporary annotations. First edition. Having made the rounds of England and Wales with his buddy Francis Willughby, Ray decided to extend his observations in botany and natural history with a trek to the Continent. It was a boys' outing: along... more information

Disbound, some staining and soiling; uncut and unopened. FIRST EDITION. Austin, 973.... more information

Quarter-morocco on marbled boards; occasional interior spotting, lower blank fore-edge sporadically browned, otherwise an excellent copy. First edition. In this famous monograph, Remak describes his findings on the histological structure of the nervous system; demonstrates that axons of nerves are continuous with cells in the spinal cord; and reveals the sympathetic ganglion as the real center of the organic, or autonomic, nervous system. This work also contains his discovery that the sympathetic fibers (&#... more information

All blanks present. Portrait of the author, woodcut head- and tailpieces, full-page engraving. Contemporary vellum, sprinkled edges; an excellent copy. Later edition (editio altera) of Wepfer’s comprehensive treatise on brain diseases, first printed posthumously in 1727. This edition includes an excellent biography of the author. Wepfer (620-1695), one of the most prominent Swiss physicians of the seventeenth century, “was appointed city physician at Schaffhausen and some years later became person... more information

With woodcut head- and tailpiece. Disbound, with manuscript index on recto of last leaf. Some spotting on preliminaries. First edition. This rare dissertation on the structure of the human skeleton contains a detailed physical description of all the bones, starting with the torso and working out to the extremities. ... more information

Contemporary full calf, worn, rebacked. Second edition, greatly enlarged. The work deals primarily with the autopsies he performed on insane patients, from which he records what is now considered one of the first descriptions of syphilis in the brain. G&M, 4794.... more information

Title in red and black. Old calf-backed marbled boards, spine worn; paste-downs and blanks browned on edges, interior very good. First edition of the d'Argens translation of the bilingual works of the Pythagorean philosopher, Ocellus Lucanus (fifth century). This is the only one of his presumed works extant, generally known as On the nature of the Universe. He maintains that the human race, with all its institutions (the family, marriage, etc.), must be eternal. In addition, he advocates an ascetic mode... more information

Original printed wrappers, lightly soiled, crease to rear wrapper. A near fine copy of this scarce pamphlet. First edition of this poem, one of 250 copies printed. Samuel Greene Wheeler Benjamin (1837-1914) was a prolific writer and artist. He was appointed ambassador to Persia and served there between 1883-1885. Monaghan 399. ... more information

With 168 lithographed plates (numbered 1-150). Original red half-morocco over marbled boards; foxing to preliminary and endleaves, and in the margins of a few plates. From the library of Sir Victor Brooke with his bookplate. First edition of Owen’s major work on the comparative anatomy of vertebrate teeth in which he traces the natural order of animal groups according to their tooth structure. Considered the greatest contribution towards a uniform nomenclature of the teeth, this work covers the whole rang... more information

Original blue-gray printed boards. Signed by the author on the fly-leaf, ownership inscription to front paste-down. Limited edition, first state, with the second blank conjugate to the colophon. This is the lecture given by Maugham when he presented the manuscript of his novel Of human bondage to the Library of Congress. Limited to 800 copies, this is one of 500 signed by the author, and given as souvenirs to those who were at the ceremony. Rothschild & Whiteman, V, 256; Stott, A65a; NCBEL, 4, 663... more information

Contemporary cloth-backed marble boards; small cut in blank fore-margin of title page expertly repaired. First edition of this rare open letter written by Semmelweis to all the professors of obstetrics in defense of his epoch-making discovery of the importance of asepsis in childbirth. His great work, Die Aetiologie... , appeared the prior year, but was vehemently opposed by nearly every prominent physician of his day. The present work contains many of the statistics used to prove his original argument tha... more information

Green cloth with gilt eagle vignette on front cover; light internal soiling, wanting front free end-paper, very light shelf-wear, at least very good. This copy appears to be in a contemporary [publisher's?] cloth binding, though most copies were issued in wrappers and as such is in much better condition than usually found. Sixth edition. Although the book relates the tale of the eagle captured by O-ge-mah-we-ge-zhig, and who accompanied the Eighth Wisconsin Regiment through three years of the Civil War... more information

Illustrated, with numerous maps. Publisher's cloth, title in gilt on front cover and spine; frontispiece a bit loose, otherwise a very nice copy. First edition of the author's history of the creation of the Old National Road, which connected Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. An important chapter in the expansion and enrichment of America.... more information

Contemporary green blind-stamped cloth, spines lettered in gilt, front hinge to Volume I loose; apart from very light scattered foxing, a lovely uncut copy from the library of Charles Tyler Prouty, with his bookplate in each volume, small ex-libris stamps to contents pages. New edition of this classic set of songs and ballads by the famous London bookseller. This, the third edition, was revised and enlarged by his son, R.H. Evans, also a noted bookseller and auctioneer. ... more information

With words and music by Jones, and 7 full-page photographic plates. Original printed boards, front boards with photographic plate of an African-American nanny holding a young white toddler on her lap. A small marginal stain on the lower edge of front cover, otherwise an excellent copy. From the library of John E. Dubois of DuBois, City, PA., an inventive genius receiving patents in both the United States and Canada, know as the "father of mass production." The Dubois family was important for devel... more information

Frontispiece illustration of Gogarty. Original gray cloth in dust-jacket, small tear to top front edge, otherwise an excellent copy. First edition, third impression. Gogarty was called by Yeats “one of the great lyric poets of the age.” A fine surgeon, politician and playwright, Gogarty was said to “embody the life of Dublin itself during one of its richest and most turbulent periods. He was the garrulous and flamboyant drinking companion of James Joyce, the exuberant and mocking wit who del... more information

Frontispiece. Original green cloth, decorated in gilt; an exceptionally fine, clean copy with the small ownership inscription of Eliz. L. Gould dated Christmas, 1894, to the fly-leaf. First edition of this posthumously printed work. Contains a different selection of Holmes’ works for each day of the year. BAL, 9216; C&T, p. 247... more information

Unbound, in a protective wrapper. First and only edition of this very scarce article by Huxley, in which he identifies "Huxley's layer" and "membrane" of the root sheath of hair follicles. G&M, 412... more information

With 1 engraved plate. Blue cloth boards; a presentation copy in excellent condition, with the author’s complements inscribed to “Cap. W.H. Smyth R.N.” on title. Original offprint of this very scarce and celebrated paper in which Baily first describes the curious solar phenomenon which produces what are now called “Baily’s Beads.” The beads refer to a number of bright spots which momentarily appear and split apart just before the sun is eclipsed. The phenomenon is an illusion f... more information