Calcul des probabilites
by POINCARE, H.
Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1896. FIRST EDITION. With numerous text diagrams. Contemporary half-morocco and cloth. From the library of George E. Hale with a small presentation bookplate to the Mount Wilson Observatory Library from Adriaan van Maanen and the blind-stamp of the library on the fly-leaf. First edition of the author's classic work on probability and statistics. His fundamental discoveries on differential equations as well as the theories of Laplace, Gauss, and Bertrand are here described. This treatise greatly influenced modern... Read More
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Traite des causes physiques et morales du rire relativement a l’art de l’exciter
by POINSINET DE SIVRY, Louis
Amsterdam: Marc-Michel Rey, 1768. FIRST EDITION. Contemporary calf-backed marbled boards with bookmark ribbon. A very good copy with minor foxing. First edition of a treatise on laughter published anonymously in 1768, and translated into English the following year. As laughter has always represented a mystery in the history of Western thought, Poinsinet de Sivry tries to find an answer to the following simple question: what makes man laugh? He starts by examining the works of the ancient Greek... Read More
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Sporting Days in Southern India
by POLLOCK, Lieut-Colonel A.J.O.
London: Horace Cox, 1894. FIRST EDITION. With frontispiece, errata, and 26 plates. Original publisher’s illustrated green cloth with silver and gold embossing, floral endpaper. An excellent copy with Norfolk & Norwich Library plates on cover and front paste-down. First edition. Sporting days in southern India details the thrilling adventures of Lieutenant-Colonel Pollock on multiple big game hunts. He describes the strategy in stalking bears, panthers, tigers, bison, elephants, deer, ibex, and other animals. The book is dedicated to his... Read More
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Ahasuerus a race tragedy
by WIDNEY Joseph Pomeroy
Los Angeles: privately printed, 1915. FIRST PRINTING. Original wrappers, title in black on front cover, stapled and tied with piece of silk string as issued. Presentation copy with the author’s signature to Mrs. Mary M. Bowman on the fly-leaf. First printing. Ahasuerus: A Race Tragedy is an epic poem loosely based on the Biblical Book of Esther. It tells the story of the Persian king Ahasuerus as he wanders through the desert encountering some of the characters of the... Read More
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Istruzione per la coltura dell’acacia albero silvestre americano. Molto conveniente al nostro clima, e che nel corso di 12. anni. . . .’ (bound with) Sulla coltura e use dell’ acacia o robinia Robinia Pseudo...
by PORTA, Guiseppe; ZUCCHINI, Andrea
Fermo: Stamperia de Pallade, 1804. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST WORK, SECOND EDITION OF ZUCCHINI’S LECTURE. Contemporary pasteboards. The title a bit stained, but generally an excellent copy from the library of Jerry Stannard. First edition of the first work, second edition of Zucchini's lecture. This very scarce work by Porta treats a rare type of acacia, detailing the best soil, climate, and other conditions to insure health and growth. Zucchini's work, originally printed in 1800, treats arboriculture in... Read More
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Essai sur l’art de pointer
by POUMET, Benjamin
Paris: Magimel, Anselin, and Pochard, 1816. First edition. Letterpress tables and 2 folding engraved plates. Contemporary pink wrappers. A fresh, uncut copy in original condition. First edition of this uncommon artillery manual. Here Poumet, a polytechnician, proposes the use of geometry to effectively shoot targets. He provides instructions for eyeballing the correct trajectory angle, taking into account different kinds of guns and powder as well as scenarios for shooting, such as sieges and battles. The plates show canons at... Read More
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Geschichte der logik im Abendlande
by PRANTL, Carl
Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1870. FIRST EDITION. With errata in Volume I. Original marbled boards, spines and corners worn; browning and spotting throughout. From the library of Correa Moylan Walsh with his signature dated December. 1884, Berlin, and another unidentified signature dated 1936, plus some handwritten notes in the first part of the first volume. First edition one of the most influential source books on the history of logic, never translated into English, covering from Aristotle to the end of... Read More
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[Engraved portrait & signed letter]
by [President] TYLER, John
Washington, 1844. Letter in excellent condition; engraving lightly foxed (image not affected). Washington, 14th June 1844. Partially printed letter on a folded leaf authorizing and directing the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the US to the pardon of Elizabeth Hall and Emma Reed upon the condition that they be confined in the public jail of the County of Washington for the term of 2 months from the date. Signed and dated by Tyler. With an engraving... Read More
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7 volumes published by the Pazifische; authors include Thomas Mann, Franz Werfel; Bruno Frank; Leonhard Frank; Alfred Neumann; Friedrich Torberg; and Alfred Doblin
by PAZIFISCHE PRESSE
Los Angeles: Plantin Press, 1944. FIRST EDITIONS. Each bound in the original publisher’s cloth-backed boards, author and title in gilt on spine; uncut. Set number 22 of the 150 Subscriber’s editions printed and signed by the author on the colophon. Each volume is a superb copy, like new. THE SIGNED AND LIMITED SUBSCRIBER’S EDITION 1. MANN, Thomas. Thamar. Los Angeles: Pazifische Presse, 1942. 2. WERFEL, Franz. Die wahre Geschichte vom wiederhergestellten Kreuz. Los Angeles: Pazifische Presse, 1942. 3. FRANK,... Read More
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Elementary Treatise on natural philosophy
by PRIVAT-DESCHANEL, A.
London: Blackie & Son, 1872. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Consecutive pagination with half-title, errata, 3 colored plates and a map, as well as hundreds of text illustrations. Contemporary half-calf over marbled boards; matching marbled endpapers and edges; covers lightly scuffed but generally an excellent copy from the library of George A[lexander] P[hilips] H[aldane] Duncan, Earl of Camperdown, avid book collector, with his bookplate containing his coat of arms and motto (Disce pati [learn to suffer]). First English edition, considered... Read More
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Chemistry meteorology and the function of digestion considered with reference to natural theology
by PROUT, William
London: William Pickering, 1834. SECOND EDITION. With folding colored map and table, leaf of publisher’s advertisement before the first blank and small advertisement for a new publication by the author tipped in at the end. Original publisher’s cloth, spine label, binding worn, spine sunned, minor bumping and foot of spine frayed; interior with some minor spotting. Ownership signature of David Wright (1860-1895), Vicar of Stoke Bishop and printed label indicating the presentation of this volume by Wright’s widow to... Read More
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An inquiry into the nature and treatment of gravel, calculus, and other diseases...
by PROUT, William
Philadelphia: Towar & Hogan, 1826. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. With folding coloured frontispiece. Full calf; interior browned and dampstained. First American edition with notes and additions by Samuel Colhoun (1787-1841), dean of Jefferson Medical College. This important work is revised and expanded with further notes and observations on diseases of the kidneys, bladder and stomach, as well as metabolic disorders and diabetes.
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An inquiry into the nature and treatment of gravel, calculus, and other diseases...
by PROUT, William
London: Baldwin, Cradock, & Joy, 1821. FIRST EDITION. With 9 mounted coloured examples of sediments on the final leaf. Recent calf-backed marbled board, spine label. First edition. Prout was among the first to divided food components into fats, carbohydrates and proteins. This work led to his discovery that the gastric juice contains free hydrochloric acid.
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The soveraigne power of Parliaments and kingdomes: divided into fovre parts together with an appendix …
by PRYNNE, William
London: Michael Sparke Senior, 1643. FIRST EDITION. Complete and continuous despite pagination errors. General title (misbound between A2 and A3) and separate titles to each of the four parts. Woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Contemporary calf, rebacked and re-cornered, spine label; book label appears to have been removed from paste-down. First edition. Prynne, a Puritan, wrote extensively against the introduction of “papist” policies into the government during the English Civil Wars. In Soveraigne power, he argues that only the... Read More
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A plea for the Lords: or, a short, yet full and necessary vindication of the judiciary and legislative power of the House of Peeres, and the hereditary just right of the lords and barons of the realme, to sit, vote and judge in the high court of Parliament. London: Printed for Michael Spark, 1648
by PRYNNE, William
London: Printed for Michael Spark, 1648. FIRST EDITION. Woodcut initials and headpieces. Calf-backed marbled boards, spine label, new endpapers; an excellent copy. First edition. Prynne here writes in defense of the legitimacy of members of the House of Peers (Lords) as a governing upper chamber of a representative parliament government. One of his earliest forays into politics during the Civil War, Prynne, a Royalist, directly refutes anti-monarchy pamphlets written by his long-time nemesis John Lilburne as well as Sectaries,... Read More
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Deuxieme memoire sur l'application du calcul des probabilites aux mesures geodesiques." Offprint from Memoires de l'Academie des Sciences
by PUISSANT, Louis
Paris: l’Academie Royale des Sciences, 1831. FIRST EDITION. 4to. 36 pp., including half-title and line of errata on last leaf. Sewn wrappers with "Puissant" written in contemporary manuscript on upper cover; occasional minor foxing, light water stain to lower inner margin. Uncut and a few leaves unopened, preserved in a blue clamshell box with paper spine label. Book label of Valsense Seminary inside front cover and two small library stamps on first page. First edition. The present work, based... Read More
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A dictionary of medicine
by QUAIN, Richard
New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1883. SECOND AMERICAN EDITION. Blue buckram, author, title and date in gilt on spine; new endpapers, title page and following leaf repaired, generally a very good copy. Second American edition, first published in London the prior year. The publication was heralded as a move toward modernization of the medical dictionary. In a contemporary review by The Spectator, it was noted that “the volume does not aim at furnishing the reader with more than... Read More
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Des Faisanderies particulières
by [QUINGERY, de]
Paris: Mme. Huzard, 1837. 5 engraved plates. Original printed blue wrappers. Presentation inscription on the title from the author to M. Lafayette de Beaurepaire. Some light foxing, but otherwise in excellent, original condition. Only French edition, a guidebook to pheasant farming after Bohemian traditions. Originally published in German, this edition was expanded to include information about raising pheasants in France. According to the translator in his avis, the Germans had cultivated the best pheasant farms in the world, so... Read More
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Les Evenement prochaines d’apres le livre de Daniel et l’apocalypse
by RABOISSON, L’Abbe
Paris: Plon et Cie, 1874. Original printed wrappers. Unopened. Only edition of this exegesis on the Apocalypse and what follows. The author, a Catholic priest, uses the Book of Daniel as well as the prophecies of seers and saints to speculate how the end of the world will play out. Almost half the book consists of bibliographical appendices, with transcriptions of relevant texts and oral histories and concordances. OCLC records only one copy in the U.S., at... Read More
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Ichthyologia Ohienis. or Natural History of the Fishes Inhabiting the River Ohio and its Tributary Streams. A Verbatim et Literatim reprint of the Original, with a Sketch of the Life, the Ichthological Work, and the Ichthyologic Bibliography of Rafinesque
by RAFINESQUE, C. S.. CALL, Richard Ellsworth, [editor]
Cleveland: The Burrows Brothers Co, 1899. Blue cloth with paper spine label titled in black, top edge gilt. Small damp-stain in fore-edge margin mainly affecting last 20 pages, boards rubbed and soiled, very good. Limited edition, unnumbered and marked as 'editor's copy' and inscribed by him on the limitation page.
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Railway Guide with Popular Routes for Summer and Winter Tourists
by [RAILROAD]
[Chicago]: A.T. Sears & E. Webster, 1880. Blue cloth decorated and titled in gilt on front cover, brown end-papers. Internally clean, spine sunned, extremities rubbed, a solid very good copy. A very nice copy of this railroad tourist guide covering from Colorado to Florida with numerous illustrations and maps.
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Les nouvelles idées sur la structure du système nerveux chez l’homme et chez les vertébrés
by RAMON Y CAJAL, Santiago
Paris: C. Reinwald & Cie, 1894. FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH. With 49 text illustrations. Morocco-backed marbled boards, spine with gilt decorations and spine label; new endpapers. An excellent copy, clean and without any staining or soiling. First edition in french in book form of the enlarged version of a 1892 paper in Spanish summarizing Cajal’s findings in support of the neuron doctrine. Using Golgi’s staining technique on embryonic tissue, Cajal “established that nerve cell axons, although they ended in... Read More
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The gases of the atmosphere
by RAMSAY, William
London: McMillan & Co., 1896. FIRST EDITION. Frontispiece portrait of Stephen Hales plus 7 additional portraits. Original cloth, spine somewhat faded; from the Norman library with his bookplate; another bookplate on front paste-down presumably removed. First edition. Ramsay wrote this popular history at the request of "persons without any special scientific training." He details the discovery of what he deems the "better known constituents of the atmosphere," concluding with his own discovery of argon in 1895. Later editions of... Read More
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A narrative of the last illness of the Right Honourable The Earl of Orford: from May 1744, to the day of his decease, March the eighteenth following
by RANBY, John
London: John and Paul Knapton, 1745. FIRST EDITION. With 1 folding plate. Rebound into boards with new endpapers; a fine copy. First edition. This treatise details the cause of death of Robert Walpole, Lord Orford (1676-1745) from urological problems. The autopsy was performed by Ranby, a prominent surgeon, William Cheselden and Edward Hulse. Orford apparently died from a combination of kidney stones and prostate illness.
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Songs and fables
by RANKINE, William
Glasgow: James Maclehose, 1874. With an original photograph of the author opposite the title page plus 10 full-page illustrations. Publisher’s cloth, author and title in gilt on spine, boards a bit worn; interior very good. With an ownership inscription on the fly-leaf dated 1874. First edition. Rankine (1820-1872) was a professor of civil engineering and mechanics at Glasgow. He was distinguished for his work on molecular physics and for his early studies of railway locomotion. Included are nineteen “songs”... Read More
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