Observations upon the origin of the malignant bilious, or yellow fever in Philadelphia, and upon means of preventing it: addressed to the citizens of Philadelphia
by RUSH, Benjamin
Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson, 1799. FIRST EDITION. Contemporary sheep, rebacked; paper toned as usual, but overall a very good copy from the library of John B. Purdie, M.D. of Smithfield, Virginia, plus another physician from Richmond, Virginia whose signature is illegible. First edition. This is Rush’s account of the particularly virulent epidemic of yellow fever that brought life and commerce to a halt in Philadelphia during 1797. His focus is on the relationship between bile and disease. His understanding of... Read More
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Historical collections of private passages of state. Weighty matters in law. Remarkable proceedings in five Parliaments. Beginning the sixteenth year of King James, anno 1618. And ending the fifth year of King Charls, anno 1629 …
by RUSHWORTH, John
London: Printed by J.A. [James Astwood] for Robert Boulter, 1682. Third edition of the first part. Complete including index. With frontispiece and 2 engraved plates (1 folding). Title with engraved portrait (possibly the author dressed in Turkish costume), woodcut headpieces and initials. Contemporary calf, rebacked with the original spine laid down, marbled fore-edges; interior clean and bright. Early inscription of Henry Brackhouse (?) on title. An excellent copy. Third edition of Part 1 only (of 4 parts published). This... Read More
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The principles of mathematics
by RUSSELL, Bertrand
Cambridge: University Press, 1903. FIRST EDITION. Publisher’s cloth. From the library of Harry Todd Costello (1885-1960), a graduate student who took Russell’s class at Harvard entitled “The principles of mathematics” and was chosen to conduct the class during a time when Russell was delayed because of travel problems. It is probable that this is the copy Russell and Costello used in discussing the class together; it bears Costello’s signature and is annotated throughout, as well as the bookplate of... Read More
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Tour in Germany and some of the Southern provinces of the Austrian Empire, in the years 1820, 1821, 1822
by RUSSELL, John
Boston: Wells and Lilly, 1825. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. Original boards, paper spine label, worn on the bottom of the front board, some staining; uncut with some staining and foxing. Ownership signature on paste-down. Overall a marvelous copy in original condition. First American edition (first printed in Edinburgh the prior year). Russell, an English author, details his travels through Germany and the southern provinces of the Austrian empire. Russell’s captivating observations on the Germanic and Austrian peoples are especially important... Read More
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Radioactive substances and their radiations
by RUTHERFORD, E.
Cambridge: University Press, 1913. FIRST EDITION. With 5 plates and 131 text illustrations. Original green cloth, rubbed; signature of R.T. Beatty on half-title. First edition of Rutherford's last great work detailing the entire up-to-date development of the science of nuclear physics. According to the preface, “in the seven years that have elapsed since the publication of Radio-activity there has been such steady growth of knowledge of the properties of the radiations from active substances, and of the remarkable series... Read More
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Crania Helvetica
by RUTIMEYER, Ludwig & HIS, Wilhelm
Basel und Genf: H. Georg’s Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1864. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. With 82 unbound double-plate lithographs loose in the 6 facsicles. Text and facsicles in original printed wrappers, all contained in the original publisher's printed slipcase. Apart from slight fraying on spine of slipcase, a superb copy. First edition of this elaborate and valuable contribution to ancient and modern crania, and vertebrate paleozoology. With the publication of Darwin's Origin in 1859 and its inescapable implication that living and fossil... Read More
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The history of the Turks. Beginning with the Year 1679. Being a full relation of the last troubles in Hungary, with the sieges of Vienna, and Buda, and all the several battles both by sea and land, between the Christians, and the turks, until the end of the year 1698, and 1699. In which the peace between the Turks, and the confederate Christian princes and states, was happily concluded at Carlowitz in Hungary, by the mediation of His Majesty of Great Britain, and the States General of the United Provinces
by RYCAUT, Paul
London: Robert Clavell, 1700. FIRST EDITION. With frontispiece plus 6 additional engraved portraits. Text in double columns. Later calf-backed cloth, spine in compartments with red morocco spine label, new endpapers; interior excellent. First edition. Rycaut recounts the stories, myths and truths about the leadership and religious wars of the Ottomon Empire at the end of the seventeenth century. He describes the lives of Mehmed IV, Suleiman II, Ahmed II, and Mustafa II with their portraits. The Great Turkish War... Read More
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Geschichte der Botanik vom 16. Jahrhundert bis 1860
by SACHS, Julius
Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1875. FIRST EDITION. Printed in Gothic type, a few leaves unopened; an excellent copy in contemporary blue cloth with the original printed wrappers bound in. Several marginal annotations in pencil and blue ink, 7 separate handwritten pages of notes by 2 authors, H. [Jesis] (in German) and Ch[arles] Benham (in English). First edition. "This masterful presentation records all the fundamental elements upon which Sachs built his many theories" (DSB). He suggests that the origins of the... Read More
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Biblia sacra, vulgatae editionis, Sixti V.
by BIBLIA SACRA
Venice: Typographia Herziana, 1740. Double column, title in red and black, full-page etched frontispiece in Vol I, woodcut illustrations throughout. Contemporary stiff vellum, manuscript spine titles. Some minor dampstaining, but otherwise a remarkably good set. Folded in are a manuscript devotional poem, a letter dated 11 Nov. 1856, a printed leaflet oration to St. Felix of Nola, and an etched vignette of St. Pius X. Ownership inscription on the front flyleaf of Vol I dated 1906. Finely illustrated edition... Read More
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Le Mal et le remède: aphorismes sociaux
by SAGRA, Ramón de la
Paris: Renou and Maulde for the Author, 1859. FIRST EDITION THUS. Original printed wrappers, with a prospectus for Sagra’s collected works on the rear panel. Partially unopened. Minor foxing, but a good, genuine copy in original condition. First edition thus, an aphoristic credo on anarchy. Written as 1583 numbered maxims, this self-published profession of faith traces the logical development of a Protestant society to a post-religious anarchy, an eventuality the author believed unavoidable and beneficial. Aphorism 1532 states: “As... Read More
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Réflexions nouvelles sure les causes des maladies
by SAINT-ANDRÉ, François de
Paris: Laurent d’Houry, 1687. FIRST EDITION. Contemporary mottled calf, gilt spine, board edges gilt, edges sprinkled red; somewhat foxed and some marginal staining not affecting text. First edition of this monograph on the nature of diseases. Divided into six parts, the text explores the humors and vital fluids of the body, birth defects and hereditary illness, diseases that result from external and internal changes to the body, and intestinal and stomach ailments. Saint-André (d. ca. 1700) was... Read More
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La science naturelle, dégagée des chicanes de l’ecole
by SAINT-ROMAIN, G.B. de
Paris: Antoine Cellier, 1679. FIRST EDITION. Contemporary calf, spine gilt, edges sprinkled red; lightly toned, but otherwise a very good copy. First edition of this course in natural history “free from the quibbles of school.” It provides an atomistic outlook on the origins and principles of nature, couched in divine purpose. The author addresses the principles of life and death, astronomy, the composition of bodies, metals and compounds, natural elements, human physiology, and, briefly, psychology. The author, a medical... Read More
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Element geometriae infinitesimorum
by SALADINI, D. Hieronymo
Bologna: S. Thomae Aquinatis, 1760. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Title-page in black and red with an engraved vignette of a putto with drafting instruments and an armillary sphere, 9 folding engraved plates. Contemporary boards; interior fine. An exceptionally nice uncut copy with very wide margins and an ownership inscription on the fly-leaf dated 1766. First and only edition. This was the first major work of the Italian mathematician Girolamo Saladini (1731-1813). Divided into three parts, various axioms and theorems... Read More
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Thérapeutique respiratoire... Instruction sur l’instrument pulvérisateur des liquides médicamenteux, ses applications au traitement des maladies de poitrine er la manière de s’en servir
by [SALES-GIRONS], [Jean] CHARRIERE, A.M.
[Paris]: [Henri Plon], [n.d.]. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. With an engraved frontispiece representing the instrument invented by Dr. Sales-Girons and constructed by Charriere (repeated in the text). Bound in boards, morocco backstrip. A fine copy. First and only edition of the original detailed instruction manual on use of this rare medical instrument. Charriere (1803-76) was the most eminent French medical instrument-maker in the nineteenth century. Invented by Sales-Girons (1808-79) in France and presented at the Medical Academy in... Read More
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Nine stories
by SALINGER, J.D.
Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1953. FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. Original black cloth with gilt spine title and decoration, edges of dust jacket with some tears and otherwise worn; interior excellent. First edition, first printing. Featuring two of Salinger’s most famous short stories, A perfect day for bananafish, his first appearance of the fictional Glass family, and For Esmé – with love and squalor, the minor masterpiece telling of a World War II love story. Each of the stories... Read More
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C. Crispus Sallustius; Et. L. Anaeus Florus
by SALLUSTIUS, C. Crispus and FLORUS, L. Annaeus [BASKERVILLE PRINTING]
Birmingham: John Baskerville, 1773. FIRST BASKERVILLE EDITION. Contemporary tree calf, rebacked. An excellent copy from the library of Edward Davenport with his armorial bookplate. First Baskerville edition of this excellent work. Baskerville (1706-1775) was the greatest printer of his era. He began experiments in letter founding and produced his amazing series of types now named after him. “The volume itself can be divided into two main parts. First, it contains Sallust’s opus, which consists of the following... Read More
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A voyage to Abyssinia, and travels into the interior of that country...
by SALT, Henry
Philadelphia: M. Carey, 1816. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. With 1 folding map. Contemporary calf, worn, rebcked; interior lightly browned due to paper stock. Overall a very good copy. First American edition (first printed in London, 1814). A voyage to Abyssinia was produced after Salt’s second trip to Ethiopia. This travelogue provides detailed descriptions of material culture and social customs of Ethiopia and surrounding territories. He even includes vocabulary lists of languages spoken along the African coast, spanning from Mozambique to... Read More
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Essai sur la magie, les prodiges, et les miracles chez les anciens
by SALVERTE, Eusèbe Baconnière
[Brussels], 1817. FIRST EDITION. Contemporary publisher’s wrappers lined with printing waste, manuscript spine title. Uncut. A fine copy in original condition. First edition, a curious attempt to reconcile magic and religion. The author describes paranormal occurrences in the Bible and other ancient texts from Greek, Roman, and Hindu tradition and uses contemporary understanding about magic and science to explain them. He incorporates spells and recipes from Renaissance grimoires, evidence from contemporary scientific treatises, and sleight-of-hand magic tricks, all cited... Read More
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Abraham Lincoln. The Prairie years
by SANDBURG, Carl
New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1926. FIRST TRADE EDITION. Frontispiece in each volume and numerous text and photographic illustrations. Blue publisher’s cloth; an ex libris copy with markings on the spine and blind stamp on title. Bookplate of the Ritzman Collection at Aurora College Library. Signed by the author in Volume I. A fine uncut copy. First trade edition after a deluxe edition of 260 copies. This was Sandburg’s ground-breaking biography of Lincoln, which was followed over ten... Read More
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Lincoln collector. The story of Oliver R. Barrett’s great private collection
by SANDBURG, Carl
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1949. FIRST EDITION. With numerous illustrations and facsimiles of letters and other documents. Blue buckram, no dust jacket. Ex libris, with library markings on spine and the bookplate of the Ritzman Collection at Aurora College Library. First edition, signed by Sandburg, number 337 of 2425 copies. The story of the remarkable collection of Oliver Barrett, a Chicago attorney who started collecting as a child. It was Barrett’s collection that Sandburg used to author... Read More
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Logicae artis compendium
by SANDERSON, R.
Oxford: Leon, Lichfield, 1680. Ninth ed. Woodcut diagrams, headpiece, and initials. Contemporary calf, spine rubbed, otherwise a very nice copy. From the library of Thomas Smith, with his manuscript annotations on the title and last page. Ninth edition of Sanderson’s excellent textbook of logic, one of the most important tools used by seventeenth-century Cambridge and Oxford students (including John Locke). First published in 1615, it enjoyed at least ten editions during the seventeenth century. Divided into three parts, the... Read More
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L’Asie en plussieurs cartes nouvelles et exactes: & en divers traitses de geographie, et d’histoire
by SANSON D’ABBELVILLE, Nicolas
Paris: chez l’Autheur, 1662. SECOND EDITION. Complete with 17 double-page engraved maps hand-colored in outline. Contemporary mottled calf, corner edges neatly repaired, interior has some minor dampstaining mainly on text and on blank verso of maps, last blank leaf torn on lower fore-edge. A contemporary signature on first blank leaf. Similar to L’Amerique, this atlas of the continent of Asia was first printed in 1652 and reprinted here with a new title page. The maps are all dated 1652... Read More
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The theory and treatment of fevers. Revised and corrected by Ferdinando Stith
by SAPPINGTON, John
Arrow Rock, [MO]: Published by the author, 1844. FIRST EDITION. Wrappers; scattered browning, minor repairs on a few leaves. First edition. This work is not scarce, but it has a most interesting provenance and history, recorded in manuscript on the front flyleaf. The book apparently belonged to a Dr. J. W. Moodey of Greensburg, Indiana, who writes of Sappington's pioneer use of quinine pills as a treatment for fevers. Dr. G. W. H. Kemper received the book in 1867,... Read More
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Essais sur l'hygrometrie; (with) Defense de l'hygrometre a cheveu, pour servir de supplement aux essais sur ll'hygrometrie
by SAUSSURE, Horace-Benedict de
Neuchatel; Geneva: Samuel Fauche; Barde, Manget & Co., 1788. FIRST EDITIONS. I: With folding tables and engravings, title vignette, headpieces. Library stamp on title; II: marbled paper, foxing throughout. First editions of both works. Saussure (1740-99) conducted extensive investigations on the vapor pressure of water at various temperatures, using human hair as a hygrometric element. His four Essais contain the results of his demonstrations, including the famous experiment on the role of water vapor in the atmosphere. In the... Read More
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Traité pratique des hernies, ou mémoires anatomiques et chirurgicaux sur ces maladies; planches
by SCARPA, Antoine
Paris: Chez Gabon, 1812. First edition in French, atlas only. With 11 engraved plates and ten outline plates. Modern calf-backed marbled boards. Scattered foxing and browning, paper repairs to first four leaves, mainly to inner margin. From the library of Richard Goolden, with his armorial bookplate, as well as the bookplate of the Library of the St. Louis Medical Society. First edition in French of the atlas only. Considered the authoritative work on hernia, the eponyms "Scarpa's fascia" and... Read More
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