America, a prophecy
by BLAKE, William
London: Trianon Press for William Blake Trust, 1963. With 18 full-page plates in colour. Half morocco with gilt lettering on the spine. Preserved in a slipcase matching the boards. Number 374 of an edition limited to 480 copies printed on Arches pure rag paper made to match that used by Blake. Each page is watermarked with Blake's monogram.
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William Blake’s designs for Gray’s poems reproduced full-size in monochrome or colour from the unique copy belonging to His Grace the Duke of Hamilton. . .
by BLAKE, William; GRIERSON, H[erbert] J[ohn] C[lifford] (ed.)
London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1922. FIRST EDITION. Tipped in frontispiece portrait and engraved title preceding 116 plates (6 in color). Original publisher’s cloth, gilt lettering, some rubbing on corners; interior excellent. First publication of Blake’s designs for Thomas Gray’s poems, number 16 of 650 copies. The sculptor John Flaxman commissioned the project as a gift for his wife in 1797. Blake produced 116 watercolors for his friend, all of which are reproduced in this limited edition. Gray... Read More
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The life of William Blake
by BLAKE, William & WILSON, Mona
London: The Nonesuch Press, 1927. Quarter-white parchment with marbled boards. Limited to 1480 copies.
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Monographie du stereoscope
by LA BLANCHERE
Paris: Amyot, 1861. FIRST EDITION. Wood engraved illustrations throughout. Original printed yellow wrappers bound into modern boards. Includes prospectus and subscription slip for La Blanchere’s forthcoming Répertoire Encyclopédique de Photographie. Unopened. First edition, a comprehensive treatise on the newly developed stereoscope, a technology whereby the viewer uses a two-lens device to see left and right images at the same time, creating a three-dimensional scene. This nine-part study covers the history of binocular viewing from Euclid to Brewster before discussing... Read More
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Anatomie du systeme dentaire
by BLANDIN, Philippe Frédéric
Bruxelles: Delfosse, 1837. SECOND EDITION. Folding lithographed plate. Contemporary gilt sheep-backed marbled boards, edges sprinkled red. A nice, complete copy. Second edition, an anatomical guide to human and animal teeth. The first chapters cover tooth formation, parts of the tooth, tooth loss, functions of individual teeth, and differences in teeth between men and women and among different races of people. The second part of the book focuses on animal teeth across four orders: mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish. The... Read More
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Sydney Papers. Consisting of a Journal of the Earl of Leicester, and Original letters of Algernon Sydney
by BLENCOWE, R.W., [editor]
London: John Murray, 1825. FIRST EDITION. Facsimile letters. Contemporary tan calf, gilt-ruled boards, spine decorated in gilt, morocco spine label; light scattered foxing. Bookplate of Charles Tyler Prouty. First edition. An interesting and accurate glimpse into English history and politics during the mid-seventeenth century.
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Le Tub
by BLOCK, Adolphe [NOS MONDAINES]
Paris, 1880. 6 double-image photographic stereoscope cards with contemporary watercolor, mounted on printed card stock (88 x 175 mm.). Housed in the original hinged box with chromolithographed top panel and advertisements printed on the interior. In excellent condition. Complete set of 6 erotic stereoscope views featuring women in states of undress performing their toilettes: brushing their hair, bathing, toweling off. The images are made up of albumen prints on tissue paper, with watercolor painted on the versos and additional... Read More
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Handbuch der vergleichenden anatomie
by BLUMENBACH, J[ohann] F[riedrich]
Göttingen: Heinrich Dieterich, 1805. FIRST EDITION. Complete with half-title, engraved title depicting a bust of Democritus and 8 engraved plates; Original boards, an excellent copy with the large bookplate of H.A. and a contemporary signature on title. First edition of this monumental work in the history of comparative anatomy and human development. Blumenbach believed that an organism’s morphology was capable of being modified by the environment and that the resultant changes were inherited. He argued that zoological classification should... Read More
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(In Latin): Neesia, genus Plantarum lavanicum: Repertum, Descriptum et Figura Illustratum
by BLUME, Karl Ludwig
Breslau: Weber, 1833. FIRST EDITION. With a very large folding plate of the Neesia Altissima, hand-coloured by Henry Cohen in Bonn. Disbound. First edition. This monograph was part of a series published by the journal Nova Acta Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino Carolinae Germanicae Naturae Curiosorum, Volume XVII. According to Stafleu & Cowan, many of these plates were offered separately in parts with some mysteries on the dates of publications. A second edition was published two years later. Only one copy... Read More
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The natural history of the cranes
by BLYTH, Edward
London: Horace Cox, 1881. FIRST EDITION. With tinted lithographed frontispiece, 6 plates (1 hand-colored, 1 wood-engraved and double-page). Red cloth, title in gilt on spine; interior excellent. First edition, originally written by Blyth and enlarged by W.B.Tegetmeier. A large number of species are well-documented and described. Of particular interest are the stories by many other writers that are recounted in this work, which include observations of these birds by the local population. Blyth (1810-1873) was an English zoologist... Read More
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Histoire du tribunal secret
by BOCK, Jean-Nicolas-Etienne
Metz, 1801. FIRST SEPARATE EDITION. Engraved frontispiece. Modern boards. Uncut and fresh. First separate edition, “the best work on the subject” (Caillet, tr). This book provides a comprehensive treatment of Vehmic (or Fehmic) courts, cruel and corrupt regional tribunals in Westphalia, Germany during the Middle Ages. These courts, which existed from the time of Charlemagne until their abolishment in 1811, were granted jurisdiction by the Holy Roman Emperor and had the power to sentence execution. Judges were members of... Read More
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Allgemeine Beschreibung und Nachweisung der Gestirne nebst Verzeichniss der Geraden Aufsteigung und Abweichung von 17240 Sternen, Doppelsternen, Nebelflecken und Sternhaufen. (zu dessen Uranographie gehörig). Description et connoissance generale des constellations avec un catalogue del’ascension droite et de la declinaison de 17240 etoiles, doubles, nebuleuses et amas d’etoiles, (pour servir de suite a son Uranographie)
by BODE, Johann Englert
Berlin: Selbstverlag, Chez l’auteur,, 1801. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Printed in German and French with the text in 2 columns. Unbound, sheets folded in signatures, uncut; in absolutely beautiful condition, a phenomenal newly discovered gem. First and only edition of the text volume to Bode’s Uranography published the same year. This text volume was printed separate and apart from the star atlas, which set a new benchmark in the field, proving itself as a true successor to the great... Read More
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De renunciatione vulnerum, seu vulnerum lethalium examen ..
by BOHN, Johannis
Amsterdam: Wetstenios & Smith, 1732. FOURTH EDITION. Contemporary stiff vellum, yapp edges, manuscript spine title, red edges. Somewhat browned, but a good copy. Fourth edition of this influential work on forensic medicine, the book that introduced legal autopsies. The author distinguishes between intentional and accidental deadly wounds and describes procedures for postmortem wound analysis. First published in 1689, this treatise represents an important practical intersection between medicine and law. Johannes Bohn (1640-1718) was a German physician and legal authority.... Read More
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“Nuclear reactions in the continuous energy region.” Offprint from Nature, Vol. 144, pp. [200-201], July 29, 1939
by BOHR, N[iels], PEIERLS, R[onald] & PLACZEK, G[eorge]
1939. FIRST EDITION. In perfect condition. First edition, first printing, the rare author’s offprint issue. This is the sequel to Bohr & Kalckar’s earlier work “On the transmutation of atomic nuclei by impact of material particles” which had introduced the “liquid-drop model” of the nucleus, a description of atomic nuclei in which the nucleons (neutrons and protons) behave like the molecules in a drop of liquid. If given sufficient extra energy (as by the absorption of a neutron), the... Read More
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“The quantum theory of radiation.” Offprint from The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, Vol. XLVII, May, 1924
by BOHR, Niels, KRAMERS, H.A. & SLATER, J.C.
1924. Contemporary plain wrappers. Ownership signature of G.E. Uhlenbeck (1900-1988), a distinguished theoretical physicist, perhaps most widely known for the discovery of electron spin, on front wrapper. First edition, offprint issue. The paper was published simultaneously in German in the Zeitschrift für Physik. This is the famous Bohr-Kramers-Slater (BKS) paper in which a new quantum theory of radiation is proposed. The Compton effect proved the existence of light quanta, the change in wavelength of x-rays scattered from a target... Read More
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Essai de psychologie; ou considerations sur les operations de l’ame, sur l’habitude et sur l’education. Auxquelles on a ajoutédes principes philosophiques sur la cause premiere et sur son effet
by BONNET, Charles
Londres: [n.p.,], 1755. FIRST EDITION. Woodcut headpieces and decorations. Contemporary calf, boards and corners worn and rubbed, joints starting; marbled endpapers, illegible stamp on title. Overall a very good copy. First edition. As with the philosophical musings of Locke and Condillac, Bonnet here reveals his own philosophy of psychology, ushering in the age of behavioral neuroscience. He treats the fields of psychology and education, tracing the evolution of human psychology from childhood to adulthood and its relationship with nature,... Read More
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Essai analytique sur les facultés de l’ame
by BONNET, Charles
Copenhagen: Philibert, 1760. Contemporary half gilt calf over boards, red edges; light toning, but otherwise a good copy in genuine condition. Bookseller’s label from Librairie des Sciences Occultes in Amsterdam. First edition of this groundbreaking psychological work on the human soul by “one of the fathers of modern biology” (DSB). Bonnet here examines the relationship between the mind and body and extrapolates on the nature of the soul by separating the individual faculties of human animation: nerves, smell, memory,... Read More
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On the comparison of transcendents, with certain applications to the theory of definite integrals." In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. For the year MDCCCLVII. Vol. 147, Part III, pp. 745-803
by BOOLE, George
London: Taylor & Francis, 1858. FIRST EDITION. With 6 plates (1 extra large folding). Original printed wrappers; uncut and unopened. First edition. Boole states his intention to demonstrate "a fundamental theorem for the summation of integrals whose limits are determined by the roots of an algebraic equation," as well as the "application of that theorem to the problem of the comparison of algebraic transcendents." This is the complete Part III of the Philosophical Transactions, which also includes: CAYLEY,... Read More
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An investigation of the laws of thought
by BOOLE, George
London: Walton and Maberly, 1854. FIRST EDITION. The errata leaf is at the beginning following the Contents with the note and 6 pages of advertisements at the end of the book. Finely rebound in full morocco with gilt decorated spine. From the Tomash collection of logic and mathematics. First edition, possibly the second issue of this classic work on symbolic logic, now quite scarce, or otherwise possibly a variant issue altogether (see below). Boole (1815-1864) demonstrated how the laws... Read More
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De l’astrologie judiciaire, entretien curieux
by BORDELON, Laurent
Paris: Louis Lucas, 1689. FIRST EDITION. Nineteenth-century half-Russian morocco over marbled boards. A fine copy with the Lindhurst bookplates of railroad tycoon Jay Gould (1836-1892) which pictures the gothic estate on the Hudson River in Tarrytown, New York. First edition of this uncommon treatise on judicial astrology. Written in the form of a dialogue, this text questions the role of celestial bodies in determining events on Earth. The interlocutors, Dorante and Alcidon, debate whether astrology could have predicted the... Read More
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Recherches sur le tissu muqueux, ou l’organe cellulaire, et sur quelques maladies de la poitrine
by BORDEU, Theophile de
Paris: Chez Pierre Franç. Didot le Jeune, 1767. FIRST EDITION. Original leather with gilt spine and marbled paste downs; light foxing throughout, but overall a clean, good copy. . First edition. Considered one of the most important works in the history of cell theory, Bordeu “described connective tissue - under the name mucous tissue - showing its role in exchanges, the phenomena of nutrition, and the mechanical equilibrium of organs and tissues” (DSB, II, p. 301). This work followed... Read More
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De motu animalium; dissertationibus
by BORELLI, G.A. & Bernoulli, J.
The Hague, 1743. LATER EDITION. Engraved frontispiece, title pages of the two parts of the Borelli work in red and black, and 19 folding plates; interior browned. Contemporary paste-paper boards, worn, speckled edges. Borelli’s famous work applying mechanics to muscles (first published posthumously in 1680-81) together with Johann Bernoulli’s treatises applying mechanics to fermentation, along with his Dissertation de motu musculorum. This classic work established muscular mechanics as a science and was important in the history of cardiology and... Read More
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De motu animalium
by BORELLI, Joh. (Giovanni) Alphonsi; BERNOULLI, Johann
Neapoli: Typis Felicis Mosca, 1734. LATER EDITION. Half-title to first work, title in red and black, separate title to Bernoulli’s dissertation. With 19 plates, woodcut printer’s device and initials. Modern 3/4 calf; new endpapers, interior lightly browned. Contemporary ownership inscription on half-title. Interesting ownership brand on top fore-edge. Borelli’s famous work applying mechanics to muscles (first published posthumously in 1680-1681) together with Johann Bernoulli’s treatises applying mechanics to fermentation, along with his Dissertation de motu musculorum. This classic work... Read More
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Logic or the morphology of knowledge
by BOSANQUET, Bernard
Oxford: Clrendon Press, 1888. FIRST EDITION. Half- titles in each volume. Original cloth, covers a bit worn and bumped with head of spine to Volume I torn; other than the preliminaries being somewhat browned, a good copy. First edition, considered by historians as his major work. Bosanquet (1848-1923), a political theorist, was influential on matters of political and social policy in Great Britain. He was quite knowledgeable about the philosophyt of ancient Greece and became a follower of German... Read More
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Raccolta di lettere sulla pittura, scultura ed architettura
by BOTTARI, Gio
Milan: Giovanni Silvestri, 1825. FIRST EDITION. Contemporary half vellum over marbled boards, gilt spine title labels, edges sprinkled brown, red silk markers. A perfect set of an invaluable work, difficult to find complete. First edition, all published, of this compilation of letters written by painters, sculptors, and architects from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The author, Vatican librarian and erstwhile director of the grand-ducal press in Tuscany, passed away before he completed this monumental effort, and his work... Read More
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