Science

Contact Andrea Mazzocchi

Science at Quaritch is broadly defined, ranging from medicine, anatomy, pharmacology (including herbals) and natural history to astronomy, physics, chemistry and mathematics.

An interest in the origins of modern chemistry has led to a specialisation in works on alchemy and distillation, and from there we have also branched out into occultism and hermeticism. We have developed an interest in gastronomy and books on nutrition and wine, an area which over the years has become one of our specialities.
  1. [LONDON ZOO.] HARVEY, William (illustrator).

    The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society delineated … Vol. I:...

    Chiswick, Charles Wittingham, for London, Charles Tilt, 1831.

    First edition, second issue, of the first record of the menagerie of the Zoological Society. Founded in 1826 with botanical gardens and a zoological collection at Regent’s Park, the Zoological Society of London was soon established as the foremost natural history collection in Europe, receiving...

    £175

  2. [LOO, Pieter van, (attributed).] 

    156 watercolours of flowers, plants, and fruits. 

    [Holland, c. 1760–80]. 

    A truly stunning collection of over 150 original eighteenth-century botanical watercolours, attributed to the noted Dutch botanical artist Pieter van Loo (1731–1784). 

    £110000

  3. MAPLET, John, and W.H. DAVIES (editor).

    A greene Forest, or a naturall Historie, wherein may bee seene first the...

    London, Hesperides Press, 1930.

    Limited edition, numbered 31 of fifty copies on Millbourne pure rag hand-made paper, signed by Davies.

    £75

  4. MEGUSCHER, Francesco.

    Memoria … in risposta al quesito additare la migliore e più facile maniera per rimittere i boschi nelle...

    Milan, presso l’I.R. Istituto, 1847.

    First edition of this comprehensive report on the best means to reverse the deforestation of the mountains of Lombardy, in a way that could be both environmentally sustainable and economically profitable.

    £950

  5. MILL, John Stuart, and Edward Livingston YOUMANS.

    Новѣйшее образованiе: его истинныя цѣли и требованiя....

    St Petersburg, Izdanie “Russkoi knizhnoi torgovli”, 1867.

    First edition in Russian of these two works, published in the original that same year.

    £100

  6. MORTON, John.

    The natural History of Northampton-Shire, with some Account of the Antiquities, to which is annex’d a Transcript...

    London, R. Knaplock and R. Wilkin, 1712.

    First edition of Morton’s systematic natural history of Northamptonshire. Compiled over the course of a decade, Morton’s Natural History provides a careful account of the natural history, minerals, fossils, and geography of the county, accompanied by fourteen large copper-engravings....

    £775

  7. POCOCKE, Richard.

    A Description of the East, and some other Countries.

    London: W. Bowyer for the Author, [‘and sold by J. and P. Knapton, W. Innys, W. Meadows, G. Hawkins, S. Birt, T. Longman, C. Hitch, R. Dodsley,...

    First edition, demy folio issue. The traveller and cleric Pococke (1704-1765), was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and graduated BA in 1725, BCL in 1731, and DCL in 1733. His family’s ecclesiastical connexions and his facility at navigating the complexities of clerical patronage enabled...

    £8000

  8. [POETRY.]

    Anthology of manuscript floriographic poetry.

    June 1853.

    A collection of twenty-six apparently unpublished poems in manuscript, presented as an alphabetical acrostic. The poems express the perfection and the language of flowers – that is, the meaning embodied by each variety. Examples given here include ox-eye for patience, quince blossom for temptation,...

    £250

  9. RAIMONDI, Eugenio. 

    Delle caccie … libri Quattro, aggiuntovi’n questa nuova ’mpressione il quinto libro della villa. 

    [Naples, Lazzaro Scoriggio, 1626.]

    Second edition, expanded and extended, with a new series of striking venatic plates.  The series of plates (attributable to Nicolas Perrey, who signs the title), showing composite scenes of hunters pursuing animals from birds and fish to lions and elephants, is wholly new, replacing the woodcut...

    £2500

  10. ROBINSON, Alan James (artist), and Laurie BLOCK.

    An Odd Bestiary, or, a Compendium of instructive and entertaining Descriptions...

    [Easthampton (MA),] Cheloniidae Press, 1982.

    First edition, numbered 69 of 200 copies from a limited edition of 300 and signed by the artist.

    £500

  11. ROBINSON, W.

    The Parks and Gardens of Paris, considered in Relation to the Wants of other Cities and of public and private Gardens,...

    London, John Murray, 1883.

    Third edition of an attractively illustrated guide to the parks and gardens of Paris. The gardener and horticulturalist William Robinson (1838–1935) combines descriptions of the green spaces of the city with observations on the methods of their maintenance, and compares French horticulture with...

    £60

  12. RUINI, Carlo.

    Anatomia del cavallo, infermità, et suoi rimedii: opera nuova, degna di qualsivoglia prencipe, & cavaliere, & molto...

    Venice, Fioravante Prati, 1618.

    Fourth edition of the first detailed study in veterinary anatomy and an extremely important work in the history of anatomy as a discipline.

    £6000

  13. SAUNIER, Jean de, and Gaspard de SAUNIER.

    La parfaite connoissance des chevaux, leur anatomie, leurs bonnes & mauvaises...

    The Hague, for the Author and sold by Adrien Moetjens, 1734.

    First edition of Gaspard de Saunier’s most important work, the only one published during his lifetime. Gaspard de Saunier (1663 - 1748) established his reputation with the foundation of his equestrian academy at Leiden in 1707 and as riding master to the university there, having previously served...

    £1950

  14. [SCHLOSSER, Johann Albert].  BODDAERT, Pieter.

    Epistola ad … Hier. Dav. Gaubium … De chaetodonte diacantho, descripto atque...

    Amsterdam, apud M. Magerum, 1772.

    First and only edition of Boddaert’s description of the Royal Angelfish found in the Schlosser natural history cabinet.  This is the first monograph on the Royal Angelfish (and its first illustration), a now common species of coral fish in the Pacific and Indian Ocean. 

    £500

  15. [SCHLOSSER, Johann Albert.] BODDAERT, Pieter. 

    Epistola ad virum celeberrimum Johannem Burmannum … De Chaetodonte Argo descripto...

    Amsterdam, apud Cornelium van Tongerlo, 1770.

    First and only edition of Boddaert’s description of this Indo-West Pacific fish species found in the Schlosser natural history cabinet. 

    £500

  16. SHELDRAKE, Timothy.

    The Causes of Heat and Cold in the several Climates and Situations of this Globe, so far as they depend upon...

    London, printed for and sold by the author … and by M. Cooper, 1756.

    First edition, rare on the market, of this work on climate by the botanist Timothy Sheldrake (c. 1691–c. 1759) evidencing his interest in tropical plants.

    £1275

  17. SQUIRES, Richard F.

    Typescript letter to John Derek Smith, signed Rick,

    dated Gladsaxe [Denmark], December 7, 1965.

    Squires’ main research was into multiple forms of monoamine oxidases, and their inhibitors, which are nowadays used as antidepressants. Squires reports of problems not entirely unrelated with psycho-active substances:

    £180

  18. STABLES, Gordon.

    Hints about home and farm favourites for pleasure, prizes, and profit.

    London and New York, Frederick Warne, 1889.

    First edition of this charming work on the care of pets, with chapters on dogs, cats, poultry, rabbits, goats, ferrets, monkeys, guinea-pigs, ‘fancy rats’, and tortoises, as well as on ‘monkeys as pets’. The book is dedicated to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

    £250

  19. STRICKLAND, Hugh Edwin, and A.

    G. MELVILLE. The Dodo and its Kindred; or, the History, Affinities and Osteology of the Dodo, Solitaire...

    London: Reeve, Benham, and Reeve … 1848.

    A fine family copy of the first scientific monograph on the dodo, and a related flightless bird, the Rodrigues solitaire.

    £7500

  20. SWOBODA, Hermann.

    Die Perioden des menschlichen Organismus: in ihrer psychologischen und biologischen Bedeutung.

    Leipzig, Deuticke, 1904.

    First editions, all rare, the first two being foundational works in the formation of the theory of biorhythm. Swoboda’s early studies on the recurrence or periodicity in phenomena acquired a psychological character and application in his work since his encounter and brief experience of analysis with...

    £200