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.-
ADAMS, John Couch.
The scientific Papers … edited by William Grylls Adams … with a Memoir by J.W.L. Glaisher.
Cambridge, University Press, 1896 [– 1900].
First edition of the posthumously published collected papers of the Cambridge mathematician and astronomer, John Couch Adams (1819–1892). ‘In retrospect Adams’ many mathematical and astronomical achievements pale in comparison to his analysis of the orbit of Uranus and his prediction of...
£175
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AELIANUS, Claudius, Conrad GESSNER (translator), and Pierre GILLES (editor).
Περι ζωων ιδιοτητος...
Cologny, Philippe Albert, 1616.
Uncommon Geneva edition of Aelianus’s De animalium natura, the Greek printed in parallel with Gessner’s Latin translation. A third-century work on natural history, Aelianus’s text offers accounts and anecdotes of animals, ‘an appealing collection of facts and fables about the animal...
£300
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ALLEN, John.
Principles of modern Riding for Gentlemen, in which the late Improvements of the Manege and military Systems are applied...
London, C. & C. Whittingham for Thomas Tegg, Glasgow, for R. Griffin & Co., and Dublin, for J. Cumming, 1825.
First and only edition of an uncommon riding manual. A riding master teaching near Bryanstone Square, John Allen ‘flatters himself that, at a time when riding has become so fashionable an exercise, his work will more than any preceding one ensure the security, ease, and grace of the rider, both...
£350
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[ANATOMY.]
‘Breve compendio anatomico’.
[Italy, c. 1720.]
A handsome set of apparently unpublished notes on orthopaedics by an anonymous medical student, compiled in Italy in the early eighteenth century, covering bones, cartilage, ligaments and muscles. The manuscript opens with a detailed analysis of the human skeleton, its bones and articulation,...
£1750
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[ANDREAE, Johann Valentin.]
Reipublicae Christianopolitanae descriptio ...
Strasburg, heirs of Lazarus Zetzner, 1619.
A rare and influential Renaissance political utopia, in a fine sammelband of four first editions by the Lutheran humanist Johann Valentin Andreae (1586–1654).
£12500
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ANDREWS, Mark E.
The Science and Engineering of Water: An illustrated catalogue of books and manuscripts on Italian hydraulics,...
Toronto, A.E. Publications, 2022.
A lavishly illustrated catalogue, tracing the development of science and engineering through the early modern period. Some 367 printed books, manuscripts, and maps are presented in chronological order, highlighting the relationship between the evolution of ideas and the authors who documented...
£85
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[ANON.]
The Gentleman’s compleat Jockey, with the perfect Horse-Man and experienc’d Farrier, containing: I. the Nature of Horses,...
London, Peter Parker, 1711.
Fifth edition, very scarce, of an anonymous early farriery manual. Among the first popular guides to farriery, a form which would be much copied throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Gentleman’s compleat Jockey (formerly attributed to Adolphus Speed) was first published...
£1750
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[APPERLEY, Charles James.] ‘NIMROD’, and Henry ALKEN (illustrator).
The Chace, the Turf, and the Road.
London, A. Spottiswoode for John Murray, 1837.
First edition of a series of articles first published in the Quarterly Review, illustrated by Henry Alken. A sporting writer who ‘may even be said to have created the role of gentleman hunting correspondent’ (ODNB), Charles James Apperley (1778–1843) published widely on hunting and...
£350
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[ARISTOTLE – ELIAS.]
Biblioteca Armeno-Georgica. I. Commentarii in Aristotelis Categorias Eliae commentatori adscripti versio...
St Petersburg, Academiae Imperialis Scientarum, 1911.
Uncommon edition, published by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg, of the Armenian translation of the commentaries on Aristotle’s Categories by the sixth-century Christian philosopher and commentator Elias.
£250
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[ARISTOTLE’S MASTERPIECE.]
Aristotle’s Compleat and experience’d Midwife: in two Parts. I. A Guide for Child-bearing...
London: Printed, and sold by the Booksellers. 1711.
Second edition, very rare, apparently ‘translated’ (i.e. edited) by the self-trained popular empiric William Salmon, a prolific author of domestic medical treatises; some of the text is drawn from Nicholas Culpeper.
£950
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ARM’S OF TILLY (The).
The Virtues and Effects of the Remedy, named Medicamentum gratia probatum, id ist: the Remedy approved...
[Colophon:] Printe [sic] by John Enschedé, Printer of the City of Haarlem in Holland, [c. 1764–73]
Unrecorded printing of an advertising broadside for Haarlem Oil, a panacea containing ingredients such as sulphur and terebinth oil which is still sold today as a dietary supplement. The oil was first marketed in 1696 by Claes Tilly, a Haarlem schoolmaster, who was succeeded by his step grandchild...
£1500
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[ARNAULD, Antoine, and Pierre NICOLE.]
La logique ou l’art de penser, contenant, outre les regles communes, plusieurs...
Paris, Jean Guignart, Charles Savreaux, and Jean de Launay, 1662.
Scarce first edition of the work known as the Port Royal Logic. The authors were leaders of the Port Royal movement, and the book displays the distinctive tone of earnest piety for which the movement became famous. La Logique was the most famous logic text of the seventeenth century...
£2000
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ASTLEY, Philip.
Astley’s System of equestrian Education, exhibiting the Beauties and Defects of the Horse, with serious and important...
London, T. Burton for S. Creed, [c. 1801].
Fifth edition of a work on horse-training by the ‘father of the modern circus’ (Chambers). Noted during military service in the Seven Years’ War not only for his daring in battle but also for his skills as a rider and breaker of horses, Philip Astley (1742-1814) established on his return...
£350
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ATABEY, Sefik E. – Leonora NAVARI.
The Ottoman World. The Sefik E. Atabey Collection. Books, Manuscripts and Maps.
London: Bernard J. Shapero, 1998.
First and only edition, limited to 750 sets. A comprehensive catalogue of Sefik E. Atabey's remarkable library of some 1,370 pre-1854 books, manuscripts, and maps relating to the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East. Each item is carefully described and annotated, and the catalogue is supplemented...
£600
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AUBREY, John.
Miscellanies, upon the following Subjects. I. Day-Fatality. II. Local-Fatality. III. Ostenta. IV. Omens....
London: Printed for A. Bettewsorth, and J. Battley … J. Pemberton … and E. Curll … 1721.
Second edition, enlarged, of Aubrey’s entertaining collection of folk history, superstitions, and gossip, the only book he completed, first published in 1696. The topics he tackles in this work of ‘hermetick philosophy’ include ‘omens and prophecies, dreams and apparitions, day fatality...
£750
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AUGIER DU FOT, Anne Amable.
Catechismo d’ostetricia per istruzione delle mammane di campagna composto per odine e a spese del...
Venice, Stamperia Graziosi, 1787.
Uncommon first Italian edition of this handbook of obstetrics, initially published in France at the behest of Turgot in 1775 and distributed gratis to French midwives.
£550
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BACON, Francis.
Francisci Baconi, Baronis de Verulamio, Vice-Comitis Sancti Albani, operum moralium et civilium tomus … cura...
London, Edward Griffin [and John Haviland] for Richard Whitaker [and John Norton], 1638.
First edition, first issue, a copy from the celebrated Albani library: tangible witness to the early and fecund reception of Bacon’s thought in the circles of Galilean science in Italy.
£3500
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[BADCOCK, John.] ‘HINDS, John’.
Veterinary Surgery and Practice of Medicine, or Farriery taught on a new Plan, being a familiar...
London, R. Gilbert for Whittaker, Treacher, & Co., 1829.
Second edition of a pseudonymous work on veterinary medicine. Though recorded on the title as ‘John Hinds, veterinary surgeon’, the author is identified as John Badcock (fl. 1810–1830), a little-known writer who had pursued a journalistic career over the previous two decades, specialising...
£200
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BALDUINO, Girolamo.
Quaesitum novum pulcherrimum, ac optatissimum contra Scotum, ac communem viam in quo enucleatur an de subiecto...
Naples, Raymundus Amatus, 1557.
Scarce first editions of two early works on Aristotelian logic by Girolamo Balduino, an important member of the Paduan school of Aristotelian commentators who have been recognised in recent scholarship as a crucial link between traditional logic and science and the new, Galilean methodologies....
£1250
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[BALLANTINE, E.]
Natural History of Quadrupeds, for Children, combined with an Attempt to engraft on the youthful Mind the Principles...
London, Harvey & Darton, 1824.
A scarce work, second edition, the first edition to be attributed to ‘a lady’. An attractive natural history for children, the work was first published in 1813 ‘by the Author of The Decoy’, an educational work on English grammar; this second edition is the first to credit ‘a lady’...
£400