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 βιβλιον...
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A handsome set of apparently unpublished notes on orthopaedics by an anonymous medical student, compiled in Italy in the early eighteenth century, covering bones, cartilage, ligaments and muscles.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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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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ANDREWS, Mark E.
The Science and Engineering of Materials: A Theatre of Machine Books, 1472–1800.
Toronto, AE Publications, 2023.
An extraordinary survey of four centuries of machine books, tracing the evolution of printing techniques and draughtsmanship alongside the development of the machines themselves. In this catalogue of eighty-six works from his collection of books on civil engineering, Mark Andrews situates a series...
£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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ANSELMI, Giorgio, the younger.
Georgii Anselmi nepotis Epigrammaton libri septem. Sosthyrides. Peplum Palladis. Aeglogae...
Venice, Maffeo Pasini, September 1528.
The definitive edition of the epigrams of Giorgio Anselmi, grandson of the astrologer and music theorist of the same name, with several epigrams on his grandfather’s lost works on magic and the occult.
£875
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APIANUS, Peter, and Gemma FRISIUS.
Cosmographia, sive Descriptio universi Orbis, Petri Apiani & Gemmae Frisij, Mathematicorum...
Antwerp, ‘Ex officina Ioannis Withagij’, 1584.
The expanded 1584 edition of Apianus’s highly important Cosmographia, printed by the most prolific printer of the work in Antwerp, with volvelles utilising waste from his press.
£3750
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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.]
Disputations on Aristotle’s Organon.
Milan, 1600-1601.
An interesting manuscript comprising disputations on the first four works of Aristotle’s Organon, covering logical analysis and dialectic, compiled by a Milanese student at the turn of the seventeenth century.
£1250
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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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ARNALDUS DE VILLANOVA.
Computus ecclesiasticus et astronomicus ... noviter impressum.
[Colophon:] Venice, Bernardino Vitali, 17 February 1501.
Rare first edition, the Erwin Tomash copy, with numerous early marginalia showing a close analysis by a near-contemporary reader. ‘Arnald of Villanova ... was born either in Villa Nova (Spain) or Villeneuve (France). He died in a shipwreck in 1314. He lectured on philosophy and medicine...
£4500
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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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ASTRUC, Jean.
Tractatus de motus fermentativi causa novam et mechanicam hypothesim conteniens, authore Joanne Astruc artium liberalium...
Montpellier, Honoratus Pech, 1702.
A dissertation on fermentation published by the physician Jean Astruc (1684–1766), aged eighteen; he later taught anatomy at Toulouse and the Collège Royal in Paris, and served as consultant to Louis XV and as chief physician of August II of Poland.
£500
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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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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