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Science

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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.
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  1. WALCOTT, John.

    The Figures, Description, and History of exotic Animals, comprised under the Classes Amphibia and Pisces of Linnaeus.

    London, W. Justins for the Author, and sold by White & son, Robson & Clarke, and J. Mathews, 1788.

    First and only edition, very rare, published in parts. The engraved figures and their descriptions comprise a variety of turtles, snakes, frogs, and fish, including several notable species from America. Though Walcott writes in his preface of the prospect of ‘a Second Part, which will contain...

    £3500

  2. WALLIS, Thomas.

    The Farrier’s and Horseman’s complete Dictionary, containing the Art of Farriery in all its Branches, with...

    London, W. Owen and E. Baker, 1759.

    First edition of Wallis’s scarce dictionary of farriery, with lengthy entries describing ailments and detailing their cures, alongside notes on breaking, training, feeding, surgery, equipment, and riding. The preface contains an important comment on the incipient formalisation of farriery into...

    £750

  3. [WALL, Thomas].

    A Second Christian Warning-Piece; wherein is shewed the first and chief Cause of Englands present Misery … Humbly...

    London, 1681-2.

    First edition, very rare, of a vehement anti-Catholic tract published in the context of the Exclusion Crisis; bound with the principal astrological work of John Holwell (a slightly imperfect copy).

    £1750

  4. WELLS, Edward.

    The young Gentleman’s Astronomy, Chronology, and Dialling, containing such Elements of the said Arts or Sciences,...

    London, James & John Knapton, 1725.

    Third edition of Wells’s successful mathematical handbook.

    £350

  5. WHITEHEAD, Alfred North.

    On mathematical concepts of the material world [in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of...

    London, Dulau & Co, 1906.


    First edition of one of the earliest of Whitehead’s works, the first attempt to tacke the question of the nature of the material world through the symbolism of formal logic.

    £1750

  6. WHITE, James.

    A Compendium of the veterinary Art, containing an accurate Description of all the Diseases to which the Horse is...

    London, J. Badcock and Longman & Co., and Canterbury, W. Bristow, [c. 1804].

    Sixth edition. Evidently a successful text, further editions appeared soon after the work’s first publication and would eventually be expanded into four volumes (the present edition is often found accompanied by The materia medica and pharmacopoeia).

    £225

  7. WHITWORTH, William Allen.

    Choice and chance.

    Cambridge, Deighton, Bell and Co.; London, Bell and Daldy, 1867.

    First edition, scarce especially in good condition, of a key work in the history of probability and statistics. Whitworth’s best-known book, an accessible presentation of problems of probability and associated areas, was derived from a series of lectures delivered before the women of Queen’s College,...

    £650

  8. WOOD, John.

    A new compendious Treatise of Farriery, wherein are set forth in a plain, familiar, and natural Manner the Disorders...

    London, Hewett for the author, and sold by J. Brindley, T. Payne, and R. Withy & J. Ryall, 1757.

    First edition of a treatise on farriery by John Wood, formerly groom to the King of Sardinia. The contemporary manuscript notes appear in several hands belonging to members of the Green family of Uppington in Shropshire, though the majority match inscriptions by Barnard and Jane Green. Several...

    £650

  9. YARRELL, William.

    A History of British Fishes … illustrated by nearly 400 Woodcuts.

    London, Samuel Bentley for John van Voorst, 1836.

    First collected editions, with an autograph letter on the Hebridal smelt from the species’ discoverer. Published serially from 1835 to 1836, Yarrell’s History of British Fishes was reprinted within a year, and followed soon after by Thomas Bell’s British Reptiles in 1839 and...

    £750