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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. NEWTON, Isaac.

    Opuscula Mathematica, philosophica et philologica. Collegit partimque Latine vertit ac recensuit Joh. Castillioneus...

    Lausanne and Geneva, Bousquet & soc., 1744.

    First edition of Newton’s collected works edited and introduced by the Pisa alumnus Giovanni Salvemini da Castiglione. The edition contained twenty-six works which, while having appeared previously, were not easily accessible, from Newton’s mathematical works and optical lectures, which were greatly...

    £6000

  2. [NORTH, Roger].

    A discourse of fish and fish-ponds…

    London, E. Curll, 1713.

    First edition. A popular treatise on freshwater fisheries which was frequently reprinted throughout the eighteenth century, written by the lawyer politician and writer Roger North (1651-1734). North’s manual is specifically targeted at those wishing to cultivate fish in lowland clays, and deals predominately...

    £250

  3. OSBALDISTON, William Augustus.

    The British Sportsman, or Nobleman, Gentleman, and Farmer’s Dictionary of Recreation and Amusement,...

    London, J. Stead for the Proprietor, and sold by Champante & Whitrow and at the British Directory Office, [c. 1792-6].

    First edition, issued in forty-two parts, of one of the first sporting dictionaries. ‘The pleasure and convenience of being well informed in the Recreations and Amusements of a Country Life, are objects of themselves sufficiently interesting, to justify the Author in presenting this Work to...

    £650

  4. PADOVANI, Giovanni.

    Opus de compositione et usu multiformium horologiorum solarium pro diversis mundi regionibus, idq[ue] ubique...

    Venice, Francesco de Franceschi, 1570.

    Scarce first edition of Padovani’s treatise on sundials, providing illustrated instruction on the use of various horizontal and vertical sundials and on calculating latitude, this copy owned and annotated by the author’s friend and collaborator Johannes Andrea de Muscis. A second edition appeared in 1582.

    £3750

  5. PEANO, Giuseppe.

    Applicazioni geometriche del calcolo infinitesimale.

    Turin, [Vincenzo Bona] for Bocca, 1887.

    first edition, the publisher’s archive copy with red stamp on front wrapper. ‘Based on a course Peano began teaching at the University of Turin in 1885 [it] contains the beginnings of his “geometrical calculus,” new forms of remainders in quadrature formulas, new definitions of length of an arc...

    £250

  6. PEANO, Giuseppe [Angelo GENOCCHI].

    Calcolo differenziale e principii di calcolo integrale pubblicato con aggiunte dal D.r Giuseppe...

    Rome, Turin and Florence, Fratelli Bocca, 1884.

    First edition of Peano’s first book. The publication was credited to Angelo Genocchi (1817–1889), whose assistant Peano became after graduating at the Università degli Studi di Torino in 1880. Giuseppe Peano (1858–1932) is now more famous as one of the founders of modern mathematical logic...

    £900

  7. PEMBROKE, Henry Herbert, Earl of.

    A Method of Breaking Horses, and Teaching Soldiers to Ride, designed for the Use of the Army.

    London, J. Hughs, 1761.

    First edition of the British army’s manual on the training of cavalry. Though the centre of scandal in his private and political life, as a cavalryman Henry Herbert, tenth earl of Pembroke (1734-1794) was diligent and conscientious in his duties and advanced rapidly in his military career, being...

    £650

  8. PETERS, J.G.

    A Treatise on Equitation, or the Art of Horsemanship, simplified progressively for Amateurs, forming complete Lessons...

    London, Baylis & Leighton for Whittaker & Co., 1835.

    First and only edition of a scarce treatise on horsemanship, in an unusual horse-skin binding. Having served in the Seventh Queen’s Own Hussars and the Royal Field Artillery from the 1890s until 1919, Major Henry Arthur Johnstone gathered a library comprising books largely on natural history,...

    £1000

  9. [PETRUS GERTICZ OF DRESDEN.]

    Incipit. Textus parvuli logice una cum brevi et perutili repeticione eiusdem. Laus deo.

    [Nuremberg], Friedrich Creussner, [c. 1497].

    Rare incunable edition of this popular introduction to logic, known as the Parvulus logicae, by the schoolmaster Petrus Gerticz of Dresden (d. 1421/25), based on the logical writings of Petrus Hispanus and Paulus Venetus. The first edition was printed in Leipzig c. 1486-89.

    £4500

  10. PHARMACOPOEA TAURINENSIS

    nunc primum edita jussu Augustissimi Regis.

    Turin, Jean-Baptiste Chais, 1736.

    First edition of this Turin pharmacopoeia, prepared by doctors at the city’s medical college at the order of Charles Emmanuel III, Duke of Savoy. Its first section comprises a list of all substances generally used in the preparation of medicines, with synonyms and notes to aid the user in distinguishing...

    £1800

  11. [PHARMACOPOEIA.]

    Apparatus medicaminum ad usum nosocomii Ticinensis anno MDCCXC.

    Pavia, Joseph Bolzani, [1790].

    Very rare first edition of this pharmacopoeia for use at the Ospedale Grande di San Matteo, also known as the Pietà, in Pavia, one of the foremost medical schools in Europe at the time of this publication. Founded in 1449, the Ospedale remained the centre of healthcare in the city for almost five centuries,...

    £750

  12. 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

  13. [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

  14. POPE, Alexander.

    An essay on man… with illustrations, and notes, by S. R. Wells.

    New York, Wells, 1867.

    First edition thus: Pope’s Essay on man edited, with many notes, by the phrenologist Samuel Wells. ‘Looked at from a phrenological stand-point, this Poem exhibits rare beauties not seen, or rather not fully appreciated, by other eyes’ (preface). Phrenological thinking was influential in 19th-century...

    £120

  15. [POSTAL HISTORY].

    [Venetian “AQ” letter sheet.]

    [Venice, 1647].

    A completed example of the first prepaid letter sheet.

    £900

  16. QUINCY, John.

    Lexicon physico-medicum: or, a new medicinal dictionary; explaining the difficult terms used in the several branches...

    London, Osborn and Longman, 1726.

    Third edition, first published 1719, ‘with new improvements from the latest chymical and mechanical authors’.

    £350

  17. 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

  18. REDOUTÉ, Pierre Joseph.

    Les Roses, peintes par P.J.R. Descrites par Cl. Ant.Thory.

    Paris, C.F.L. Panckoucke, 1824.

    First 8vo edition of Redouté’s gargantuan masterpiece, lavishly illustrated with stipple-engravings by Bessa, Bessin, Chapuy, Charlin, Coutant, Langlois, Lemaire, Talbot, Teillard and Victor after the original aquarelles by Redouté, popularly nicknamed the ‘Raphael of Flowers’.
    Designer...

    £22500

  19. [RICCI, Pellegrino].

    Dissertazione sul costume di suonar le campane in occasione di temporali.

    Faenza, Lodovico Genestri, 1787.

    An attractive copy of this rare dissertation in which the author, a Minorite friar, attempts to demonstrate scientifically that the popular practice of ringing church bells during storms in the attempt to dissipate storm clouds and minimise the danger from lightning in fact had no effect. Ricci explains...

    £485

  20. RICHARDUS ANGLICUS.

    Correctorium alchymiae ... Das is reformierte Alchimy, oder Alchimeibesserung, und Straffung der Alchimistischen...

    Strasbourg, Bernard Jobin, 1581.

    first edition of ‘a very rare collection’ (Duveen). There are five treatises: Richardus Anglicus’ Correctorium and Reformierte Alchimei; Lull’s Apertorium et accuratio vegetabilium, and Vom philosophischen Stein, and Geber’s Secretum. The thirteenth-century Richardus Anglicus or Richard of...

    £6000