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.-
MARINIS, Dominico de.
Dissertatio philosophico-medica de re monstrosa à Capuccino Pisauri per urinam excreta. Plura de sanguinis...
Rome, typis Iacobi Mascardi ... sumptibus Ben Carrarae, 1678.
First edition of this scarce dissertation on worms focussing on the extraordinary case of a Capuchin preacher from Pesaro who in 1677 passed a ‘monster’ worm in his urine, which upon subsequent examination was declared to be a serpent.
£1850
-
MARKHAM, Gervase.
Cavalarice, or the English Horseman: Contayning all the Art of Horse-manship, asmuch as is necessary for any...
London, Edward Allde for Edward White, [1616 –] 1617.
A beautiful copy of the second edition, ‘corrected and augmented’, of Markham’s Cavalarice, exceptionally well-preserved in a contemporary binding, from the library of the antiquary Sir John Marsham.
£9750
-
MARKHAM, ‘J.’ [Gervase], G. JEFFERIES, ‘and Experienced INDIANS’, [and C.D. LESHER (editor)].
The Citizen...
Chambersburg, Thomas J. Wright, [c. 1839].
Undated Chambersburg edition. Among the most popular farriery manuals in America, the Experienced Farrier remained in print almost a century after its first appearance, with this Chambersburg edition following those of Wilmington and Baltimore. Intended, like its predecessors, for the common...
£250
-
MARTINENQ, Jean Baptiste Thomas.
Codex medicamentarius, seu pharmacopoea Parisiensis, ex mandato facultatis medicinae Parisiensis...
Paris, apud Guillelmum Cavelier, 1748.
Revised and enlarged edition (first 1638) of the Parisian pharmacopoeia, edited by the dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of Paris, Jean Baptiste Thomas Martinenq (d. 1758), this copy greatly enhanced by extensive critical and analytical marginalia by an experienced near contemporary...
£2500
-
MARZAGLIA, Gaetano.
Fascetto di pratiche matematiche spiegate alle persone popolari per uso del comercio umano, e civile, in questa...
Verona, Dionisio Ramanzini, 1780.
A lovely copy of the second edition, considerably augmented from the first of 1754, of this book of applied mathematical problems by the Veronese mathematician Gaetano Marzaglia (or Marcegaglia, 1716–1787), heavily influenced by the work of Wolff, who provides the motto to the book, and whose works...
£650
-
MASSARI, Francesco.
In nonum Plinii de naturali historia librum castigationes & annotationes.
Basel, [Hieronymus] Froben [and Nikolaus Bischof], [March] 1537.
First edition of Massari’s commentary on the ninth book of Pliny’s Natural History, on fish and marine life, bound for – and quite possibly by – Flavio Floriani using printed waste from his own library.
£1250
-
McWILLIAM, James Ormiston.
Medical History of the Expedition to the Niger during the Years 1841-2. Comprising an Account of the...
London: C. Adlard for John Churchill, 1843.
First edition. A classic treatise on the Niger region and the yellow fever written by the Scottish doctor James Ormiston McWilliam, the hero of a government expedition exploring the region and its commercial opportunities, and explicitly aimed at suppressing the slave trade. When the yellow fever...
£600
-
MEAD, Richard.
A Short Discourse concerning pestilential Contagion, and the Methods to be used to prevent it … The third Edition.
London: Printed [by William Bowyer] for Sam. Buckley … and Ralph Smith … 1720.
‘Third edition’ of the most famous medical tract on the plague scare of 1720-1, written at the request of James Craggs, the secretary of State following the bubonic outbreak in Marseilles in late 1719. There were seven London editions within the year, those from the third on being re-impressions...
£375
-
[MEDICAL DICTIONARY.]
Dictionary of medical terms, Latin-English wordlist, and list of abbreviations and contractions.
[S.l., early 1800s].
An interesting manuscript compiled by an anonymous medical student, comprising a dictionary of medical terms, from ‘Abdomen’ to ‘Zoster’, followed by a glossary of Latin terms with their English equivalents (including ‘Machina electrica – the electric machine’), and ending with a...
£450
-
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
-
MEITNER, Lise, and Otto R. FRISCH.
On the Products of the Fission of Uranium and Thorium under Neutron Bombardment.
Copenhagen, Ejnar Munksgaard, 1939.
First edition of this highly important paper, published in Det Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Mathematisk-Fysiske Meddelelser, vol. 17, no. 5.
£850
-
MERCURIALE, Girolamo.
De arte gymnastica libri sex, in quibus exercitationum omnium vetustarum genera, loca, modi, facultates,...
Venice, [Lucantonio II] Giunta, 1587.
Third edition of ‘the first illustrated book on gymnastics’ (Morton). A physician occupying senior posts in the medical faculties of Padua, Bologna, Rome, and Pisa, Girolamo Mercuriale (1530–1606) draws heavily on accounts of ancient exercise to argue for its medical benefits, being the...
£2750
-
[MICROSCOPY – RABIQUEAU, Charles.]
Manifeste littéraire, servant de supplément aux journaux sur le livre du Microscope Moderne,...
Geneva and Paris, the author and Demonville, 1781.
Only edition of this prospectus-cum-supplement to Le Microscope Moderne, an enthusiastic work promoting the use of microscopes by the popular scientist Charles Rabiqueau.
£250
-
MILES, William J., J.I. LUPTON, and Benjamin HERRING (illustrator).
Modern practical Farriery: A complete Guide to...
London, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, William MacKenzie, [c. 1870].
Miles’s comprehensive and generously illustrated treatise on veterinary science. The text first appeared in sixteen monthly parts, issued between 1868 and 1869, before being published in several undated editions in quick succession, accompanied by plates by the sporting artist Benjamin Herring...
£350
-
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
-
MITTAG-LEFFLER, Gösta.
Sur la représentation analytique d’une branche uniforme d’une fonction monogène.
Stockholm, 1899-1909.
First edition of this important series of papers by Mittag-Leffler, offprints from Acta Mathematica, the international mathematical journal established by him in 1882.
£750
-
MOREL DE RUBEMPRÉ, Joseph.
Les secrets de la génération ou l’art de procréer à volonté des filles ou des garçons, de faire...
chez tous les libraires, [c. 1870].
Joseph Morel de Rubempré’s (1812–86) popular guide to the secrets of sex, (billed as the thirtieth edition of vol. I and the twelfth of vol. II).
£150
-
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
-
MÖSSBAUER, Rudolf Ludwig.
‘Kernresonanzabsorption von Gammstrahlung in Ir191’ [in: Die Naturwissenschaften … fünfundvierzigster...
Berlin, Springer, November 1958.
First appearance of Mössbauer’s PhD work on the recoilless nuclear fluorescence of gamma rays in 191 iridium, later named the Mössbauer effect, which involves the recoil-free emission and absorption of gamma radiation by an atomic nucleus bound in a solid. The effect was later used by Robert...
£200
-
MÜLLER, Johann Baptist.
Erfahrungssätze über die contagiöse oder ägyptische Augenentzündung. Gesammelt am Krankenbette.
Mainz, Florian Kupferberg, 1821.
A fine presentation copy of Müller’s ophthalmological study of a disease then known as the ‘Egyptian eye infection’. A physician and surgeon with the Prussian military, Müller describes his findings in cases of eye infections amongst soldiers sometimes so severe as to result in blindness. He...
£350