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.
  1. [GROUX, Charles Jacques (engraver).]

    Planches relatives a l’instruction concernant l’exercice et les manoeuvres des...

    Paris, Magimel, ‘An X’ [1801].

    Second edition, expanded, of a set of French Revolutionary plates for the instruction of the cavalry. Comprising over one hundred and fifty copper-engraved plates showing cavalry horses, equipment, and manoeuvres, the present work follows a smaller publication by Magimel of the same title, issued...

    £275

  2. HERNANDEZ, Joseph François Didace.

    Essai sur le typhus ou sur les fièvres dites malignes, putrides, bilieuses, muqueuses, jaune,...

    Paris, Cellot for Méquignon-Marvis, 1816.

    First edition by the physiologist and pathologist Hernandez (1769–1835). In Essai sur le typhus he rejects traditional book learning (especially humoral theories) and proposes an empirical approach for investigating the origin, epidemiology, contagion patterns and treatment of inflammatory...

    £550

  3. HERSHBERGER, H.R.

    The Horseman: A Work on Horsemanship, containing plain practical Rules for Riding, and Hints to the Reader on...

    New York, R. Craighead for Henry G. Langley, 1844.

    First edition of a rare military manual on horsemanship, with instructions on riding and illustrated cavalry exercises. An instructor at the United States Military Academy, Hershberger ‘endeavored to convey practical information on all equestrian exercises by an easy and progressive method’.

    £450

  4. HIPPOCRATES. 

    Ἱπποκράτους  Κώου ιατρού παλαιοτάτου, πάντων ἄλλων κορυφαίου,...

    Basel, Hieronymus Froben and Nicolaus Episcopius, 1538. 

    A heavily annotated copy of the second Greek edition of Hippocrates’s Works, a much more accurate text than the first, Aldine, edition of 1526.  Janus Cornarius (1500–1558) undertook this edition of Hippocrates at the suggestion of Erasmus.  He claimed to have corrected or re-established...

    £3750

  5. [INTERSEX.]

    Three pamphlets.

    Paris, 1892–1920.

    A collection of rare French pamphlets on the subject of differences in sex development from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Two of the three pamphlets are doctoral theses, covering the social impact of differences in sex development, and persistent müllerian duct syndrome (‘tubular...

    £450

  6. [JOCKEY CLUB.] HERVEY, John.

    Racing in America, 1922-1936, written for the Jockey Club.

    New York, Scribner Press for the Jockey Club, 1937.

    First edition of the first volume to be written by Hervey, bringing the history begun by W.S. Vosburgh up to the time of publication. ‘In the previous volume [Racing in America, 1866-1921] the theme was exclusively racing, and breeding was only incidentally interwoven throughout the narrative....

    £350

  7. [JOCKEY CLUB.] HERVEY, John.

    Racing in America, 1665-1865 … written for the Jockey Club.

    New York, Scribner Press for the Jockey Club, 1944.

    First edition, limited, numbered 323 of 800 copies. The first volume of the Jockey Club’s monumental history of racing in America, covering earliest period of American racing, from the foundation of the first track on Long Island until the end of the Civil War, some two centuries later.

    £720

  8. [JOCKEY CLUB.] KELLEY, Robert F.

    Racing in America, 1937-1959, written for the Jockey Club.

    New York, North River Press for the Jockey Club, 1960.

    First edition, limited, numbered 474 of 1000 copies. A continuation of the chronicles of American racing, the present volume is the first to adopt the form of annals. ‘This addition to The Jockey Club’s volumes of Racing in America is different in format than any of its predecessors....

    £180

  9. [KEENE, Marian].

    The History of a tame Robin. Supposed to be written by Himself.

    London: Printed for Darton, Harvey, and Darton … 1817.

    First and only edition. The tame Robin recalls a life of adventure enriched by human and avian friendships. A childhood spent in a school-room helped him attain ‘a sufficient knowledge of literature to relate my adventures’. His life, though happy, is not without its vicissitudes: he loses...

    £325

  10. KIRAM, Zeki Hasmet. 

    Vocabularium anatomiae latine-turcice.  [Qamūs te šrih lātīnğe-türkğe]. 

    Berlin, Morgen- und Abendland-Verlag, 1923.

    First edition of a comprehensive glossary of anatomical terms in Latin with corresponding translation in Ottoman Turkish, intended for medical students among the increasingly large Turkish community in Germany, by the Syrian Ottoman officer turned Berlin publicist, arms dealer, and Muslim activist...

    £375

  11. KIRAM, Zeki Hasmet. 

    Vocabularium anatomiae latine-arabice.  [Qāmūs al-ta¬šrīḥ Lātīnī-‘Arabī]. 

    Berlin, Morgen- und Abendland-Verlag, 1923.

    First edition of an uncommon glossary of anatomical terms in Latin with corresponding translation in Arabic, intended for Arabic-speaking medical students studying in European universities, by army officer turned Berlin publicist, arms dealer, and Muslim activist Zeki Kiram (1886–1946).

    £375

  12. [KNIGHT, Charles.]

    The Elephant, principally viewed in Relation to Man: A new Edition, revised by the Author.

    London, William Clowes & Sons for Charles Knight & Co., 1844.

    First editions of treatises on the elephant and the horse, from Charles Knight’s Library of Entertaining Knowledge. The equine text gives accounts of horses and related species in several cultures and climes, and, with The Elephant, forms two works from a series of three, on ‘the three...

    £275

  13. KÖLLIKER, Albert von.

    Handbuch der Gewebelehre des Menschen für Aerzte und Studierende.

    Leipzig, Wilhelm Engelmann, 1852.

    First edition, scarce. ‘A Swiss by birth, Kölliker received his medical education by attending Müller’s lectures in Berlin and studying at Heidelberg where he graduated. After serving as prosector for Henle in Zurich, Kölliker was called to Würzburg where he remained for half a century....

    £650

  14. LANDI, Bassiano.

    De origine et causa pestis Patauinae, anni MDLV ...

    Venice, apud Balthassarem Constantinum (colophon: ‘Ioan. Gryphius excudebat’), 1555.

    First edition of this important work investigating the causes of the plague which struck Padua in 1555, by the eminent, and controversial, professor of medicine Bassiano Landi (d. 1562). In his De origine Landi argues against the then popular belief that the plague had been caused by putrid...

    £1250

  15. LAWRENCE, Richard.

    The complete Farrier and British Sportsman, containing a systematic Enquiry into the Structure and animal Economy...

    London, W. Clowes for Thomas Kelly, [c. 1816].

    Likely first edition, dedicated ‘to the noblemen and gentlemen of the Quorn Hunt’. Much unlike his earlier scholarly work on veterinary science, Lawrence’s Complete Farrier and British Sportsman is written for gentlemen and noblemen with an interest not in farriery but in fox-hunting,...

    £250

  16. LAWRENCE, Richard.

    The complete Farrier and British Sportsman, containing a systematic Enquiry into the Structure and animal Economy...

    London, W. Clowes for Thomas Kelly, [c. 1823].

    A sporting compendium, dedicated ‘to the noblemen and gentlemen of the Quorn Hunt’. Much unlike his earlier scholarly work on veterinary science, Lawrence’s Complete Farrier and British Sportsman is written for gentlemen and noblemen with an interest not in farriery but in fox-hunting,...

    £180

  17. LEE, Henry.

    [Cover title:] The White Whale …

    London, R. K. Burt & Co. … 1878.

    First edition, an account of the white Beluga whale by Henry Lee of the Royal Aquarium in Brighton, specifically of the first such whale successfully transported to England, exhibited for four days in 1877 before its death from pneumonia; and of four further whales transported the following year....

    £225

  18. LEIGH, William R.

    The Western Pony … Foreword by James L. Clark.

    New York, Huntington Press, 1933.

    First edition of Leigh’s finely printed account of the Western pony. A painter known primarily for his scenes of the American West, William Robinson Leigh (1866-1955) produced several equine paintings, here reproduced in colour by Max Jaffé of Vienna.

    £450

  19. LEROY, Camille.

    Instruction relative au choléra-morbus, et a l’emploi des moyens désinfectans ... imprimée par ordre de la mairie.

    Grenoble, Baratier frères et fils, 1832.

    Only edition of this very rare pamphlet published at the request of the city authorities in Grenoble to advise the public on the best ways to protect themselves against cholera at the height of the pandemic of 1831-2.

    £165

  20. LISTER, Joseph.

    Three autograph letters, signed, to Sir John Evans.

    London, 12 Park Crescent, Portland Place, 19 April 1896 and 18 February 1898, and Bath, York House Hotel, 20 November 1898.

    Three letters by the great surgeon Joseph Lister to the archaeologist and geologist Sir John Evans (1823–1908), who was treasurer of the Royal Society during Lister’s presidency.

    £750