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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. PASTA, Giuseppe. 

    Della facoltà dell’oppio nelle malattie veneree, nuove ricerche cliniche …

    Bergamo, dalla stamperia Antoine, 1788. 

    Very rare first edition of this treatise on the use of opium in the treatment of venereal disease by the Bergamo physician Giuseppe Pasta (1742–1823). 

    £350

  2. [PHARMACOPOEIA.]

    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

  3. [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...

    £750

  4. PLINY the Elder.

    Historiae mundi libri XXXVII, cum castigationibus et adnotationibus doctiss. & variis praeterea lectionibus ex...

    Frankfurt, Claude de Marne and heirs of Jean Aubry, 1608.

    First Frankfurt edition of Pliny’s Natural History, here bound as an enormous single volume with strikingly decorated edges featuring acorns and scrolls.

    £1400

  5. [POETRY.] 

    ‘Trattato della [poesia Toscana]’. 

    [Asti?, 1780-1782.] 

    A manuscript treatise on the method of composing poetry in Italian, with numerous examples from renowned authors and eight apparently unpublished poems about horse-racing, with references to Arabian, Sardinian, English, and African horses, as well as to a firework display. 

    £750

  6. RANK, Otto.

    Der Mythus von der Geburt des Helden. Versuch einer psychologischen Mythendeutung.

    Leipzig and Vienna, Franz Deuticke, 1909.

    First edition of this psychoanalytical investigation of mythological heroism and the role of birth legends in the stories of heroes, by the German psychoanalyst Otto Rank (1884–1939), published as part of the series Schriften zur angewandten Seelenkunde under the editorship of Freud....

    £100

  7. REFELL, A. 

    Trugbilder: Eine Anleitung Erscheinungen, auf optischer Täuschung beruhend, nach Belieben hervorzuheben und wissenschaftliche...

    Stuttgart, Rieger, 1865. 

    First German edition, rare, of this fascinating study of mirages and optical illusions, in particular ghostly apparitions, in which the author attempts to demonstrate using the principles of optics how they might appear, with the aim of proving the absurdity of the superstitions to which they...

    £1250

  8. RUSH, John; Jacob F. SHEEK, editor.

    The Hand-Book to veterinary Homoeopathy, or the homoeopathic Treatment of the Horse,...

    New York & San Francisco, Boericke & Tafel, 1876.

    Later American edition of a rare hand-book to veterinary homoeopathy. The text, first published in 1853, offers homoeopathic remedies for a variety of ailments, prefaced by a defence of the principles of the practice.

    £275

  9. SABATIER, Raphaël Bienvenu.

    Traité complet d’anatomie, ou description de toutes les parties du corps humain ... Troisième...

    Paris, Théophile Barrois, 1791.

    Third edition (first 1775) of this popular treatise on anatomy by Raphaël Bienvenu Sabatier (1732–1811).

    £200

  10. SALADO GARCES Y RIBERA, Francisco.

    Varias materias de diversas facultades, y sciencias politica contra peste, govierno en lo espiritual,...

    Utrera, Juan Malpartida, 1655.

    Very rare first edition of this highly interesting work on plague, viewed from medical, religious, and political standpoints, by a lawyer from Utrera in southern Spain, written in the wake of the devastating epidemic that struck the city and province of Seville in 1649 as part of the Great Plague...

    £2500

  11. SAUNIER, Jean de, and Gaspard de SAUNIER.

    La parfaite connoissance des chevaux, leur anatomie, leurs bonnes & mauvaises...

    The Hague, for the Author and sold by Adrien Moetjens, 1734.

    First edition of Gaspard de Saunier’s most important work, the only one published during his lifetime. Gaspard de Saunier (1663 - 1748) established his reputation with the foundation of his equestrian academy at Leiden in 1707 and as riding master to the university there, having previously served...

    £1950

  12. SECHENOV, Ivan Mikhaylovich.

    Fisiologia nervnoy sistemy [in Cyrillic].

    St. Petersburg, 1866.

    first edition, rare, of Sechenov’s influential lectures at the St. Petersburg Medico-Surgical Academy. Sechenov states in his preface that as soon as he began to lecture (St. Petersburg in 1860 was his first professorship) he discovered the deficiencies of the existing textbooks, which tended to be...

    £2750

  13. S[HEAFE], T[homas].

    Vindiciae senectutis, or, a Plea for Old-Age: which is senis cujusdam cygnea cantio. And the several Points...

    London, George Mither and are to be sold by Joshua Kirton, and Thomas Warren, 1639.

    First edition of a rare encomium on senectitude by the eighty-year-old canon of Windsor, Thomas Sheafe, who died later in 1639, dedicated to the supremely long-lived divine Laurence Chaderton (1536?–1640), first Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. This is the rarer second issue, with a cancel...

    £1250

  14. SIMON, John, Sir.

    A volume of autograph letters received by Sir John Simon from medical friends and acquaintances.

    Circa 1848-1887.

    An interesting collection of letters to Sir John Simon and Lady Simon, from many of the leading physicians and surgeons of the Victorian era. Sir John Simon (1816–1904) was a renowned surgeon, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, and an efficient and dynamic reformer of public health...

    £1250

  15. SMITH, Robert. 

    The Universal Directory for taking alive and destroying Rats, and all other Kinds of four-footed and winged Vermin,...

    London, printed for the author, 1768. 

    First edition of a guide to catching and killing all manner of crawling and flying vermin, illustrated with plates, by the professional exterminator and rat-catcher Robert Smith. 

    £500

  16. STATUTA COLLEGII DD.

    Almae Urbis Medicorum ex antiquis Romanorum Pontificum bullis congesta, & hactenùs per Sedem Apostolicam...

    Rome, Printer of the Apostolic Chamber, 1676 [– c.1745].

    The very rare enlarged and updated issue of the statutes of the medical faculty of Rome, a very rare and interesting document on its internal organization.

    £550

  17. STENUIT, Alfred, and G. de VOGHEL.

    Manuel de sauvetage dans les mines. Notions théoriques sur les accidents et le sauvetage....

    Tamines, Duculot-Roulin, 1909.

    Only edition of this attractively illustrated and very rare guide to life-saving in mines, by the Belgian mining engineers Stenuit and de Voghel. Divided into three parts, the book opens with explanations of the possible hazards, ranging from asphyxiation to explosions and underground fires, as...

    £350

  18. STEWART, John; A. B. ALLEN, editor.

    Stable Economy: A Treatise on the Management of Horses, in Relation to Stabling, Grooming,...

    New York, D. Appleton & Co., and Philadelphia, George S. Appleton, 1845.

    First American edition of Stewart’s treatise. ‘It may be thought, perhaps, by some, presumptuous on the part of any American, to undertake the editing with a view of improvement, of a work of the standard reputation of Stewart’s Stable Economy. But it must be recollected that the climate...

    £175

  19. SULLY, James.

    Illusions, a psychological study. [The International Scientific Series, Vol. 34].

    London, Kegan Paul, 1881.

    First edition of Sully’s study of perception, dreams, and memory, with his discussion of psychology as a ‘positive science’, praised by both Freud and Wundt.

    £100

  20. SURTEES, Robert Smith.

    The Horseman’s Manual, being a Treatise on Soundness, the Law of Warranty, and generally on the Laws relating...

    London, M.A. Pittman for Alfred Miller, 1831.

    First edition of Surtees’s first work, the only publication to bear his name, from the family of the dedicatee. Though best known for his sporting articles and novels, Robert Smith Surtees (1805–1864) was, alongside his landed interests, a respected jurist in County Durham, serving as justice...

    £1250