Search Results

Paris, L'Imprimerie Royale, 1727. 4to. Fine contemp. full calf. Raised bands. Richly gilt spine. Tome- and titlelabels with gilt lettering. Gilt borders on covers. A small nick in leather at upper compartmen. Light wear to foot of spine. (26),548, pp., 1 folded engraved plate. Clean and fine. The offered item includes the entire volume of "Histoire de L'Academie Royale des Sciences. Années MDCCXXV. Paris, L'Imprimerie Royale, 1727", of which the memoir of Fontenelle is printed as a "suite". With the engraved frontispiece. (6),154,354,(2) pp., 14 partly folded engraved plates. (Original papers by: Maraldi, Petit, Nicole, Winslow, du Fay, Pitot, Delisle d'Aine, Geoffroy le Cadet, Reaumur, Nicole, Cassini, de Mairan, Saurin, de Lagny, Fizes). First edition. "In 1727, as a "Suite des mémoires de l’Académie royale des sciences," he published the Élémens de la géométrie de l’infini. Some doubted whether it was really the work of a mathematician, but the author believed it was and attached great value to it. He had worked on it for a long time, probably since the period of his preface to the Analyse des infiniment petits. The term élémens is to be understood in the sense of "first principles." According to Fontenelle, none of the geometers who had invented or employed the calculus of infinity had given a general theory of it; that is what he proposed to do. The work is divided into a preface relating the history of this branch of calculus and into two main parts: "Système général de l’infini" and "Différentes applications ou remarques." The author discusses "the infinite in series or in progressions of numbers" and then examines "the infinite in straight and curved lines," in the words of the Abbé Terrasson, who reviewed the work in the Journal des sçavans (July-October 1728)." There was a great deal of discussion in the scientific community about this work, in which mathematicians found numerous paradoxes. Johann I Bernoulli, for example, in his correspondence with Fontenelle allowed his criticisms to show through his praise: he did not understand what was meant by finis indéterminables. Fontenelle attempted to defend his theory and above all his distinction between metaphysical infinity and geometric infinity: one must ignore the metaphysical difficulties in order to further geometry, and the finis indéterminables ought to be considered "as a type of hypothesis necessary until now in order to explain several phenomena of the calculus" (letter to Johann I Bernoulli, 29 June 1729). "The orders of infinite and indeterminable quantities, like the magnitudes that they represent, are only purely relative entities, hypothetical and auxiliary. The subject matter of mathematics is only ideal," according to the terms of a "Projet de rapport" of Dortous de Mairan to the Academy on this work." (DSB).

Liverpool, T. Brakell, 1859. 8vo. In later half cloth with paper label pasted on to upper left corner of front board. Stamps to verso of front board, front free end-paper and title-page. With four tiny holes in inner margin, presumably the traces after the sown wrappers. (4), 16 pp. + folded worldmap. Early report for the mercantile marine on icebergs in the high Southern latitudes. Townson's sightings were frequently used and cited by carthographers.

Paris, Libr. Économique, An VIII (1800). 4to. 3 fine cont. hcalf, richly gilt backs. Coloured title-and tomelabels. Very slight fraying at top of spines. XII,506-(4),491 pp. and platevolume with 90 fine engraved plates. Printed on good paper. The fine plates depicting all sorts of physical and chemical apparatus, globes, mechanics, tools etc.etc.

Lugd. Batavorum (Leyden), Frants Hacke, 1645. 8vo. Cont. full calf. First hinges weakening, top of spine a little worn. Richly gilt back in 6 compartments. Red, gilt titlelabel in leather on back. Engraved titlepage (portraits of famous physicians). Engraved portrait of Thomas B. on verso of title. Foot of first few leaves browned. (14),488,(24) pp., 6 folded engraved plates and 85 engraved textplates, mostly full-and half page (all). Second edition of Thomas Bartholin's adaptation of his fathers famous anatomy, which became hichly influential when Thomas Bartholin issued it with illustrations. PP. 443-488 is Johannis Walaeus: Epistolae Duæ: De Motu Chyli et sangvinitas. Ad Thomas Bartholinum. Editio quarta. - Wellcome II:106. - Gosch III: p. 114 - Thesaurus: 333.

Large engraved seechart, measuring 46 x 89 cm. in original outline colouring. The chart showing the South-east coast of England from Sandwich to Clay. With inset view of The Thames between London and Greane Island. A fine impression on good thick paper with watermark: BYCOLUMBIER. Folded down the center. The "Neptune Francois" was published in 1693, and its charts are larger and more lavishly decorated than those of any preceding book of its kind. This chart is without year, place and "par Ordre du Roi", pointing to a later issue, but issued from the original copperplate. It is also without "Imprimerie Royale" belonging to the imprints from 1792. Koeman IV,425:8.

Paris, chez le Sr Desnos, (ca 1783). 46,5x64,5 cm. Engraved map of Africa with the Mediterranean Sea at north. Contemporary handcoloured. Cartouche uncoloured. A few tears showing in right grade-scale, no loss. Jaillots fine impressive map of the continent of Africa from 1695 in Brion de la Tours revision from 1783 giving much new information and details of this continent.

Braunschweig, Vieweg und Sohn, 1842. Bound in well-preserved cont. marbled boards with red gilt titlelabel on spine. A few insignificant scratches along hinges. XVI,342,(1) pp. Some scattered brownspots as usual, due to the paperquality. Old owners name on top of titlepage and front free endpaper. The important first edition of the work that established the science of nutrition and presented the "first classification of the organic food-stuffs and the process of nutrition" (Garrison & Morton). In this work Liebig, "unquestionably the greatest chemist of his time" (Partington),"carried his chemical investigations into the realm of animal physiology. He showed like Lavoisier, that animal heat is not innate, but the result of combustion; introduced the concept of metabolism (Stoffwechsel); and classified animal foodstuffs as fats, carbohydrates and proteins according to their function. He thus became the founder of the modern science of nutrition." (Percy H. Muir). Garrison & Morton No. 677 - Waller: 5796 - Wellcome III:515 - Printing and the Mind of Man: 310 (b).

Kiøbenhavn, Boppenhausiske Arvinger, 1762. 4to. Samtidigt helldrbd., ophøjede bind på ryg, rygforgyldning. Øverste kapitæl fint restaureret. (82),638,(42) pp. Udmærket velbevaret eksemplar. Den sjældne originaludgave af hovedværket om den oldnordiske Procesret. The main work on Old Nordic Procedural law.Fiske I:18 - Klose:1494. - Bibl. Danica I:693.

(Paris), Minuet, 1967. 8vo. Original wrappers. A bit of light wear to extremities, a few spots to back wrapper, and upper corner slightly bent, otherwise a nice and clean copy. 445, (3) pp. First edition (20 Septembre, 1967, numéro 630) of Derrida's seminal main work, the foundational text for deconstructive criticism.1967 marks a turning point in the history of modern philosophy, constituting the birth of "Deconstruction". In this one year, Derrida publishes all of his three break-through books, "De la grammatologie", "L'écriture et la difference" and "La Voix et le phenomene", profoundly altering the course of modern thought. Although all three books are responsible for the introduction of Deconstruction, it is primarily "De la Grammatologie", Derrida's magnum opus, that has come to be associated with this groundbreaking concept."Jacques Derrida's revolutionary theories about deconstruction, phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and structuralism, first voiced in the 1960's, forever changed the face of European and American criticism. The ideas in "De la grammatologie" sparked lively debates in intellectual circles that included students of literature, philosophy, and the humanities, inspiring these students to ask questions of their disciplines that had previously been considered improper. Thirty years later, the immense influence of Derrida's work is still igniting controversy..." (Review, Spivak's translation of Derrida's "Of Grammatology", 1997).Derrida's concern is to bring to light the binary schema that is hidden in all kinds of texts and ideas of culture. In the present text Derrida brilliantly reveals some of the principles of deconstruction, not through theoretical explication, but, rather, by demonstration, showing that the arguments promulgated by their subject-matter exceed and contradict the oppositional parameters in which they are situated. Put into other words, deconstruction seeks to expose, and then to subvert, the various binary oppositions that undergird our dominant ways of thinking.The ideas that Derrida here present have had an enormous impact on a number of the human sciences, including psychology, literary theory, cultural studies, linguistics, feminism, sociology and anthropology. Due to this work, a whole new world of problematic suppression and marginalisation has become apparent, making "De la grammatologie" one of the most important philosophical works of the later part of the 20th century. "One of the major works in the development of contemporary criticism and philosophy". (J. Hillis Miller, Yale University).

Berlin, Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1900 a. 1901. Bound in one contemp. hcalf. Raised bands, gilt spine. Spine a bit rubbed. (1900) and the issue (1901) unbound. In: "Annalen der Physik", Vierte Folge, Band 1. a. Bd. 6, 12. Heft. VIII, 792 pp. + 3 folded engraved plates.(Bd. 1). + Halftitle and Titlepage to Bd. 6 and pp. 661-876 a. 1 plate (Heft 12).(Entire volume offered and entire issue offered). Planck's papers: pp. 69-122; 621-624;719-737 a. pp. 818-831. A stamp to margins of halftitle and titlepages. Internally clean and fine. First edition of these four fundamental and highly influential Planck-papers in which he defines his concept of entropy and heat radiation and hereby ANTICIPATES HIS FAMOUS SEMINAL PAPER OF 1900 which redefined physics and took it to the 20th century. - The first two papers "Ueber irreversible Strahlungsvorgänge" were rewritten for the "Annalen" and was first introduced in "Sitzungsberichte d.k. Akad. Wissensch. zu Berlin", 1897-1901."By invoking the hypothesis of natural radiation Planck not only succeeded in obtaining a relation between the energy of the resonator and the intensity of radiation for a given wavelength or frequency, but also in defining the entropy of radiation by a proper expression such that the change of the total entropy was always a positive quantity". (Mehra, Jagdish. The historical development of quantum theory, 2001, p. 36). These results found in the period 1894-00 culminated in the present paper "Ueber irreversible Strahlungsvorgänge" and for the first time incorporates the concept of natural radiation and made a purely electromagnetic definition of entropy and of temperature. "Entropie und Temperatur strahlender Wärme" is pivotal for understand how Planck reached his conclusions in "Zur Theorie des Gesetzes der Energieverteilung im Normalspectrum" and "Ueber des Gesetzes der Energiverteilung im Normalspectrum" (PMM 391) where by using the first two laws of thermodynamics first described by Rudolf Clausius and Ludwig Boltzmann Planck outlined the Quantum Hypothesis that energy from atom can be quantized. Planck established a connection between Wien's formula (Ueber die Energievertheilung im Emissionsspectrum eines schwarzen Körpers, 1896) and the analytic expression of the thermodynamic function. This paper represents a purely thermodynamic approach to the study of the properties of the radiation field which was fundamental in reaching the famous conclusions in his 1900- and 1901-paper. Akademie No. 41, 42, 43, 50.

Berlin, Springer, 1924. 8vo. In contemporary halv cloth with gilt lettering to spine. In "Zeitschrift für Physik", Bd. 26, 1924. Entire volume offered. Stamp to front free end-paper and titlepage, otherwise fine and clean. Pp. 178-81. [Entire volume: IV, 401 pp.]. First appearance of Bose's seminal paper in which he succeeded in deriving the Planck blackbody radiation law without reference to classical electrodynamics. Einstein was extremely impressed by Bose's paper and translated it into German himself. Shortly after Einstein made a generalization of Bose's method which led to the first of two systems of quantum statistical mechanics, known as the Bose-Einstein statistics. Paul Dirac coined the term "boson" for particles that obey these statistics and later physics historian Abraham Dirac described it as a "confused masterpiece", (Pais, Inward Bound, P. 283). "With their work Bose and Einstein established the field of quantum statistics one year before the appearance of quantum mechanics" (Brandt, The Harvest of a Century, P. 139)."In July 1924 he sent a short manuscript entitled "Plancks Gesetz und Lichtquantenhypothese" to Albert Einstein for criticism and possible publication. Einstein himself translated the paper into German and had it published in the Zeitschrift für Physik later that year. He added a note that stated: "In my opinion Boses derivation of the Planck formula signifies an important advance. The method used also yields the quantum theory of the ideal gas as I will work out in detail elsewhere." (DSB)."2 July 1924. Satyendra Nath Bose introduces a new coarse-grained statistical counting procedure which leads to Planck's radioation law. [...] Bose's discovery of a new statistics for photons and Einstein's extension to material gases - including the phenomenon of BE condensation - were made well before anyone had ever heard of a Schroedinger wave function. Bose's derivation of Planck's law is a confused masterpiece. His reasoning is correct but, as he himself once said, he had no idea that it was novel. The Paper also contains the discovery of BE condensation, an effect without application at that time." (Pais, Inward Bound, P. 283-4).The present volume contains the following papers of interest:Fermi: Über die Wahrscheinlichkeit der Quantenzustände.Hahn & Meitner: Über die Rollen der beta-strahlen beim Atomzerfall.Heisenberg: Über den Einfluss der Deformierbarkeit der Ionen auf optische und chemische Konstanten. II.Heisenberg: Über eine Abänderung der formalen Regeln der Quantentheorie beim Problem der anomalen Zeemaneffekte.Born: Über Quantenmechanik.

Small8vo. Nyere hpergamentsbd. (270) pp. Højre del af bladene er helt igennem skjoldet. Lauritz Nielsen 812. Dette førstetryk af Hemmingsens kommentar til Epheserbrevene er ifølge L. Nielsen kund kendt i 3 eksemplarer i Danmark.

(London, W.Nicol, 1826). 4to. No wrappers as extracted from "Philosophical Transactions" 1826 - Part III. Pp. 250-265 and 4 engraved plates. Some faint dampstains to plates. One plate with a small tear, no loss. the same plate some creasing at upper part, verso of plate somewhat soiled. Page 261 with some marginal brownspots and some soiling. The other leaves clean and fine. First appearance of a main paper in the history of Computing Science in which Babbage set forth some of the basic principles that guide modern computers."Babbage's first publication of his system of mechanical notation that enabled him to describe the logic and operation of his machiness on paper as they would be fabricated in metal. Babbage later stated that: "Without the aid of this language I could not have invented the Analytical Engine; nor do I belive that any machinery of equal complexity can ever be contrived without the assistance of that or of some other equivalent language. The Difference Engine No.2...is entirely described by its aid." .Babbage considered his mechanical notation system to be one of his finest inventions, and thought it should be widely implemented. It was a source of frustartion to him, that no other machine designerr adopted it (probably because no ther engineer during Babbage's time attermpted to build machines as logically and mechanically complex as Babbage's. More than one hundred years later, in the 1930s, when development in logic were applied to switching systems in the earliest efforts to devwelop electromechanical calculators. Ckaude Shannon demonstrated that Boolean algebra could be applied to the same types of problems for which Babbage had designed his mechanical notation system."(Hook & Norman No. 37).Together with Babbage's paper comes a paper by J.F.W. Herschel "On the parallax of the fixed stars", pp. 266-280.

(Leipzig, Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1837). Without wrappers. In "Annalen der Physik und Chemie. Hrsg. von J.C. Poggendorff", Band 41 No. 5 (= Erstes Stück). 224 pp.(entire issue offered). Schwann's paper: pp. 184-193. Clean and fine. First printing of Schwann's milestone paper on fermentation and putrefaction in which he shows that is is not air as such that brings about putrefaction in a meat extract but something in the air, which could be destroyed by heat. The "substances " present in air is germs or seeds of moulds and infusoria, and he explains putrefaction as the action of these germs on access to organic material. He further demonstrates that it is the living nature of the agent that creates fermentation, and he presents new evidence for the nature of fermentation. "Schwann was lead to the idea that alcoholic fermentation was related to the metabolism of yeast by his conception that putrefaction was related to the metabolism of live organisms."(DSB XII, p. 242)."(Schwann) concluded that the processes of putrefaction and fermentation were probably similar in their essence and were due to live agents which obtaineed their sustenance from the fermentible or putrescible materials. It was in the course of these experiments that Schwann discovered and gave an accurate acoount of the yeast plant and its mode of reproducing by budding. In his paper (the paper offered) he anticipated Pasteur's work when he asserted that fermentation of sugar was a chemical decomposition brought about by yeast attacking the sugar and some nitrogen containing substance necessary for its life whereby the elements not used by yeast itself unite to form alcohol. This classical research by him was described by him as 'preliminary' (vorläufige) and at the end of it he promised to return to it. This he did, to a certain extent in his "Mikroskopische Untersuchungen" (1839 - PMM 307 b), and he added new experiments to confirm his view that alcoholic fermentation is due to the activity of the yeast plant."(Bulloch "The History of Bacteriology", pp. 86-87).Schwann gives the "proof that putrefaction is produced by living bodies. Independently of Cagniard-Latour, Schwann discovered the yeast cell. He is regarded as the founder of the germ theory of putrefaction and fermentation."(Garrison & Morton No. 674).

Argentorati (Strassburg), Conradus Scher, 1608 - (Strassburg), Raab, 1612. - (Strassburg, Raab, 1612 Small 8vo. 3 works bound in one contemp. full vellum. Covers blindtooled in panels with floral cornerpieces. Old handwritten title on spine. Light wear. An: 1. (24),449,(7) pp. First edition. (Thesaurus II,338) - 2. (208) pp. - 3. (24),261,(16 of 24 ?) pp. Lacking the last leaves in the Index. 7 leaves with lower corners torn of which 2 have some loss of letters. Light browning an yellowing to leaves. "Bartholin’s fame is due not to his originality, but to his learning and reputation as a teacher; as a strict Aristotelian he clarified the essential points in the doctrines of his time, eliminating obsolete and superfluous theories. As a theologian his personal life was marked by piety and Lutheran orthodoxy. His anatomical manual Institutiones, well arranged and handy but without illustrations, was reprinted five times. It became still more famous when his son Thomas brought out an enlarged and illustrated edition."(DSB).

(London, W. Bulmer and Co., 1808). 4to. No wrappers as extracted from "Philosophical Transactions" 1808 - Part I. Pp. 1-44. First printing of this importent historical paper in chemistry, in which Davy shows that electricity is capable of decomposing some alkalies, isolating two new substances and discovering potassium and sodium. Neville in his Historical Chemical Library vol. I, p.340, writes about this paper "ONE OF THE GREAT CLASSIC RESEARCHES IN CHEMISTRY, in which Davy announced in this, his second Bakterian lecture, the isloation of metallic potassium and sodium by the electrolytic decomposition of their fused oxides.""He (Davy) began his own electrical experiments...The results were spectacular. On October 6, 1807, the current passing through molten potash liberated a metal, which Davy called potassium. The little globules of shining metal tore the water molecule apart as it eagerly recombined with oxygen and the liberated hydrogen burst into lavender flame. Davy danced about in a delirium of joy. A week later he isolated sodium from soda."(Asimow). The paper offered here describes these discoveries."Humphry Davy was one of the most brilliant chemists of the early nineteenth century. His early study of nitrous oxide brought him his first reputation, but his later and most importent investigations were devoted to electrochemistry. Following Galvani's experiments and the discovery of the voltaic pile, interest in galvanic electricity had become widespread. The first electrolysis by means of the pile was carried out in 1800 by Nicholson and Carisle, who obtained oxygen and hydrogen from water. Davy began to examine the chemical effects of electricity in 1800, and his numerous discoveries were presented in his Bakerian lecture to the Royal Society on November 20, 1806.(A Source Book in Chemistry p. 243). - Wheeler Gift: 2514.

Washington, 1938 & 1939. Royal8vo. 2 volumes, uniformly bound in contemporary full cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Exlibris to front paste down. In "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science", vol. 24 and 25. Fine and clean. Pp.556-57; Pp. 220-24). [Entire volumes: VII, 572 pp.; VII, 661 pp]. First edition of arguable Gödel's most important publications only second to his incompleteness theorem. The first problem of Hilbert's famous 1900 address asks for a proof of Cantor's continuum hypothesis. Hilbert considered this problem one of the most important problems confronting the mathematical world. As a first step towards such a proof Ernst Zermelo proved in 1904 another hypothesis by Cantor, namely that every set can be well ordered. In his proof Zermelo introduced a necessary tool which later became known as the axiom of choice. Because of its non-constructive nature this axiom, and the continuum hypothesis, became the object of much controversy in the mathematical community. Gödel's results on this topic are, besides his completeness and incompleteness theorems, his most celebrated. During the autumn terms of 1938 and 1939 Gödel delivered a series of lectures at the Institute for Advanced Study, in which he proved that the axiom of choice and the generalized continuum hypothesis are consistent with the other axioms of set theory if these axioms are consistent.

Otthiniæ (Odense), Christian Schröder, 1698. Folio. Velbevaret samtidigt helldrbd. i flammet kalv. Ryg med 4 ophøjede bind og de 5 titelfelter rigt blindtrykte. Ganske små reparationer på bindet. (42), 688 pp. samt Hubert Schatens store kobberstukne portræt af Bering. Kobberstukne vignetter og talrige figurlige kobberstukne initialer, som er specielt lavet til denne udgivelse. Trykt på godt papir og ren, nogle få svage skjolder i slutmarginer. Originaludgaven af Berings latinske Danmarkshistorie frem til 1448. Trykt på Thomas Kingos foranledning i hans, i 1682 oprettede trykkeri i Odense. "Værket har en meget monumental Karakter og er et imponerende Vidnesbyrd om, hvad et forholdsvis beskedent Provinstrykkeri har kunnet Yde..." (Birkelund Nr. 70). - Dette eksemplar har tidligere tklhørt bogsamleren Einar Christiansen og har hans exlibris indsat.

London, Harrison and Sons, 1895. 4to. Orig. full cloth. Gilt lettering to spine. Blindtooled covers. First corner a bit bumped. In "Philosophical Transactions", Vol. 186 - I, Series A. XIV,(2),602,(4) pp. (Entire volume offered). The paper: p. 187-241 a. 8 textillustrations (apparatus). The title-page with faint brownspots. Otherwise internally clean and fine. First printing of this importent paper in the history of chemistry, Lord Rayleigh's most famous discovery, announcing the discovery of this new gas, the first finding of one of the rare gases (inert gases) having unusual properties, and forming a distinct group in the periodic table, and all with zero valency."The original paper in the "Philosophical Transactions" will undoubtly rank as a classic, the investigation having been a particularly brilliant ine." (Ernst von Meyer in History of Chemistry). For this discovery Lord Rayleigh and W. Ramsay received the Nobel Prize (1904). The volume also contains WILLIAM CROOKES "On the Spectra of Argon", OSBORNE REYNOLD "On the Dynamical Theory of Incompressible Viscous Fluids and the determination of the Criterion", KARL PEARSON "Contributions to the Mathematical Theory of Evolution. - II. Skew Variations in Homogenous Materials" etc.After having made several measuring of the densities of gases, "Rayleigh came across a curious puzzle. With oxygen, he always obtained the same density, regardless of how the oxygen might be produced, whether from one particular compound, from a second compound, or from the air. The situation was different with nitrogen. The nitrogen he obtained from air constantly showed a slightly higher density than the nitrogen he obtained from any of various compounds. Rayleigh could think of several ways in which the nitrogen obtained from air might be contaminated but none of the possibilities checked out experimentally. He was so frustrated that he went so far as to write to the journal "Nature" asking for suggestions. Ramsay, a brilliant Scottish chemist, asked permission to tackle the problem and received it. The upshot was that a new gas, somewhat denser that nitrogen, was discovered to exist in the atmosphere. It was named argon and it was the first of a series of rare gases of unusual properties whose existence had never been suspected."(Asimow).Dibner, Heralds of Science No. 50 - Neville, Historical Chemical Library vol. II, p.358.

Paris, La Compagnie des libraires 1738 [vol. 2] & 1740 [vol. 1]. 4to. Uniformly bound in two contemporary full sprinkled calf bindings with five raised bands and gilt lettering and ornamentation to spines. Small paper-labels pasted on to top of spines. Light wear and sunning to extremities. Internally nice and clean. (12), 555, (25) pp.; (8), 671 pp. With numerous engravings in text. Final and most expanded edition of famous work which “established obstetrics as a science” (Garrison & Morton). Here Mauriceau discusses various aspects related to pregnancy, labor, and the management of complications that may arise during gestation and delivery and introduced for the first time the practice of delivering his patients in bed instead of in the obstetrical chair. “The outstanding textbook of the time. Mauriceau, leading obstetrician of his day, introduced the practice of delivering his patients in bed instead of in the obstetrical chair. It was to Mauriceau that Hugh Chamberlen attempted to sell the secret of his forceps; Chamberlen translated the Traité into English in 1672. This book established obstetrics as a science.” (Garrison-Morton) François Mauriceau (1637 - 1709) was a French obstetrician “had an extensive practice in midwifery in Paris, both private and in the Hotel Dieu, which was at that time the leading establishment for lying in women in Europe. In 1668, when only 31, he published his great work Traite' des Maladies des Femmes Grosses et Accouchies,' which according to Andre Levret 'drew from the cradle' the art of midwifery. Two years later Mauriceau received a visit from Hugh Chamberlen, a member of the British family that possessed the secret of the obstetric forceps, who then translated his text making it available to the English speaking world. The influence of this work on many aspects of midwifery was immense, and Mauriceau is still remembered eponymously for his description of delivery of the after coming head in breech presentation. Mauriceau's book also contains a section entitled 'Of children newborn and their ordinary Distempers, together with necessary directions to chuse a Nurse'. Among the 18 chapters are ones on 'Of cutting the Tongue when Tongue-ty'd' and 'How to cure the Venereal Lues in Infants'. Perhaps, though, in retrospect his greatest impact was in the influence his advice had on the position that women should adopt during delivery. From earliest times women throughout the world had usually assumed an upright posture during parturition. In Europe the birthing chair was particularly popular.4 As Atwood has written5: 'The first major obstetrical change in the position of the parturient occurred when Francois Mauriceau substituted the bed for the birth stool. The time honoured 'position' assumed in an obstetric chair was replaced with the recumbent position to facilitate examinations and obstetric operations for the obstetrician'.” (Dunn, Francois Mauriceau (1637-1709) and maternal posture for parturition) (Garrison-Morton 6147, the 1668-edition)

Jena, Meyer, 1714. 12mo. In contemporary blank (original?) wrappers. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spine. Wear and soiling to extremities. Missing lower parts of spine and lower outer corner of back wrapper. Internally with light brownspotting and a few dampstains throughout. (16), 270 pp. + 1 folded plate. Very rare third edition of Ehrenberg theological-cosmological treatise arguing for the existence of multiple inhabited worlds. Under his pseudonym Hareneus Geierbrand, Ehrenberg explores whether other planets could be populated and considered these ideas within a Christian framework. All edition are scarce and are almost never found in the trade. “Andreas Ehrenberg hastens to stress in his preface to Curiose und wohlgegründete Gedanken (Jena, c. 1710) that the case he makes for the existence of many inhabited worlds will give “all Christians” cause to extol God’s wisdom, power, and majesty still more highly; but he reaches his conclusion that “we are not alone” purely by the scientific method of analogical reasoning and by arguing from the belief that the Creator’s activity must be purposeful. This demonstration is followed by a second section: “How Holy Scripture possibly can and must be taken, understood, and elucidated in order not to be contrary to our opinion” (pp. 7–8). […] But for Ehrenberg, the Bible is no longer an independent source of knowledge about the natural world: on the contrary, it must be read in the light of scientific knowledge. In other words, it is necessary to show that, correctly interpreted, the words of the biblical passages that speak of a circling sun and a stationary Earth (Josh. 10:12–13; Ps. 19:6–7) are in accord with the findings of science. Viewed in the proper light, as a description of the mere appearance of things, or as a version of the truth adapted to unsophisticated minds, the Bible only appears to express a geocentric conception of the universe. In reality its cosmology is that of Copernicus—which Ehrenberg, like so many others, sees as the basis for the plurality of worlds.” (Guthke, The Last Frontier, p. 204) OCLC list four copies, all in Germany.

Paris, Guillaume Loyson, 1637. 8vo. In contemporary full calf with four raised bands and richly gilt spine. Light wear to extremities, boards with wormholes. Title-page with underlignings i red, otherwise a nice and clean copy. (8), 707, (3) pp. Rare first edition of Louis Moreau du Bail’s work on courtiers Little is known about the life of Du Bail and he was probably in the army and spent some time in prison under obscure circumstances. The dedications of his fourteen novels, published between 1622 and 1646, show that he maintained connections with the court and high places. Catalogue des livres de la bibliotheque de feu M. le Duc de la Valliere 9529.

Kiøbenhaffn (Copenhagen), (Henrich Waldkirch), 1598. 4to. In contemporary vellum with yapp edges. Soiling and a few stains and marks to extremities. With four-line annotation in contemporary hand to pasted down front end-paper: "Denne bog hórer mig till / Bertill Bernhill oc haver/ jeg kiöbt hendom af Niels / bogförer i Helsingør 1598". (i.e. English: "This book belongs to me / bought from Niels bookseller in Elsinore 1598")Occassional marginal dampstains throughout, otherwise internally nice and clean. 106 ff. First Danish edition (it was first published in German the previous year) of the first official description of the coronation of King Christian IV. August Erich himself attended the coronation festivities, so it contains firsthand descriptions of the ceremony, the processions with decorations and costumes, fireworks, musical instruments, jousting, etc. The first official coronation description, published in 1597, was written in German by the king's secretary in the German Chancellery, August Erich, who identified himself as an eyewitness to the events. This description was primarily aimed at the northern German regions where Christian IV had or sought influence, and it can be seen as a follow-up to the previous tour of northern German towns that the un-crowned Christian undertook in 1595. Erich's coronation description was translated into Danish in 1598 (The present work) by court chaplain Andreas Benedict Dallin, who added more detailed information. Dallin's coronation description was clearly intended for a Danish audience, with the aim of strengthening and justifying Christian IV's domestic position in relation to the nobility as well as the citizens and common people. Thesaurus I, 230Lauritz Nielsen 574

London, George Virtue, 1838. 4to. In a nice contemporary blue half calf binding with four raised bands and richly gilted ornamentation to spine. occassional brownspotting. A fine copy. (6), 216 pp. + engraved frontis-piece portrait, additional engraved title, folding engraved map & 70 steel-engraved plates. First edition of William Beattie's fine work on the Waldensians and their struggle with the Roman Church.

Kjöbenhavn (Copenhagen), 1831. Bound in a lovely, elegant blue half morocco binding with gilt spine (Kyster). Partly uncut and printed on good, heavy paper. A very pretty copy. Exceedingly scarce first edition of Andersen's second theatre-performed piece. The work is extremely rare and almost never turns up in the trade. Apart from his debut book, "Ungdoms-Forsøg"/"Palnatokes Grav", this is presumably the scarcest Andersen-title. Hans Christian Andersen inaugurated his dramatical production with "Kjærlighed paa Nicolai Taarn" in 1829, a genre that came to mean a lot to him, and for which he continued producing plays for forty years, amounting to about as many plays. The question as to acceptance from the theatre and the the set-up of the plays, however, -especially at the beginning of his career - would often postpone the actual theatre debut by many months, sometimes years. And thus, although Andersen had translated/ re-written two other plays for the stage, before he re-wrote "Skibet" ("The Ship"), after Scribe and Mazere's "La Quarantaine", "Skibet" came to be the very first re-worked play by Andersen that was performed at the theatre and only the second play at all, following his own "Kjærlighed paa Nicolai Taarn". Together with "Kjærlighed paa Nicolai Taarn", "Skibet" constitutes his dramatical/theatre-debut and was of immense importance to him. After "Skibet", he continued to re-write foreign pieces for the stage and gained more and more success in this endeavour. BFN 166.