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Kjøbenhavn, Andreas Seidelin, 1820. 8vo. In contemporary half cloth. Wear to hinges, missing some of the cloth, especially to top of spine. Some brownspotting to first leaves, but a good and sturdy copy. Printed on good paper and with good margins. LXXIV, 325 pp. The highly important first translation into any modern language - and overall the second edition to appear - of the seminal Gothic tale that is Beowulf. This monumental work appeared merely five years after the first printing of the text (in Latin, 1815) and 13 years before the first English edition of Beowulf. With this edition, Grundtvig founded the study of Beowulf. "In the British Library there is a manuscript, its edges scorched and brittle, of "Beowulf", one of the very earliest poems in English and its first great literary masterpiece. It exists only in this one vellum codex and has survived for a thousand years, telling of an even earlier time, when the heroic age still was remembered by a Christian audience....In 1786, an Icelandic scholar, came to the [British] Museum, looking for documents relating to Denmark, where the first part of "Beowulf" takes place. He made two complete copies of the manuscript, the first time this had been done, one by a professional copyist and the other, himself, and returned to Copenhagen to study them.But then calamity. Denmark was occupied during the Napoleonic Wars and, in 1807, the English bombarded Copenhagen... [The] manuscript for an edition of "Beowulf", which just had been completed, was destroyed." The two transcripts were saved, however, work on them was begun again, and in 1815 the first printed edition of "Beowulf" appeared, in Latin, printed in Copenhagen.In 1820 the first translation of the seminal poem appeared, that into Danish, translated by the great Danish author Grundtvig, sparking the interest in Beowulf that persists until this day. In 1833, the first English edition of Beowulf appeared.

Hafniæ, Godiche, N. Möller, 1772-92. - (VIII, 1834 og Registerbind IX, 1878). Folio. Bind 1-7 i samtidige hellædrbind i flammet kalv. Ophøjede bind. Rig rygforgyldning. Forgyldte tome- og titelfelter i skind. Nogle kapitæler slidte. Bind 8, som ikke udkom i samtiden, men først 1834, er i originalt papbd. med shirtryg. Bind 9, som først udkom 1878 er i nyere hfableabd. De 7 første bind indeholder en del foldetabeller, kobberstukne faksimiler af håndskrifter, kobberstukne foldekort etc. Disse 7 bind har tilhørt retshistorikeren J.L.A. kolderup-Rosenvinge. The largest collection of Danish medieval texts. In 1834 - 30 years later - a supplementary volume was published (called Vol. VIII), this is present here together with the Index-volume published more than 100 years after the first volume. - From vol. IV P.F. Suhm was editor, after the death of Langebek.

London, Lockyer Davis and Peter Elmsly, 1783. 4to. In recent marbled paper wrappers. Extracted from "Philosophical Transactions", vol. 73. Including title-page of volume. A few leaves reinforced in margin. (3), iv, (247)-284 pp. + three folded plates. First appearance of Herschel's famous paper in which he documented his discovery of the movement of the sun and of the entire solar system with it. "Between 1780 and 1821 Sir Herschel produced some seventy papers, mostly published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. These were the results of his astronomical observations which have earned him the title of 'Farther of sidereal astronomy'. The present paper is one of the most important in the series." (PMM 227)"Herschel analyzed the individual motions of a small number of stars, showing that most of their observed motions were actually the result of the movement of our solar system through space." (Norman).PMM 227 Norman 1059

[Rome, AD 79-80]. 18 mm. diameter. Dolphin entwined around anchor on one side, and Draped bust of Tutus, turning right on the other side. An excellent, near mint specimen. 3,05 g. Obverse: IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M, laureate head rightReverse: TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P, dolphin coiled around an anchor.RIC 26a, RSC 309. Good specimen of the beautiful and rare coin that inspired Aldus Manutius' famous printer's device, the dolphin-and-anchor, the most famous logo in the history of book printing and the trademark of the Renaissance. The Aldus coin is the only book- or printing-related ancient coin in existence.Aldus Manutius, the most famous printer of all times, had been given a copy of the Titus coin, with the dolphin-and-anchor logo on the verso, as a gift by Pietro Bembo. He was extremely taken by the magnificent logo, that in Roman times, by Titus Vespasian, had been used to illustrate the proverb "Festina lente" ("make haste slowly"), and was so inspired by it that he began using it as his printer's device at the very beginning of the 16th century. Before it appears as his printer's device for the first time, he used it as an illustration in one of his most magnificent books, Colonna's "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili", 1499.In his "Adagiorum Collectanea", the collection of classical proverbs that he kept revising throughout his life, Erasmus Roterodamus had composed a lengthy essay on the "festina lente" proverb, which intrigued him immensely. Erasmus traced the motto back to the emperor Titus Vespasian, who had minted a coin with the emblem (i.e. the present coin), and had the rare opportunity to inspect that very coin - namely that which belonged to his printer, Aldus Manutius, who had been given it by the great Italian scholar Pietro Bembo. The second edition of Erasmus' "Adagiorum Collectanea" was published by Aldus in Venice in 1508, and Erasmus subsequently praises his printer to the skies in the course of explaining "festina lente". Erasmus explains the motto as such: "the circle as having neither beginning nor end represents eternity. The anchor, which holds back and ties down the ship and binds it fast, indicates slowness. The dolphin, as the fastest and in its motions most agile of living creatures, expresses speed. If then you skillfully connect these three, they will make up some such principle as "Ever hasten slowly", and adds that by claiming it as his own (recognizable and marketable) emblem, Aldus gave "fresh celebrity to the same device that was once approved by Vespasian". Not only is it "most familiar, it is highly popular among all those everywhere in the world to whom sound learning is either familiar or dear." Erasmus seems to also suggest that the device had perhaps become too popular: "the city of Venice, with its many claims to distinction, has none the less become distinguished through the Aldine press, so much so that any books shipped from Venice to foreign countries immediately find a readier market merely because they bear that city's imprint."And he might have been right. In fact, the Aldine press was so successful and renowned, and Aldus' printer's device as taken from the Titus Vespatian coin, so incorporated a symbol of elegant, correct printing and higher learning, that it was imitated by printers all over Europe. By using the dolphin-and-anchor device, other printers, although much inferior, would benefit from the authority and prestige of the Aldine press. In spite of Erasmus' attempts to make the public aware of this by praising the efforts of Aldus and opposing them to "those common printers who reckon one pitiful gold coin in the way of profit worth more than the whole realm of letters", publishers kept using the Aldus device for centuries. Aldus Manutius, Grolier Club: no 129RIC 26a, RSC 309.

The Lancet, 1867. 4to. Wrappers blank. Extracted from "The Lancet": I. pp.326-329 (March 16) - II. pp. 357-359 (March 16) - III. pp 387-389 (March 30) - IV. pp.507-509 (April 27) - V. pp. 95-96 (July 27) - VI. pp.353-356 (Sept. 21) - VII. pp. 668-669 (Nov. 30). First editions of these highly important papers (3 works in 7 parts), among which we find Lister's first work on the antiseptic principle in surgery. Lister believed that bacteria could enter wounds and cause suppuration and putrefaction and that it was necessary to kill the bacteria already in wounds and to apply dressings impregnated with some bactericidal substance. He finally hit on carbolic acid for this purpose. When this work was done it had not yet been proved that bacteria were the cause of disease. (Garrison & Morton No 5634). - Having realized the significance of Pasteur's work on fermentation, Lister evolved the idea of the antiseptic prevention of wound infection. This and the preceding papers represent two of the most epoch-making contributions to surgery. (Garrison & Morton, No 5635). Through a presentation of several case studies, Lister illustrates the variations called for in the treatment of specific wounds. - Hundred Books famous in Medicine (Grolier) No. 75 - Sparrow, Milestones of Science No. 138 - Printing and the Mind of Man 316 c - Norman: 1366 - Gedeon:54

Christiania (Oslo), 1885-1985. Lex8vo. Bound up to vol 81 in 52 fine solid hcalf. Vol. 82-100 in clean parts. Incl. Indexes for vol. 1-40 and 41-100.

Hafniæ, Paulli, 1737. Folio. Contemporary full mottled calf with Luxdorph's blindstamped super ex libris to front board. Six raised bands to richly gilt spine. Spine and all extremities worn. A bit of leather missing at capitals, and cords showing at hinges. Even though the hinges are worn, the binding is still tight. Internally very nice and fresh with only very light occasional brownspotting. Front free end-paper with three annotations: 1) from the "Bibliotheque Germanique. Amst. 1720"; 2: Frederik Münter (noting that it was bought at the auction after his father); 3: Ex Dono-inscription by Luxdorph (perhaps the most important Danish book collector of all times), stating that the book was given him by Johannes Gram (the editor). (42 - including half-title and frontispiece portrait (which is often lacking) ), 139, (1), 478, 136, (36) pp. First edition, with an truly excellent provenance, of this important work of the history of Denmark, which due to Krag's untimely death only spans the first 16 years of the history of King Christian III. When Krag, the first official Danish historiographer, died in 1602, Krag had been working on the work throughout the 1590’ies. The manuscript was not finished and ended up remining unpublished for more than a century, until Hans Gram finally, in 1737, arranged for a beautiful edition of it to be printed. This wonderful first edition also contains other contributions to the history of King Christin III. Krag’s work is important in several ways. First of all, it focuses mainly on Danmark’s foreign relations during the period, making it an invaluable contribution to the history of Denmark’s international history of the late 16th century. Second, the work is both politically and linguistically important in its choice of Latin as the authorial language. It is written in an excellent classicist Latin that was to mark Denmark as part of the united European cultural sphere; in short, it was meant to represent Danmark as belonging to the civilized world. Krag’s excellent, stylized Latin history of Christian III constitutes the best example of applying classical historiography stylistically to the history of Denmark. The work is Roman in all its aspects. The vocabulary and the syntax are in accordance with classical Roman norms, and Krag also adopts the principle of the Roman historians of never quoting other text. The prose is his own all the way through. Also in his choice of relating the diplomatic relations of the King and the country, he stays true to the classical authors. Another noteworthy feature of this novel historical work is the fact that all Danish proper names are Latinized, not only cities, but also people (eg. the Danish nobleman Eske Bilde has been given the name Aeschylus). Crag took this so far that Hans Gram found it necessary to make an explanatory list of Crag’s Latinizations. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Provenance: The copy was given by the editor and publisher Johannes Gram to his student Bolle Luxdorph (1716-1788). Luxdorph was a famous Danish historian, poet, and state official. In bibliophile circles, however, he is most known as a book collector – one of the most important in the history of Danish book collecting. Bindings with his super ex libris (an elephant) are very sought after. Luxdorph was matriculated at the University of Copenhagen 1733 and had Hans Gram as private preceptor. He studied both theology, philosophy, classical philology, and history. Frederik Münter (1761-1830) was a famous Danish church historian, archaeologist, and Bishop of Sealand from 1808 till his death.

Stockholm, Anders J. Nordström, 1783. 8vo. Contemp. hcalf. A very small nick at top of spine. Spine blindtooled and with titlelabel. Spine slightly rubbed. XV,766 pp., 9 folded engraved plates and 1 map (the map in facsimile). The first 8 leaves with a faint dampstain. A few scattered marginal brownspots. The scarce first edition (the first part only, but alone-standing) of Sparrman's famous travelling account which has been called the '"most trustworthy account of the Cape Colony and the various races of people then residing in it" that had been published in the 18th century. The work is one of the most importent investigations of the South African fauna in the second half of the 18th century. He sailed for the Cape of Good Hope in January 1772 to take up a post as a tutor. When James Cook arrived there later in the year at the start of his second voyage, Sparrman was taken on as assistant naturalist to Johann and Georg Forster. After the voyage he returned to Cape Town in July 1775 and practiced medicine, earning enough to finance a journey into the interior.

Paris, Crochard, 1825. 8vo. Bound in contemporary half calf with gilt lettering to spine. In: "Annales de Chimie et de Physique, Par MM. Gay-Lussac et Arago.", tome 29. Entire volume offered. Very light occassional foxing, otherwise a fine and clean copy with no institutional stamps. Pp. 381-404; 373-381. [Entire volume: 448 pp. + folded plate]. First appearance of this famous memoir, in which Ampère presented his collected results on electrodynamics to the French Academy, creating the foundation of 19th century developments in electricity and magnetism. In the words of James Clark Maxwell, "We can scarcely believe that Ampère really discovered the law of action by means of the experiments which he describes. We are led to suspect, what, indeed, he tells us himself, that he discovered the law by some process which he has not shown us, and that when he had afterwards built up a pefect demonstration he removed all traces of the scaffolding by which he raised it." The offered memoir was published BEFORE the famous "Theorie mathématique des phénomènes électro-dynamiques uniquement déduite de L'expérience", which did not appear until 1827. That 1827-Memoire incorporates, together with a new presentation of Ampère's results from 1820, 1822, 1823, the offered memoir (1825). (Horblit: 100 - Dibner: 62). "From 1814 until 1820 Ampére did not perform the kind of research that would have made it into the annals of the histrory of science, but on September 11, 1820 when he heard Francois Arago speak about Oersted's work, he got fresh inspiration and started the work that made him famous. Arago related how Oersted had found that a steady electric current influences the orientation of a compass needle. After a weak Ampère had determined experimentally that that two straight, parallel, and current-carrying, wires execute a force on each other. The magnitude of the force is inversely proportional to the distance between the wires and proportional to the strenghts of the current..... During the following years he continued his researches, both experimentally and theoretically. he built an instrument for measuring electricity that later was developed into the galvanometer. Finally in 1825 he presented his collected results to the Academy IN ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED MEMOIRS IN THE HISTORY OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY (The paper offered)." (Citizen's Compendium, p. 2). - Norman No 47. The volumes contain many other notable papers by: Wöhler, Fresnel, Marcet, Berzelius, Felix Savart, De la Rive, Braconnet, Boussingault, Magnus, Poncelet, Vaugelin, Poisson, Gay-Lussac, Faraday, Laplace etc.

uden sted, uden år. (København, Joachim Schmidtgen, 1693 ?). Høj 12mo. Samtidigt brunt helldrbd. med rigt forgyldte rammer på begge permer, indvendigt og udvendigt i rammerne forsynet med stiliseret blomsterværk af guldstempler. Ryggen rigt forgyldt, men forgyldningen svag. False og kapitæler fint reparerede. Helt guldsnit. Med 2 intakte lukkestroppe, bronzehængsler. (22),3-261,(1) pp. Indvendig aldeles ren, trykt på svært skrivepapir. I samme indbinding som KB's to eksemplarer, indikerende, at bindet her er udført af Christian V's bogbinder Wolfgang Lamprecht. Yder sjældent re-issue af Frederik den Andens egenhændige udvalg fra Davids Salmer, som først udkom i 1585 og som kun kendes i et eksemplar. Atter i 1586 udkom en ny udgave, men i et helt andet format og udstyr (se Paulli, Lorentz Benedicht nr. 173). Foreliggende udgave er en rekonstruktion af 1586-udgaven da der ikke i Danmark forelå et eksemplar af originaludgaven. Thesaurus anfører, at der af denne 1693-udgave, kun eksisterer 2 eller 3 eksemplarer, måske intet i privateje ud over dette.Bibl. Danica II,29. - Thesaurus I,124.

Amsterdam - Gravenhage, 1652-1698. 4to. All 7 works/tracts bound in one early-1800 century full calf, Cambridge-style binding. Gilt line border and panel stamped in blind. Richly gilt spine with the gilt title on spine: "Hollandck Zee.Rechten, De. Politie". Marbled edges. (8),160 pp., (12),139 pp., (16) pp., 40 pp., 48 pp., (40) pp., (36),276 pp. A fine collection of Dutch maritime laws and commentaries, insurances, shipwrecks, customs duties, penalties and other regulations. - Tjassen's Zee-Politie, 1652 is first edition. Kress, 861.

Frankfurt & Leipzig, Renger, 1728. 4to. In a nice contemporary Cambridge-style mirror binding with four raised bands and richly gilt spine. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spine. Light wear to extremities. Internally with occassional heavy toning due to poor paper quality, otherwise a good copy. (16), 866, (19) pp. + 1 plate. The uncommon first edition of one of Wolff’s main work in which he presented his concept of philosophy as a total science following Descartes’ belief that all science could be deduced from simple principles. In the history of logical reasoning, methodology, principles of logical inference, the classification of propositions and the structure of logical arguments it still stands as a highly important work. To reach a broader audience Wolff decided to published his works in Latin, the present being his first Latin-language publication. “Christian Wolff (1679–1754) was a philosopher, mathematician, and scientist of the German Enlightenment. He is widely and rightly regarded as the most important and influential German philosopher between Leibniz and Kant. His scholarly output was prolific, numbering more than 50 (most multi-volume) titles, in addition to dozens of shorter essays and prefaces and nearly 500 book reviews. Through his series of textbooks, published first in German and then in Latin, Wolff made signal contributions to nearly every area of philosophical investigation of his time, including but not limited to logic, metaphysics, ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics. Wolff is perhaps best known in his role as (co-)founder of the “Leibnizian-Wolffian philosophy”, and while Wolff himself rejected the term, the philosophical system it designates quickly gained broad, if not universal, acceptance within German universities in the first half of the eighteenth century.” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

Lutetiae (i.e. Paris), Robert Stephanum (i.e. Robert Estienne) & Guillaume Morel, 1556. Small 8vo. Lovely newer full marbled paper binding with gilt leather title-label to spine (Jens E. Hansen, Aarhus). Light brownspotting to a few leaves and somne leaves towards the end with inkspotting at outer blank margin. Early neat handwritten marginal annotations throughout. A lovely copy. 54 pp. Scarce second edition of Elie André’s seminal Latin translation of the Anacreontea – the first complete - which itself is a classic in the history of classical literature. It came to directly influence all later readings of Anacreon. In 1554, Henri Estienne II published the seminal editio princeps of Anacreon, which is no less than an outright Renaissance sensation, causing the “Anacreaonta” to become the most influential “ancient” Greek poetic text during the Renaissance, initiating a poetic revolution in Europe. Simultaneously with this editio princeps, Henri Estienne published his own Latin translation of it, which constitutes the first translation into Latin. Merely a year later, in 1555, Elie André extremely important translation of the Anacreaontea appeared, in 1555, printed by Thomas Richard. This translation included additional Odes not in the Estienne edition and was thus the first complete Latin translation of the “Anacreontia”. The following year, 1556, Robert Estienne II published his first work, namely a second edition of the original Greek Anacreontea that Henri Estienne had published in 1554. Silmultaneously, Robert Estienne republished Elie André’s Latin translation, which was published separately, but which is often found together with the 1556 second edition of the Greek Anacreontea. “The first full translation of CA was again in Latin. It was published by the humanist Elie André (1509-1587) from Bordeaux, who was friendly with the Parisian circle around the Pléiade. André’s translation appeared less than a year after Estienne’s edition and comprised the Latin translation only, without the Greek text. In a way, this can be taken as a signal that the Latin tradition was coming into its own. Accordingly, André makes some bolder choices in his translation, which already shows in his first lines (see Aiijr): Cantare nunc Atridas, Nunc expetesso Cadmum: Testudo vero nervis Solum refert Amorem (…). In classical Latin, the verb expetessere is used only by Plautus (and it is extremely rare in postclassical Latin). This brings a somewhat odd ring of comedy to the poem. Here, and in a number of other places, the translator wishes to strike his readers with an unusual turn of phrase or by some sort of amplification. He does not just imitate ‘Anacreon’, but also competes with him (as arguably with Estienne’s translation). André’s willingness to adapt the original text shows also in a certain moralistic tendency not otherwise seen in Latin translations. On the one hand, he openly and avowedly changes the text when it comes to unequivocal references to homosexuality: in CA 12 (10).8-10 (τ? µευ καλ?ν ?νε?ρων […] ?φ?ρπασας Β?θυλλον; “Why from my sweet dreams […] have you snatched away Bathyllus?”), for instance, he replaces Bathyllus with a puella (Cur mane somnianti / Ista loquacitate / Mihi eripis puellam?),…; in CA 29 (17).1-2 (Γρ?φε µοι Β?θυλλον ο?τω / τ?ν ?τα?ρον ?ς διδ?σκω, “Paint for me thus Bathyllus, my lover, just as I instruct you”) he simply suppresses the word ?τα?ρον, “lover” (Mihi pinge sic Bathyllum / ... Estienne’s translation is: Meos Bathyllum amores, / Ut te docebo pinge). Here, André proceeds in a way similar to the original Neo-Latin Anacreontics, in which homosexual love simply does not occur. On the other hand, André makes generous use of a metatextual element which is less conspicuous than his changes, but is even more extensive and significant. He includes a considerable number of passages in quotation marks and thus identifies them as sort of sententiae. In CA 4 (32), for instance, lines 1-6 describe how the poet wishes to lie down on myrtles, drink, and have Eros as his wine steward. This description of a specific setting is followed by some more general lines about the brevity of life, which André includes in quotation marks (lines 7- 10): “Cita nanque currit aetas, / Rota ceu voluta currus. / Sed et ossibus solutis / Iaceam cinis necesse est” (“For hurried life runs along just like a rolling wheel, but I shall soon lie, a bit of dust from crumbling bones”). The focus of this quotation technique is on lines concerned with the transitory nature of life, the uncertainness of tomorrow, and the futility of riches. By marking out such lines as sententiae, André distinguishes Anacreon the philosopher from Anacreon the drinker and lover and contributes to a larger discourse about the morality of the poet and his poems. While opinions in antiquity were often critical of Anacreon’s morals, ‘Anacreon’s’ large flock of modern imitators was united to defend their hero’s virtue. From Estienne’s preface onwards they usually referred to Plato’s Phaedrus 235c, where Socrates calls Anacreon “wise” (σοφ?ς) in matters concerned with Eros. In the 18th century, Anacreon, the philosopher, could even turn into a key-image of enligthened discourses. André’s identification of sententiae in ‘Anacreon’ prepared for this development and could have had a direct influence on it since his translation was widely read until well into the 18th century. The Latin translations of Estienne and André soon became classics in themselves and were the most successful ones in the early modern period.” (Tilg: Neo-Latin Anacreontic Poetry. Its Shape(s) and Its Significance, 214. Pp. 177-78). Brunet: I:250; Renouard: I:(161).

Lipsiae (Leipzig), 1742-1743 . 4to. Bound in three very nice contemporary uniform full calf bindings with raised bands and richly gilt spines. A bit of wear to extremities, especially upper capitals, which lack a bit of leather. Two leaves of the final index with a restoration, otherwise internally very nice and clean. A very nice set. Old owner's names and handwritten quote to front free end-paper of vol. 1. Complete with the engraved portrait in vol. one and all four engraved plates. Engraved illustrataed vignette to all title-pages, some engraved illustrations in text. Portrait, (14), 1357, (35); (8), 1092, (32); (6), 916, (28); (4), 789, (27); (8), 939, (29) pp. The scarce first edition of Brucker's seminal main work, which introduced the historiographical concept "System of philosophy" and established history of philosophy as a philosophical discipline.

Amsterdam, Jacques Desbordes, 1706. 12mo. Uniformly bound in three nice contemporary Cambridge-style mirror binding with four raised bands and richly gilt spines. Small paper-labels pasted on to upper compartments of spines. Boards with wear and with some loss of leather. Title-page in vol. 2 with red underlignings. Small worm-tract to first 20 ff. in vol. 1. Upper margin closely trimmed in vol. 1, occassionally touching header, otherwise internally nice and clean. (10), 405, (3) pp.; (2), 402, (30) pp.; (2), 388, (20) pp. + 3 frontispieces, 1 portrait, 5 maps and 26 plates. A fine copy of the first French translation of this seminal work on the Maluku and Philipine Islands: "Few narratives are written with so much judgment and elegance (…) One of the most important works for the history of the Philippine islands (…) The book also contains matter relating to Sir Francis Drake and American voyages, and to the history of Spanish and Portuguese exploration in the Indies" (Cox). This present French translation, although being comparatively late, is considered superior to the Spanish original (1609) containing much more material than the original. “Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola [1562-1635] had a brilliant ecclesiastic career which he complemented with valuable forays into the literary field. One of his most outstanding works was the Conquista de las Islas Malucas [...] (The Discovery and Conquest of the Molucco and Philippine Islands […]), written at the request of the president of the Conselho de Indias de Espanha (Indian Council of Spain) and published in Madrid in 1609. In it the author describes the complicated relationship between the Moluccas [presently Maluku Islands] and Europe in a period prior to 1606, giving special attention to the geography and ethnography of the people in this archipelago. Bartolomé Leonardo thoroughly investigated the royal archives in Seville, paraphrasing even texts of several Portuguese chroniclers, mainly of João de Barros (See: Text 9 & João de Barros), António Galvão and Diogo do Couto.Conquista [...] (The Discovery and Conquest [...]) was the first work printed in Europe on the Moluccas, the distant Oriental archipelago which, from 1512, was regularly visited by Portuguese ships, and was the object of an intense dispute between the Spanish and Portuguese Crowns for many decades. This work, which was prepared with abundant recourse to sources of Portuguese origin, was little known in Spain even among those specialised in the subject, and not even the date survives of any partial of full translation. The period written about here refers to China in an artificial way, one of the oriental regions which never stopped appearing in the sights of Spanish conquistadors, especially after the colonisation of the Philippines.” (Rui Loureiro, Review of Culture, no 32) Sabin 1947

No place, No date, (Paris around 1654). 4to. (275 x 210 mm). Contemp. full mottled calf. Raised bands. Richly gilt spine. Titlelabel with gilt lettering. Corners neathly restored. 2 stamps on foot of titlepage (ouside engraving). With engraved ornamental title-page and 113 engravings on 107 (of 122 ??) sheets. Most of the plates signed (I. or J. or Ian, or Jean) Marot sculp. Wide-margined and internally clean. First edition of the so-called "Le Petit marot". There seems not to be any standard collation of the work as copies in libraries varies a lot in relation to the number of plates. (Lewine's Bibliography lists engr. title and 106 (sometimes 111) plates)."Little has survived of his own architectural work, but his engravings of the works of others, primarily those published in the volumes referred to as the Petit Marot (c. 1654) and the Grand Marot (c. 1670), were highly esteemed by his contemporaries and remain among the most important sources concerning architecture in France up to the early part of the reign of Louis XIV. (Wikipedia).

London, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1876. Small8vo. Original blind stamped brown cloth. End papers renewed and first two leaves reinforced in margin. Repair to lower part of title-page affecting year of printing and small label ( "S.L.M.") to p. 128. Extremities slightly rubbed, internnaly fine and clean. Pp. viii, (9)-128, (4). Rare first edition of Maxwell's "masterpiece of natural philosophy, notable especially for introducing into physics the term relativity in a passage that combines strenuous scientific insight with a mystical awareness (...)" (Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, p. 209). "Maxwell's Matter and Motion first appeared in 1876 and was reprinted before the year was out. The first American edition was printed in 1878. Following several reprints on both sides of the Atlantic, Sir Joseph Larmor added notes and appendices to produce a new edition in 1920. This edition was reprinted in 1925 and at least half-a-dozen times since 1952" (Flood, McCartney & Whitaker, James Clerk Maxwell: Perspectives on his Life and Work (2014), p. 27). "More light is thrown on Maxwell’s own opinions about the problem of relative and absolute motion and the connection between dynamics and other branches of physics by the delightful monograph Matter and Motion, published in 1876." (DSB)

Springer, Berlin, 1935. 4to. (256x186mm). Pages 807-812; 823-828; 844-849 from volume 23 of 'Die Naturwissenschaften'. Bound together in recent attractive marbled boards (Hanne Jensen). Leather title with gilt lettering on front board. A fine and clean copy. First edition and first announcement of Schrödinger's famous reply to the EPR-paradox (also known as Schrödinger's Cat). When in May 1935 Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen published the so-called EPR-paper in "Physical Review", they set out to demonstrate that the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics could not constitute a complete description of nature. The EPR-article prompted a number of responses, e.g. from Bohr, the co-founder of the Copenhagen School, who began writing his response immediately after the publication of the Physical Review article. It is this debate that Schrödinger participates in with his seminal paper on "The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics", in which he presents what is now famously known as Schrödinger's Cat. Schrödinger's Cat is the name of the thought experiment that Schrödinger develops in this article and that was intended as a discussion of the EPR article.After the publication of the EPR article, Einstein and Schrödinger had begun an exchange of letters on the subject of the possibility of quantum mechanics, as interpreted by the Copenhagenists, representing reality. During this exchange of letters, Schrödinger had been inspired by Einstein's view of the problem of applying the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum mechanics to everyday objects. But Schrödinger, in his response, took his illustration of the absurdity of the interpretation and the incompleteness of quantum mechanics a step further; he applied it to a living entity, namely a cat. Schrödinger imagines a sealed box containing a cat, a bottle of poison, a radioactive source, a Geiger counter and a hammer. When the Geiger counter detects radiation, a mechanism is switched on that makes the hammer fall; the hammer breaks the bottle, and the poison kills the cat. Because it is random, when the Geiger counter will detect radiation, and because in Quantum mechanics, physical conditions are described with the aid of a wave-function that explains all possible conditions of the system, Quantum mechanics, according to the Copenhagen interpretation, would come to the conclusion that the cat in the box is both living and dead, at the same time (the wave function is made up of a superposition of the two conditions -the cat being living and the cat being dead-; the two positions collapse into one, as soon as the system is interpreted as consisting of only one condition -either dead or living cat-, with the sole possible conclusion that the cat is both). Due to Heisenberg and Bohr's independent interpretation of Quantum theory (the "Copenhagen interpretation), Quantum theory had in 1927 developed in a direction unforeseen by Schrödinger. "Schrödinger was "concerned and disappointed" that this "transcendental, almost physical interpretation of the wave phenomena" had become the "almost universally accepted dogma."" (D.S.B. XII, p. 221). His most famous and widely used attack on this interpretation was that of "Schrödinger's Cat". This paradox of the dead-and-alive cat vigorously illustrated the absurdity of quantum mechanics and what was necessary to describe the states within this system. The thought experiment of Schrödinger's cat turned out to be hugely influential, and has become a standard paradox within both physics and philosophy.

Amsterdam, Compagnie des Librarires, 1734. Folio. Bound in 5 contemp. full calf.Raised bands, richly gilt spines. Wear to spine ends. Corners variously bumped. Some covers with scratches. 5 Large engraved titlevignettes. Titlepages printed in red/black. A few quires with browning. Few scattered brownspots. Engraved portrait of Bayle (Petite F.(ecit) In this fifth Amsterdam-edition is found at the end of each volume the critical remarques of l'abbe Le Clerc. "For over half a century, until the publication of the "Encyclopédie", Bayle's "Dictionnaire" dominated enlightened thinking in every part of Europe." (PMM: 155, the first edition published 1695).Pierre Bayle's Dictionnaire historique et critique stands as the supreme achievement of one of the seventeenth century's most prominent men of letters. Based in Rotterdam, Bayle animated intellectual discussion in Europe through his work as editor and author and as a prolific correspondant. Originally conceived as a response to the errors in Louis Moréri's Grand dictionnaire historique, his Dictionnaire historique et critique grew to be an exemplary work of critical methodology. The author painstakingly compiled, compared, questioned, seeking some degree of historical certainty, however small. The Bayle Dictionnaire has been called the "Arsenal of the Enlightenment", pillaged and re-edited throughout the eighteenth century by believers and sceptics alike who gathered ammunition for philosophical argument in the work's recondite notes.

Paris, Crochard, 1819. 8vo. Contemporary half calf with raised bands and gilt spine. Very light wear along edges. Small stamps on verso of title-page and on verso of plates. In "Annales de Chimie et de Physique", Tome X, 2. Series. 448 pp. a. 2 folded engraved plates. (Entire volume offered). Arago and Fresnel's paper: pp. 288-306. First appearance of this seminal paper in which Arago and Fresnel described the experiments which demonstrated that light vibrates transversely to its direction of forward movement."In a further letter to Arago, dated 29 April 1818 Young recurred to the subject of transverse vibrations, comparing light to the undulations of a cord agitated by one of its extremities. This letter was shown by Arago to Fresnel, who at once saw that it presented the true explanation of the non-interference of beams polarised in perpendicular planes, and that the latter effect could even be made the basis of a proof of the correctness of Young's hypothesis; for if the vibration of each beam be supposed resolved into three components, one along the ray and the other two at right angles to it, it is obvious from the Arago-Fresnel experiment that the components in the direction of the ray must vanish; in other words THAT THE VIBRATIONS WHICH CONSTITUTE LIGHT ARE EXECUTED IN THE WAVE-FRONT." (Edmund Whittaker in "A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity I", p. 115). - Parkinson, Breakthroughs 1819 P. - Magie "A Source Book in Physics, p. 325 ff.The volume contains another groundbreaking paper, in which THE CONNECTION BETWEEN ATOMIC WEIGHT AND ATOMIC HEAT WAS ESTABLISHED - THE "LAW OF DULONG AND PETIT".DULONG, (PIERRE) & (ALEXIS) PETIT. Recherches sur quelques points importans de la théorie de la chaleur. Vol. X, pp. 395-413. (In the volume offered)."They (Dulang and Petit) were concerned with the specific heats of elements; but if these elements really existed as atoms, it seemed possible that there might be a connection between the weight of the atom and the amount of heat acquired to raise the temperature of a given weight of that element by a certain amount." (DSB). - "One of his (Dulong) most important researches was made in collaboration with Alexis Thérese Petit (1791-1820), with whom he announced the law that the product of atomic weight and specific heat is constant (1819). It rendered a distinct service in fixing atomic weights, especially when these were in question, and enabled Berzelius and later Cannizzaro to arrive at correct atomic weights and the correct number of atoms in molecules." (Leicester & Klickstein, A source Book in Chemistry 1400-1900, p. 273). Magie "A Source Book in Physics", p. 178 ff. - Parkinson, Breakthroughs (1819).

Paris, Victor Masson, 1848 a. 1851. 8vo. 2 contemp. hcalf, raised bands, gilt spine. Light wear along edges. Small stamps on verso of titlepages and on verso of 1 plate. In "Annales de Chimie et de Physique", 3me Series - Tome XXIV and XXXI. (6),512 pp. and 2 plates + 512 pp. a. 4 plates.(2 entire volumes offered). Pasteur's papers: pp. 442-459 a. pp. 459-460, 1 double-page folded engraved plate + pp. 67-102 a. 1 plate. Some scattered brownspots to first part of the first volume, not affecting P's papers. First full exposition of Pasteur's momentous and revolutionary discovery of "molecular assymetry" and founding the science of Polarimetry.The discovery was first announced by Pasteur in may 1848 by the printing of the preliminary report of only 4 short pages, in order to establish priority. The announcement - 4 pages - was published in Comptes rendus hebdomadaires de l’Académie des Sciences, Paris, Seance of May 15, 1848, 26 (21), 535-538 (Published on May 1848)."In 1848....Pasteur studied the crystals of tartrates (one of the substances that exhibited the now-clockwise, now-counterclockwise effect) under the microscope and found that the crystals were mirror images of the others. The two crystals resembled each other as a right-hand glove resembles a left-hand glove....This was a revolutionary discovery and it took some courage to announce it. A few years before, the well-known chemist Mitscherlich had studies the same tartrate crystals and declared them all to be identical. Pasteur was only a twenty-sic-year-old unknown. neverthelless he announced his findings and went before Biot to repeat the separation ofthe crystals before the eyes of the aged authority in the field. Biot was convinced and Pasteur received the Rumford medal of the Royal Society for his work....Pasteur had thus founded the science of polarimetry in which the measurements of the manner in which the plane of polarized light was twisted could be used to help to determine the structure of organic substance, to follow various chemical reactions, and so on."(Asimov). Leicester & Klickstein "A Source Book of Chemistry", p. 374-379).

New York, McGraw-hill, (1964). Lex 8vo. Original white cloth with black title-label on which white and gilt lettering. Very minor bumping to captials, but an unusually fresh binding. Original illustrated dust-jacket in very fine condition, not price-clipped. A few small, marginal tears, but overall excellent. Internally near mint. VII, (1), 359, (1) pp. First edition, first printing, of this pioneering study in media theory, which completely revolutionized our understanding of the process of communication and the development of the mind of mankind, from the invention of movable type through to the electronic age; this work actually predicts the world wide web and today's information-dependent world, , making it "the most important book ever written on communication". It is in this groundbreaking work that McLuhan first coins the phrases "global village" and "the medium is the message", completely rethinking our society. Due to this marvel of a book, written twenty years before the PC revolution and thirty years before the rise of the Internet!, "Marshall McLuhan has become an "ism". McLuhanism is a new approach to the relations of man and his technologies, and a radically fresh concept of our electronic world... Marshall McLuhan is a philosopher for the age of electronics, and a humanist for the age of communications. Seeing all of our new technologies as extensions of our senses, he examines the implications they hold for the very nature of human society" (From the front flap of the 5th printing of the work). Herbert Marshall McLuhan (1911 - 1980) was a Canadian philosopher of communication theory. His most famous and influential work is "Understanding Media", in which he coins his two most widely known and repeated phrases, but he has also written other highly important works in communication theory, and his work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory, as well as having practical applications in the advertising and television industries.Although he was a fixture in media discourse in the late 1960s, his influence began to wane in the early 1970s. With the arrival of the internet, however, his works have experienced a great renaissance and he is now considered the most important media thinker of all times and his main work, "Understanding Media", the most important book on communication. "When Marshall McLuhan first coined the phrases "global village" and "the medium is the message" in 1964, no-one could have predicted today's information-dependent planet. No-one, that is, except for a handful of science fiction writers and Marshall McLuhan. Understanding Media was written twenty years before the PC revolution and thirty years before the rise of the Internet. Yet McLuhan's insights into our engagement with a variety of media led to a complete rethinking of our entire society. He believed that the message of electronic media foretold the end of humanity as it was known. In 1964, this looked like the paranoid babblings of a madman. In our 21st century digital world, the madman looks quite sane. Understanding Media : the most important book ever written on communication. Ignore its message at your peril." (Official review of the 2001 Routledge Classics-edition). The first printing is difficult to come by in general and is very rarely seen in a nice dust-jacket.

Kjøbenhavn, Bianco Luno, 1851. 8vo. In the original giftbinding (blue blank boards). With author's presentation to F. C. Danckwart to front free end-paper. Offprint from "Videnskabernes Selskabs Forhandlinger". Scratches and some spoling to boards. Spine with nicks and a bit of loss of paper. Internally with a few brownspots. 57 pp. Presentation copy, offprint, of this foundational work in Scandinavian geoarchaeology, uniting geology, archaeology and natural history in a systematic investigation of Denmark’s prehistoric coastal settlements and shell middens (køkkenmøddinger). It represents the collaborative effort of three leading Danish scholars: geologist J. G. Forchhammer, paleontologist and naturalist J. C. H. R. Steenstrup and archaeologist J. J. A. Worsaae. In 1848, a new source for these studies opened with the. At Steenstrup’s urging, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters appointed a committee consisting of Forchhammer, Steenstrup, and Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae to investigate the shell middens that had been found in several places in Denmark. The results, published here, established the shell-middens as made made structures, proved to be of the greatest significance for the development of archaeological research throughout the world. The present copy was given, and signed, by Forchhammer to F. C. Danckwart, Director in the Foreign Department and known for his close ties to the monarchy. He served under several foreign ministers and retained influence even after his retirement. “Forchhammer participated in the work of the so-called ‘Lejrekomite’, an interdisciplinary committee studying human remains along the shore. This commission gave the first – and now famous – description of the ‘køkkenmødding’ (kitchen midden), a mound consisting of shells of edible molluscs and other refuse, marking the site of a prehistoric human habitation (Hanks 1971). ‘Køkkenmødding’ is one of the few Danish international terms (Forchhammer et al. 1851). The work of the ‘Lejrekomité’ was concentrated on the marine molluscs in order to establish out whether the shell deposits were naturally based – oyster banks – or whether they were formed as waste deposits produced by men living at coastal sites” (Petersen, Late Quaternary environmental changes recorded in the Danish marine molluscan faunas, p.12).

Amsterdam, Leiden, La haye, utrecht, P. brunel, R. Wetstein etc., 1740. Folio. Bound in 8 uniform contemp. hcalf. raised bands, gilt spines, titlelabel in leather with gilt lettering. Marbled covers. One cover with some scratches. Otherwise fine, spines only slightly rubbed. Engraved frontispiece. Small stamp at foot of titlepages "Holstein=Holsteinborg". Internally fine. A fine edition of one of the first modern Encyclopedias. From 1674 to 1750, this important predecessor to modern encyclopedias went through twenty editions, before it finally succumbed to the Encyclopedie ou dictionnaire des sciences, des arts et des metiers. Moreri designed his encyclopedic work partly as a defense of the worldview of the Roman Catholic Church, and that editorial approach prompted competition from a rival encyclopedia, Pierre Bayle's Dictionnaire Historique et Critique, also in this exhibit. Moreri's work is noteworthy for its emphasis on historical and biographical entries, neglected by Bayle as well as by other competitors such as Ephraim Chamber's Cyclopedia. - PMM: 155 (the first edition of 1674).

Paris, Claude Jean-Bapt. Bouche, 1757. 4to. Cont. full calf. Gilt boders on covers. Old professional rebacking to style. Back gilt. A few nicks to leather at edges. (8),190;XCVI,275 pp., 1 large folded engraved map (Carte Generale du Senegal) and 19 fine engraved plates, each with many figs of conchs (M.T. Reboul del.et sc.). Broad margins, printed on good paper. Light scattered brownspotting. Scarce first edition of this early, and perhaps the first scientific, travel expedition in Senegal - an example of a new scientific attitude and method in travel litterature. The author was primarely a botanist, and the results of the expedition was planned to be published in further volumes. Only this volume, relating to conchology and molluscs was published. The first part gives an account of the voyage in the years 1749 to 1753, and the second part describes the conchs and molluscs (conquillages) in fine engravings. - Not in Brunet and Graesse. - Nissen ZBI No. 27 - Casey A. Wood p. 180.