Search Results: Titles starting with D from SOPHIA RARE BOOKS

Vienna: Leopold J. Kaliwoda, 1745. First edition. "ONE OF THE MOST EXQUISITELY ILLUSTRATED ASTRONOMICAL WORKS EVER PRINTED" (KENNEY) - AUTHOR'S PRESENTATION COPY . First edition, author's presentation copy, of "one of the most exquisitely illustrated astronomical works ever printed" (Kenney, p. 200), which describes and illustrates the astronomical instruments in the private observatory of Marinoni, mathematician and astronomer to the Imperial Court of Austria and geodetic surveyor. Like the private observatories of Tycho Brahe and Hevelius in the two preceding centuries, Marinoni's observatory was one of the most beautiful and best equipped in Europe in his time. He built his own instruments and those illustrated here include quadrants, telescopes, micrometers, an improved Graham pendulum, and a camera obscura. Marinoni left all the instruments to the Empress Maria Theresa, to whom he dedicated this work. Some of Marinoni's astronomical observations appeared in journal articles, but many remain… Read More

Rome: Bonfadino; Facio, 1606. First edition. Hardcover. INITIATED THE TRANSITION FROM CLASSICAL GREEK GEOMETRY TO MODERN MATHEMATICS. First editions of these two rare and fundamental works on determining centres of gravity - these are fascinating copies with numerous contemporary annotations in an untouched contemporary binding. In these books Valerio transformed the Archimedean 'method of exhaustion' into a series of important theorems "so that for a whole class of convex curves and solids it was no longer necessary to establish results by special methods" (Baron, p. 101). Valerio was thus able to determine for the first time the centres of gravity of a number of 'Archimedean solids,' notably the hemispheroid and hyperboloid "which is undoubtedly one of the most difficult results in classical-Renaissance mathematics" (Napolitani & Saito, p. 108). These works were also important for initiating the transition from classical Greek geometry to modern mathematics (see below) - for example, according to… Read More

Venice: Evangelisto Deuchino, 1615. First edition. THE THEORY OF THE ARCHIMEDEAN SCREW - THE MACCLESFIELD COPY. First edition, the Macclesfield copy, of this very rare and important work of Renaissance engineering and mathematics, Guidobaldo's analysis of the theory and operation of Archimedes' most famous mechanical invention, the 'cochlea' or 'Archimedean screw'. This is a device used for raising water consisting of a helical tube wound around the outside of a cylinder; when the cylinder is inclined at an angle to the horizontal and the lower end of the tube is placed in water, rotating the cylinder causes water to be raised through the tube and ejected from the top. The Archimedean screw, and other variants of it, is still in use today; it is also used in reverse to generate hydraulic power (when water is poured into the tube at the top it causes the screw to rotate). The first to correctly explain the functioning of the Archimedean screw was Galileo: in Le meccaniche (written around 1600 but not… Read More

Basel: Johannes Oporinus, 1543. First edition. THE EPITOME OF VESALIUS' FABRICA - A GREAT RARITY . First edition, extremely rare, of the Epitome, an illustrated summary of Dehumani corporis fabrica. "The Epitome is without doubt one of the great contributions to the medical sciences, but it is a great deal more, being an exquisite piece of creative art with a perfect blend of format, typography and illustration" (Maley). "The work of Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) of Brussels constitutes one of the greatest treasures of Western civilization and culture ... [The] author has come to be ranked with Hippocrates, Galen, Harvey and Lister among the great physicians and discoverers in the history of medicine" (Saunders and O'Malley, p. 9). "De humani corporis fabrica may be the only masterwork in the history of medicine and science that was published simultaneously with a synopsis prepared by the author. Vesalius designed his Epitome to serve as a more affordable outline key to the encyclopedic and expensive… Read More

Zürich: Jacob Gesner, 1566. THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED BOOK ON FOSSILS. First edition and a fine copy in contemporary binding, very rare when complete, of this collection of eight treatises, the most important being De rerum fossilium [On fossil Objects], Gesner's last work, the earliest scientific attempt to classify the mineral kingdom, and the first illustrated book on fossils. "It presents a picture of the mineral kingdom as seen through the eyes of the greatest naturalist of his time" (Adams). Gesner's work contains numerous woodcuts after his own drawings, many of which are still preserved in Basel University Library. Gesner's book also famously contains the first printed illustration of a lead pencil (f. 104v). The other seven other works, by six authors, in this composite volume were all edited by Gesner. They include the first appearance of a catalogue of a mineral collection, that of Johannes Kentmann, "stated to have been the first man in Europe to make a collection of minerals." His catalogue… Read More

Leipzig: Leopold Voss, 1827. First edition. Hardcover. First edition, rare, especially in original boards as here, of von Baer's landmark paper, in which he announced the discovery of the mammalian ovum. The idea that all animals begin as eggs had been current at least since the seventeenth century, when William Harvey, in his De Generatione Animalium (1651), defended it against the false notions of spontaneous generation and the "preformation" of the foetus. Harvey's theory was strengthened in 1672, when Reinier de Graaf published his observations of the Graafian vesicle (which contains the ovum) and the process of ovulation; and in 1825, when Johann Evangelista Purkinje announced his discovery of the germinal vesicle in the embryo. However, the mammalian ovum itself remained unobserved until von Baer, in his experiments with dogs and other mammals, "plot[ted] the course of ovulation and fertilization from its later stages back to the ovary and there ... identif[ied] the minute cell which was the… Read More

Venice: Remondini, 1761. First edition. Hardcover. EVANS 98 - VIRTUALLY THE CREATION OF PATHELOGICAL ANATOMY. First edition, first issue, a very fine copy, of "one of the most important [works] in the history of medicine" (Garrison & Morton). "After Antonio Benivieni (1443-1502), Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the founder of pathological anatomy. His 'De sedibus', regarded as one of the most important books in the history of medicine, established a new era in medical research" (Norman). "Morgagni's contribution to the understanding of disease may well rank with the contributions of Vesalius in anatomy and Harvey in physiology" (Heirs of Hippocrates). "On the basis of direct examination and records of some 700 post mortem dissections, he advanced the procedure of basing diagnosis, prognosis and treatment on a detailed and comprehensive knowledge of the anatomical conditions of common diseases. In the above volumes, some of the cases are given with a precision and details hardly surpassed in… Read More

Como: Gottardo da Ponte for Agostino Gallo and Aloisio Pirovano, 1521. First edition. DIBNER 170: FIRST VERNACULAR EDITION - A SUPERB COPY. First edition in the vernacular, and a superb large copy untouched in its first binding, of one of the finest illustrated books of the Italian Renaissance. "This handbook on classical architecture is the only Roman work inspired by Greek architecture that has come down to us. It is therefore important as a prime source of many lost Greek writings on the subject and as a guide to archaeological research in Italy and Greece. By exemplifying the principles of classical architecture it became the fundamental architectural textbook for centuries. Vitruvius, who lived during the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus, and probably composed his book prior to 27 BC, was basically a theoretical rather than a practising architect and his only known work is the Basilica at Fano. The 10 books of 'On architecture' deal with principles of building in general, building materials,… Read More

Lyons: Jean de Tournes, 1552. First edition. THE FINEST EXTANT COPY OF THE 1552 VESALIUS. Second edition of the Fabrica, the Norman-Freilich copy in a superb fanfare binding for Pietro Duodo. "The work of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels constitutes one of the greatest treasures of Western civilization and culture. His masterpiece, the Humani Corporis Fabrica ... established with startling suddenness the beginning of modern observational science and research. [The] author has come to be ranked with Hippocrates, Galen, Harvey and Lister among the great physicians and discoverers in the history of medicine. However, his book is not only one of the most remarkable known to science, it is one of the most noble and magnificent in the history of printing. In it, illustration, text and typography blend to achieve an unsurpassed work of creative art; the embodiment of the new spirit of the Renaissance directed towards the future with new meaning" (Saunders and O'Malley, p. 9). "No other work of the 16th century… Read More

[Colophon:] Venice: Venturino Ruffinello for Curtio Navo and brothers, 1540. First edition. DIBNER 38: THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE TREATISE ON THE PYROTECHNIC ARTS. First edition, very rare in contemporary binding, of the "first comprehensive treatise on the 'pyrotechnic' or fire-using arts, including mining, metallurgy, applied chemistry, gunpowder, military arts and fireworks. Virtually all of Biringuccio's descriptions are original, based upon first-hand information garnered during his various employments as a mine and forge operator, director of the Sienese mint, cannon caster and fortification builder, director of building construction at the Duomo, and head of the papal foundry and munitions works. His account of the adaptation of metals to use by alloying, working and casting excels those of Ercker and Agricola, and his sections on glass, steel and the purification of salts by crystallization were copied almost verbatim in Agricola's De re metallica (1556). Biringuccio's work is important to art… Read More

Milan: Giovanni Battista Bidelli, 1627. First edition. THE FIRST ANATOMICAL ILLUSTRATIONS PRINTED IN COLOUR. First edition, a fine copy, of the first book with anatomical illustrations printed in colour. "In 1622, during a vivisection performed upon a dog that had just fed, Aselli (1581-1625) rediscovered the chylous or lacteal vessels, which Galen and Eristratus reported to have been documented by Hippocrates and Aristotle, but which had been overlooked by the anatomists of the sixteenth century. Aselli undertook a systematic study of the vessels in different species of animals, and established the cause and effect relationship of their turgidity with the intake of nourishment: Although he thus recognized their nature and function, he failed to trace them to the thoracic duct, instead mistakenly construing a connection with the liver, still considered the center of the venous system in the decade before publication of Harvey's De motu cordis. Aselli's error was rectified in the 1650s, when three… Read More

Milan: Lodovico Monza, 1678. First edition. CEVA'S THEOREM. First edition, rare, of Ceva's first and most important book. "Ceva's most important mathematical work is De lineis rectis (Milan, 1678), dedicated to Ferdinando Carlo. Chasles mentions it with praise in his Aperçu historique. In this work Ceva used the properties of the center of gravity of a system of points to obtain the relation of the segments which are produced by straight lines drawn through their intersections. He further utilized these properties in many theorems of the theory of transverse lines-for example, in placing at the points of intersection of the straight lines weights that are inversely proportional to the segments. From the relations of the weights, which are determined by the law of the lever, the relation of the segments is then derived. Ceva first applied his method, which is a combination of geometry and mechanics, to five basic figures, which he called 'elements.' He then used these in special problems, in which… Read More

London: Peter Short, 1600. First edition. Hardcover. EVANS 26 - THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC TREATISE ON ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM. First edition, an exceptionally fine copy, the nicest we have seen, of the first work of experimental physics published in England. Gilbert was chiefly concerned with magnetism; but as a digression he discusses in his second book the attractive effect of amber (electrum), and thus may be regarded as the founder of electrical science. He coined the terms 'electricity,' 'electric force' and 'electric attraction.' His 'versorium', a short needle balanced on a sharp point to enable it to move freely, is the first instrument designed for the study of electrical phenomena, serving both as an electroscope and electrometer. He contended that the earth was one great magnet; he distinguished magnetic mass from weight; and he worked on the application of terrestrial magnetism to navigation. Gilbert's book influenced Kepler, Bacon, Boyle, Newton and, in particular, Galileo, who used his… Read More

Augsburg: [Philipp Ulhart the Elder], 1558. First edition. THE DISCOVERY OF THE COMPASS - THE EARLIEST PRINTED BOOK ON THE MAGNET . First edition, of the greatest rarity, of "one of the most impressive scientific treatises of the Middle Ages ... the first extant treatise on the properties and applications of magnets" (DSB), containing the earliest description of the pivoted compass - this work was published more than four decades before William Gilbert's De magnete(1600), and written centuries earlier. The work also shows Peregrinus to have been a pioneer of the experimental method. This is a wonderful copy, in an exquisite strictly contemporary dated binding, bound with three rare 16thcentury works on astronomy and astrology (see below). Couched as a letter to a friend in Picardy, dated 8 August 1269, this is "considered the earliest known European work of experimental science, and the foundation of the study of electricity and magnetism" (Norman). "The thirteen chapters into which the letter is… Read More

London: Peter Short, 1600. First edition. Hardcover. EVANS 26 - THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC TREATISE ON ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM. First edition of "the first major English scientific treatise based on experimental methods of research. Gilbert was chiefly concerned with magnetism; but as a digression he discusses in his second book the attractive effect of amber (electrum), and thus may be regarded as the founder of electrical science. He coined the terms 'electricity,' 'electric force' and 'electric attraction.' His 'versorium', a short needle balanced on a sharp point to enable it to move freely, is the first instrument designed for the study of electrical phenomena, serving both as an electroscope and electrometer. He contended that the earth was one great magnet; he distinguished magnetic mass from weight; and he worked on the application of terrestrial magnetism to navigation. Gilbert's book influenced Kepler, Bacon, Boyle, Newton and, in particular, Galileo, who used his theories [in the Dialogo] to… Read More

Pesaro: Camillus Franceschinus, 1572. First edition. THE ONLY SURVIVING WORK OF ARISTARCHUS - THE FIRST TO PROPOSE A HELIOCENTRIC THEORY. First separate edition, rare, of Aristarchus' only surviving work, in which Aristarchus (310-230 BCE) demonstrated an ingenious method for calculating the sizes and distances of the Sun and the Moon. It was first published, with other texts, by Giorgio Valla at Venice in 1488, and again in 1498, but the present edition is more elaborate and includes the first printing of the additions by Pappus of Alexandria and those of the great Renaissance commentator Federico Commandino. "Aristarchus is celeated as being the first man to have propounded a heliocentric theory, eighteen centuries before Copernicus" (DSB). Aristarchus also said that the stars were distant suns that remained unmoved and that the size of the universe was much larger than his contemporaries believed. "Aristarchus' treatise on the sizes and distances is a purely mathematical exercise which has as… Read More

Florence: G. Cocchini, 1659. First edition. THE FIFTH BOOK OF APOLLONIUS' CONICS RECONSTRUCTED . First edition, and a fine copy, of Viviani's reconstruction of the fifth book of Apollonius of Perga's Conics, "one of the greatest scientific books of antiquity" (Stillwell), alongside those of Euclid and Archimedes. Of the eight books of the Conics only the first four were known in Latin until the mid-17th century. An Arabic manuscript of three of the missing four books came to light while Viviani was working on his reconstruction; this was published by Borelli two years later. The consonance between Viviani's reconstruction and Borelli's edition provoked great admiration. "Apollonius's theory of the conic sections (about 220 BC) is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of ancient mathematics and will remain one of the great classics of mathematical literature" (Neugebauer, p. 136). To understand its importance in modern science, we need only recall Kepler's use of the Conics in his Astronomia Nova, where… Read More

Bologna: Dominici Ferri, 1670. First edition. Hardcover. THE FIRST TREATISE ON CAPILLARITY. A fine copy of one of the most important early treatises on fluid mechanics. In this work Borelli "argues against positive levity, discusses the Torricellian experiment, takes up siphons, pumps, and the nature of fluidity, tries to understand the expansion of water while freezing, and deals with fermentation and other chemical processes" (DSB). "This work is important as the first treatise on capillarity, and for containing important investigations on the action of capillary tubes, in which the author, inter alia, formulates the law that the height of the ascent of liquids in capillary tubes is inversely proportional to their diameters. His investigations also led him to the conclusion that the phenomenon of capillarity is independent of the pressure of air" (Zeitlinger in Sotheran, First supplement, 3060). "[De motionibus naturalibus] was well known among Borelli's contemporaries and is quoted by Varignon in… Read More

Paris: Ludovicus de Hequeville, 1642. First edition. THE FIRST PUBLISHED STATEMENT OF THE PRINCIPLE OF INERTIA. First edition, very rare, of this important work, which "contains the first precise published formulation of the principle of inertia" (Jones, p. 63). "Gassendi (1592-1655) did indeed have a deep understanding of Galileo's science and contributed in a crucial way to its dissemination. In his De motu impresso a motore translato (1642) and in the Epistolae de proportione qua gravia decidentia accelerantur (1646), Gassendi integrated in an interesting and original way the content of the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems with that of the Two New Sciences, thereby bringing to light the close connection between Galileo's endorsement of the Copernican cosmology and his new science of motion" (Palmerino, p. 267). "On one point - and it is an important one - [Gassendi] was more successful than Galileo: he correctly stated the principle of inertia. The experiment of the De motu impresso… Read More

Basel: Hieronymus Froben, 1546. First edition. Hardcover. THE FIRST HANDBOOK OF MODERN SYSTEMATIC MINERALOGY. An exceptionally fine copy, completely untouched in its original binding, of 'the first handbook of modern systematic mineralogy' (Grolier/Horblit 2a). "Georgius Agricola (latinized from the German 'Georg Bauer') became interested in the theoretical and practical aspects of mining, metallurgy and geology after being appointed town doctor of Joachimsthal, a silver-mining community on the east side of the Erzgebirge mountains in what is now Czechoslovakia. He published his first work on mining, Bermannns sive de re metallica dialogus, in 1530, and followed it sixteen years later with this collection of five treatises on geology and metallurgy, including the first work on physical geology ("De ortu & causis subterraneorum"); the first systematic mineralogy ("De natura fossilium"); a work on subterranean waters and gases ("De natura eorum quae effluunt ex terra"); a treatise on references to… Read More