Rare books from Rootenberg Rare Books & Manuscripts

Leipzig: Deuticke, 1905. FIRST EDITION. Original printed wrappers preserved in a clamshell box.. An excellent copy with the back strip redone. First edition of the work which Freud himself considered second in importance only to his Die Traumdeutung. Freud introduces here his epochal theory of infantile sexuality, which linked the forces motivating the development of body and mind from earliest infancy, a contribution of utmost value. Infantile sexuality was a fact known, Freud said, to every nursemaid, yet the Three essays provoked (and still provokes) considerable controversy in both scientific and popular sectors. The importance of the Three essays to Freud is underscored by the fact that it was the only book besides The interpretation of dreams that he submitted to constant revision, with six editions published in his lifetime.

With 258 lithographs by Lasteyrie after drawings by Feillet and Haincelin (22 folding, some coloured). Contemporary full calf, gilt border on upper and lower covers, gilt spines; some browning and foxing. Bookplates and small release stamps of the Library of Congress; a very good set with ownership signature, possibly of A[ristide] Monteiro, dated Nov. 1871, with a few pages in manuscript laid in.
First edition of one of the most important anatomical atlases published in the nineteenth century. The four volumes include the sections on osteology, myology, neurology and angiology. The plates were published in sections over many years, and the lithographs were printed by de Lasteyrie and Engelman, pioneers of the development of lithographic art in France. A fifth volume was published in 1831.
Cloquet (1790-1883), a French physician and surgeon, was clinical professor of surgery at the Faculté de Médecine at Paris. He is famous not only for this anatomical atlas, but also for his research resulting in… Read More

Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep; Samuel Augustus Mitchell, 1828. FIRST EDITIONS. I. Contemporary half red roan over marbled boards, gilt spine; some wear to extremities, offsetting from plates. Ex-libris David Bixler and Lee Lawrence Stopple, with their bookplates. II. Contemporary half red roan over marbled boards, gilt spine; some wear to extremities, offsetting from plates. Ex-libris David Bixler and Lee Lawrence Stopple, with their bookplates. I. First edition of "the first truly great American ornithology . . . absolutely basic as a collector's item" (Bennett). Wilson's Ornithology was an artistic, scientific, and commercial undertaking of magisterial proportions. His plates depict 320 figures of 262 species, including 39 that were entirely new and 23 that were for the first time described sufficiently to distinguish them from European species with which they had been confused. II. First edition with the rare first issue of Volume 1. The work was subsequently purchased by Carey, Lea, and… Read More

Amsterdam: Sumptibus Societatis, 1714. FIRST AMSTERDAM EDITION. With folding engraved plate of cometary orbit facing p. 465, numerous woodcut diagrams in the text. Title printed in red and black with an engraved device. Contemporary vellum over boards; a few wormholes in the spine, preliminary and endleaves, otherwise a very nice copy.

New York, 1855. FIRST EDITION, First issue. Half morocco on marbled boards with original front cover bound inside (at the back).

Rauenstein, Germany: Johann Georg Greiner, 1850. Blue and white swiebelmotief (Germany art-deco) decorative style for which this company was known. With the Greiner & Sons mark in blue underglaze. All parts complete and in magnificent condition. The inhaler was designed to heat water and other essences such as camphor for nasal and oral inhalation. It is featured in the book Die Samlung of B. Olonetzky." A similar item is in the Swiss Pharmaceutical Museum in Basel, Switzerland.In 1739 Johann Georg Greiner obtained a concession from the Duke Georg of Saxony-Meiningen to open a porcelain factory, together with his son. They produced many items of decorative porcelain, but only very few medical items. We have not found any copies of this asthma inhaler in our researches.

Four volumes (3 and an appendix). 8vo. Collation complete (Freeman, 10, pp. 38-39). With 44 lithographic plates, 4 charts and maps inserted, 8 charts and maps loose in cover pockets, text woodcuts. Original cloth, skillfully rebacked with original spines laid down; a superb set with an occasional waterstain. Preserved in a cloth box. From the library of Henry William Poor (1844-1915), railroad magnet and financial adviser (Standard's partner). This copy was purchased from Poor by Henry Huntington.
First edition, first issue, recording the historic voyage of the Beagle, including Darwin's Journal which forms the third volume of the Narrative. This set is of great rarity; it contains Darwin's first published book, the beginning of a whole new conception of the origin and evolution of the various species of life on earth.
Captain Robert Fitzroy (1805-1865) commanded the five-year expedition, during which time the Beagle visited Brazil, Argentina, Tierra del Fuego, Chili, Peru, the Galapagos Islands,… Read More

Venice: Bariletto, 1561. FIRST EDITION. Each part with separate title. Woodcut printer's device of "Prudence" with the motto Prudentia negotium non fortuna ducat on each title and full-page on verso of last leaf of each part, woodcuts historiated initials, text woodcut illustration of an alchemical instrument (sigilla hermetis), contemporary manuscripts notes. Contemporary vellum, a bit worn, with faint notes on covers; some browning and minor staining. Manuscript note on second title that suggests that Rossello is an alias for D. Panizza of Venice (?). Also of interest is the different spelling of Venice, "Venegia" on the first title and "Venetia" on the second. RENAISSANCE BOOK OF SECRETS - - GENDER OF WRITER QUESTIONED. First edition, extremely rare, of this important and enigmatic treatise of alchemical, pharmaceutical and herbal formulas containing almost every remedy and new mode of therapy for illness as well as the ability to remain in good health. Among the topics described are recipes for… Read More

London: Chapman & Hall, 1870. FIRST EDITION. Title and contents at back of Volume VI. Complete with all publisher's advertisements. With 12 illustrations and portrait after S.L. Fields. Includes "Price Eighteenpence" slip pasted over the one shilling price on the front wrapper of Volume VI. Bound in original blue-green wrappers with very light wear to some of the edges. Preserved in a green clamshell box and matching slipcover; an excellent copy in wonderful condition.

A group of 35 zoo guides showcasing the animals and environments of various zoos around the world over the past century. It is quite amazing to see the evolution of the zoo, especially the balance between protection and care of its animals on the one hand and the interests of the (paying) public over the years. A wonderful collection.

(A3 bound backwards). Title page, the 2 leaves of the engraved map, and the final 2 leaves in excellent facsimile. Additional title page from a later edition bound in behind the facsimile. Gothic and Roman types, text double column with 59 lines per column and printed within woodcut rule-border, calendar and almanac printed in red and black. General title-page within engraved border by Christian Boel and section title for the New Testament dated 1611 within woodcut border. Full-sheet engraved map of the Holy Land by John Speed after Dr John More, 17 leaves of genealogical tables incorporating woodcut illustrations of Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel and other Biblical subjects, numerous woodcut head- and tail-pieces, historiated and ornamental initials. Contemporary calf boards, rebacked, spine labels; some staining, a few leaves with small holes or edges torn away, but generally a very good copy. With a notation on the paste-down that the book was "received of William Biggs for the sum of… Read More

London: Wheldon Wesley, 1945. FIRST EDITION. With 40 color plates from drawings by Henrik Grönvold (1 is a duplicate) and 17 sepia photogravures. Later green buckram with gilt lettering on spine. An excellent and very clean copy of this beautiful book from the library of Dr. James M. Dolan Jr., director of collections for the San Diego Zoological Society, with his blind-stamp. First edition of this preeminent work, limited to 412 copies, the only publication to document completely the diurnal birds of prey. A systematic treatment of every species and sub-species, this treatise provides the classification, characteristics, and distribution of birds such as vultures, condors, buzzards, hawks, eagles, and falcons, to name a few. The publication of this work was delayed for some time by the death of the author in 1926, after he had completed the first six parts. It was later taken up and finished by the esteemed ornithologist Alexander Wetmore (1886-1978), who served as Assistant Secretary of the… Read More

London: Groombridge and Sons, 1864. FIRST EDITION. With 238 beautiful hand-colored wood-engravings. Original blind-stamped cloth, covers with illustration and title in gilt, rebacked, new endpapers; all tissue guards present, minor foxing, overall an excellent uncut and partially unopened set with a gift inscription dated May 26, 1943 on fly-leaf of Volume 1 and a second gift inscription dated April 19, 194? (from Celine McDade to Ben Coleman) on the fly-leaf of Volume 3. First edition, extensively illustrated with 238 beautiful hand-colored wood-engravings of continental European birds and eggs. "This admirable descriptive treatise . . . furnishes the synonymy, generic characters, distribution, and habits of those birds of Europe seen outside the British Isles" (Wood). Originally issued in 59 parts, this work was bound up with title pages varying in dates of imprint, thereby causing "considerable confusion in the dates of publication as recorded for this work" (Zimmer). This set has an early range… Read More

Folio. pp. 477-551, [1], plus 6 pages consisting of the title page to Volume XXI of the Transactions (London, 1916-1936), the contents to Volume XXI, and an alphabetical list of the contributors. With 16 color plates after Frohawk and 7 black & white photographic plates. Original printed front wrappers; an excellent copy.
First printing, the complete part 6 of Volume XXI, of this beautiful monograph on the tree kangaroo, with fine colored plates after Frohawk. This was the first comprehensive taxonomy of the species, and features fourteen species from New Guinea and surrounding islands, as well as Lumholtz's Tree-Kangaroo and Bennett's Tree-Kangaroo, both from northern Queensland. The exquisite plates, apparently none of which were based upon live specimens, were executed by the well-known natural history artist Frederick William Frohawk. Dendrolagus includes the tree-kangaroo or kapul, which are like Wallabys marsupials, adapted for arboreal locomotion. Most tree-kangaroos… Read More

Paris: A. Lévy, 1864. FIRST EDITION. With 53 full-page architectural chromolithograph plates (misnumbered). Contemporary marbled paper over boards; some browning and spotting but generally a very good copy.