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No binding. Etat : Near fine. First. "THE MOST DISTINGUISHED OF ALL PRINTS OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA" [London:] Engraved by G. Vandergucht, Sep.br 1.st 1754. First state ("Skull" for "Scull" twice on sheet 3). Four sheets (ca. 29 1/2" x 23 1/2" each). Framed floating. An old transverse crease about 9" below the top edge, reinforced verso. Some small repairs to the sky. Tanning at the corners from an early mount. With good upper and lower margins throughout; sheets 1-3 trimmed to right-hand plate-mark; sheet 4 trimmed to left-hand plate-mark. Occasional very mild patches of tanning. An extraordinary set. From its founding in 1680 between the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, Philadelphia was strategically poised to be a hub of trade. By the mid-XVIIIc it had become the major Atlantic port, fueling a golden age of growth and eminence in the arts and sciences -- the Athens of America. The Penn family had long dominated the colony, and Thomas Penn, the founder's son, commissioned a grand view of the city in 1750 to commemorate and to enhance its stature (the Penn arms at the lower left corner of the third plate underscore their dominance). George Heap undertook the project; he had been Philadelphia's coroner. The ambition of the project matched the city's stature: it was the grandest illustrated view of an American city that had ever been attempted. Nicholas Scull (perhaps an uncle by marriage) superintended the work, and Heap began advertising for subscribers (20 shillings, 10 payable in advance) and with that money set sail for England (there being no means to print it in Philadelphia) with his drawings. Heap got only as far as Delaware, and died on-board; he was buried in Philadelphia on Boxing Day 1752. Thereafter Scull shepherded the vast work through the engraving and publishing process. The Dutch engraver Gerard Vandergucht was commissioned to cut the plates, which finally emerged in June of 1754 (the King hung it in his own apartments). Wainright begins his article on the prospect by hailing it as "the most distinguished of all prints of the city of Philadelphia in terms of age, rarity, and historic importance." In 1755 the view was shrunk by about two-thirds, and placed above a plan of the city and a view of the state house and the batter, engraved by Thomas Jefferys. This is far more common; of the Heap-Scull-Vandergucht view we have located only six copies in institutional collections: the American Philosophical Society (.748:P53:1754), Haverford College, Colonial Williamsburg, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (second state), Independence National Historic Park and the New York Public Library (Stokes Collection, second state). Deák I:99 (second state). See Wainright, Nicholas B. "Scull and Heap's East Prospect of Philadelphia" in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 73, no. 1 (January 1949) 16-25.

From the library of President George Washington, with his bold signature on the half-title. The volume was presented to Washington, accompanied by a letter dated 15 July 1795, by the English physician Dr John Coakley Lettsom (1744 1815), and remained in his library until his death. Lettsom's letter, no longer present, mentions his American sympathies and shows that he is aware of Washington's lifelong devotion to the improvement of American agriculture: "Having been born an American, and early imbibed principles of liberty as established on that continent, I have probably received a stronger disposition, to promote, its prosperity, and particularly its agriculture, and the knowledge of its natural history and mineralogy." Along with the book, Lettsom enclosed some rhubarb seeds for Washington's use. Although they never met, the President and Lettsom had a mutual friend in William Thornton (1759 1828), best known in American history as the architect of the Capitol building. Thornton had moved to the new federal capital the year before this presentation, when President Washington appointed him one of the fledgling city's commissioners. Lettsom and Thornton were born in what is now the British Virgin Islands. Both were Quakers appalled by slavery, and both studied medicine. Thornton revered Lettsom as his mentor, but while Lettsom set up a medical practice in London and built a distinguished career there, Thornton became an American citizen. When Thornton prepared to go to America in 1784, it was Lettsom who wrote an introductory letter to Benjamin Franklin. Among Lettsom's many philanthropic achievements in London was assisting William Hawes in the foundation of the Royal Humane Society, of which Thornton was also a member. The Society's aim was to resuscitate anyone in a state of "suspended animation", such as the near-drowned or attempted suicides. The Society promoted novel resuscitative techniques, such as CPR and electric stimulation. They offered rewards to those who successfully resuscitated persons, organized rapid response teams to render first aid, and published reports on successful cases. The present volume documents hundreds of such cases and includes essays and letters from RHS members. The work of the RHS was addressing a widespread, potent fear of premature burial, a fear shared by George Washington. Shortly before he died in December 1799, he requested his secretary, Tobias Lear, to "have me decently buried; and do not let my body be put into the Vault in less than three days after I am dead". As he lay dying, a family member invited Thornton to Mount Vernon to see if he could use his medical training to help. Thornton was grief stricken to find that he had arrived too late, finding his hero's body frozen stiff. Remembering the experimental techniques of the RHS, Thornton proposed to reanimate Washington, first by thawing him in cool water, then gradually warming him, giving him a tracheotomy and a transfusion of lamb's blood. To Thornton's consternation, Washington's family refused to sanction the attempt. George Washington's Mount Vernon library comprised only about 900 books, with pamphlets and other publications taking it to a total of more than 1,200 titles. Books from Mount Vernon command notably high prices in commerce. On 22 June 2012 at Christie's New York, Washington's annotated copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights set a then world auction record for an American book or historical document of $9,826,500. His copy of The Federalist presented by two of the authors and with his signature and bookplate in each volume was sold at auction at Sotheby's New York in 1990 for $1,430,000. Even odd volumes bring substantial prices: for example, the first volume only of Lesage's Gil Blas, $126,000 in 2021, or a mixed lot of volumes from Mount Vernon, $1,205,000 in 2013, both at Sotheby's New York. The heir to George Washington's library was one of his nephews, Bushrod Washington (1762 1829). After Bushrod Washington's death, what remained of the original Mount Vernon library and papers passed to Bushrod's two nephews, George Corbin Washington and John Augustine Washington II. George Corbin Washington sold his portion in two tranches, which eventually found their way to the Library of Congress and the Boston Athenaeum. This book was in the other half, inherited by John Augustine Washington II, which was sold at auction on 28 November 1876 by Thomas Birch's Sons in Philadelphia. It was purchased by John R. Baker, one of the sale's largest buyers. Baker's collection was resold 11 12 February 1891, again at Birch's Sons, where it was purchased by the American philanthropist Phoebe Apperson Hearst, wife of Senator George Hearst, and mother of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. The book was then either sold by Phoebe before her death in 1919 or bequeathed to her son William, although it does not appear in the catalogue for the sale of his library at Sotheby's in 1963. It turns up again in 1972 at Charles Hamilton Galleries in New York and has remained in private hands until this year. Listed in the official inventory of Washington's personal property at Mount Vernon taken by appraisers upon his death (see p. 426 in The Estate of George Washington, Deceased, Eugene Ernst Prussing, 1927); Griffin, Catalogue of the Washington Collection, 554. Octavo (200 x 127 mm). Contemporary red straight-grain morocco, presumably for presentation, spine lettered in gilt, gilt rules, gilt rope-roll to turn-ins, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Housed in a red quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. Engraved portrait of George III and 2 engraved plates. Binding rubbed, spine with small scuffs, internally clean, very good condition.

First complete edition of "the most important scientific book of eighteenth-century America" (PMM), inscribed by Benjamin Franklin to prominent Pennsylvania Quaker and merchant Thomas Livezey, Jr. Quarto, bound in full contemporary calf with elaborate gilt tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, morocco spine label lettered in gilt, gilt turn-ins. Illustrated with 7 copper-engraved plates, 2 of which are folding. Presentation copy, inscribed by Benjamin Franklin on the front free endpaper, â To Mr. Livesy [sic] From his obliged Friend & humble Servant The Author.â With Thomas Livezey's ownership signature to the second free endpaper, "Thomas Livezey Junior 1810." The recipient, Thomas Livezey Jr. (1723-1790), was a member of the fourth generation of the prominent Pennsylvania Quaker Livezey family. His ancestor, Thomas Livezey, the elder (1627-1691), was among the earliest settlers of Pennsylvania; his land was a portion of William Penn's Pennsylvania colony and was granted to him directly by Penn in an early patent. Thomas Livezey Jr. established one of the largest ï our mills in colonial British North America, the Livezey Mill, and rose to prominence as one of the major suppliers of high quality ï our to the world during that era. Situated on Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia, the Livezey Mill was a major colonial operation, provided flour both domestically and overseas, and fed numerous armies throughout the eighteenth century including those fighting on both sides of the American Revolution. The mill was in continued operation for more than one hundred twenty-ï ve years until roughly 1874. Livezey was elected to the colony of Pennsylvania's legislative body, the Pennsylvania Assembly, in 1765. BenjamÃn Franklin had been elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly 14 years earlier in 1751 and in 1764 (one year prior to Livezey's appointment), Franklin was sent to London by the Pennsylvania Assembly as a colonial agent to protest against the political influence of the Penn family, with whom the assembly was becoming increasingly frustrated. He remained there for five years, striving to end the Penn family's prerogative to overturn legislation from the elected Assembly and their exemption from paying taxes on their land. His lack of influential allies in Whitehall led to the failure of this mission. Franklin and Livezey were warm acquaintances, despite their differences. In late 1767, Livezey sent a case of wine he had made from wild grapes to Franklin in London, writing, â I heartely wish it may arive Safe, and warm the hearts of Every one who tastes it, with a Love for America. And would it Contribute towards bringing about a Change of Government but one month Sooner, I would Gladly Send all I have.â In early 1768, Franklin thanked Livezey in a letter, stating that he â shall apply this parcel as I did the last towards winning the hearts of the Friends of our Country, and wellwishers to the Change of its Government.â PMM 199; Grolier 100 American Books 10; Dibner Heralds of Science 57. Presentation copies of this first collected edition are scarce. This is the only presentation copy to a known recipient to appear on the market over the course of the past century. In very good condition. Housed in custom three quarter morocco clamshell box. "â Franklinâ s most important scientific publication,â Experiments and Observations contains detailed accounts of the founding fatherâ s crucial kite and key experiment, his work with Leiden jars, lightning rods and charged clouds (Norman 830). â The most dramatic result of Franklinâ s researches was the proof that lightning is really an electrical phenomenon. Others had made such a suggestion before himâ " even Newton himselfâ " but it was he who provided the experimental proofâ (PMM). â The lightning experiments caused Franklinâ s name to become known throughout Europe to the public at large and not merely to men of science. Joseph Priestley, in his History of Electricity, characterized the experimental discovery that the lightning discharge is an electrical phenomenon as â the greatest, perhaps, since the time of Isaac Newtonâ ¦ Franklinâ s achievementâ ¦ marked the coming of age of electrical science and the full acceptance of the new field of specializationâ (DSB).

Hardcover. Etat : Very Good. Five volumes. Folio (20 7/8" x 14 1/8"). Decorative stenciled title-page "Atlas Universalis" in each volume, printed in red and black, and dated 1760, with mss index on verso, vignette title-page for "Grosser Atlas uber die gantze Welt," additional hand-coloured engraved allegorical title-page for "Atlas Novus", fine uncoloured engraved portrait of Homann by Winter, 129 double-page and one full-page town plans, and 320 double-page maps and plates, one double-page leaf with four vignette maps of the continents, by Homann, Lotter, and de Fer, all with original hand-color in full or in part, and with slightly later hand-colour in outline, the majority laid down in full or part at the time of publication, extra-illustrated with double-page world maps by Bellin, 1748 and Lotter, 1778, and four vignette maps of Gibraltar laid-down on the verso of the town plan (small repair to lower corner of map of France, map of Burgundy with small burn affecting the image). Contemporary full mottled calf, the spines gilt in 9 compartments, red morocco lettering-piece in one, gilt-lettered in two (some minor wear to corners, a bit rubbed). With the ink signature "Exchaquet" in an early hand at the head of the title-page in volume one, and the stenciled initials of "F.P.S." at the foot of each title-page. A composite atlas, with 130 town plans and 27 maps and plans of American cities (vol. V). The maps of America importantly include de Fer's map of California dated 1722, Lotter's map of the British colonies dated 1777, as well as his beautiful map of Philadelphia (a complete list is available upon request). The first volume begins with Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr's impressions of Homann's celestial charts as "Atlas Novus Coelestis", Nuremberg: Homann, 1742, with 36 fine engraved double-page maps and plates with original hand-colour in part. The volume continues with maps of Portugal, Spain, France, Great Britain and Belgium and includes magnificent town plans of Lisbon, Madrid, Gibraltar, Barcelona, Paris, Strasbourg, London, Amsterdam, the Hague, Rotterdam, Brussels, D'Anvers, Maastricht, and Luxembourg. Volumes II and III contains the German Empire, including Austria, Bavaria, the old provinces of Franconie and, Souabe, and the Rhine, Westphalia, Saxony, and Switzerland and includes amongst others the town plans of Vienna, Regensburg, Munich, Salzburg, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Stuttgart, Ulm, Frankfurt, Dresden, Leipzig, Hanover, and Hamburg. Volume IV has maps of Italy, Hungary, Bohemia, Silesia (11 double-pages of views), and Poland, and includes town plans of Turin, Milan, Mantua, Parma, Rome, Florence, Venice, Genoa, Naples, Belgrade, Prague, Danzig, Berlin, and Stettin. Volume V has maps of Scandinavia, Russia, Greece, Asia, Africa, and America, and includes town plans of Bratislava, Stockholm, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, Constantinople, and the cities of Batavia, Jerusalem, Bengal, Oran, Algiers, Porto Belo, Lotter's Plan of Philadelphia, maps of Halifax and Quebec. Homann is arguably the most important figure in German cartographical history. This atlas, is a testament to the creativity and cartographical skill that earned Homann such prestige within European map-making circles. Homann's prolific map and atlas production made an invaluable contribution to German regional cartography and had a profound impact on European map publishing in the eighteenth century. Founded in the year 1702, Homann's printing house became so successful that it was credited with the revival of the German printing industry, after what had been a long period of domination by the Dutch. Homann became a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1707, and shortly after publishing this edition of the atlas, Homann in 1715 was appointed Geographer to the Emperor. The set was owned by Charles-François Exchaquet, the Swiss cartographer and mapmaker, distinguished for his work in the Alps generally and Mont-Blanc in particular.

No Binding. Etat : Very Good. FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN. (1706-1790). Founding Father of the United States, author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, statesman, and diplomat. Highly Important Autograph Letter Signed, ''Your most obedt humble Servant, B. Franklin''. To Thomas Walpole (1727-1803). One full page, quarto, with integral address-leaf (paper softened and somewhat soiled by former damp-exposure), bearing a fine red-wax impression of Franklin s seal. Paris, 11 December 1777. FRANKLIN BEMOANS THE FAILURE OF LORD CHATHAM S EFFORTS TO FIND A BASIS OF CONCILIATION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES AND TO BRING TO AN END THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. Franklin had been sent to Paris as commissioner for the United States in December 1776, following the Declaration of Independence, which he had helped to draft. The following year he was confirmed as the American plenipotentiary to France. The recipient, Thomas Walpole, was the son of Horatio, first baron Walpole of Wolterton, and the nephew of Horace Walpole (the wit and man of letters) and a prominent lawyer in London. He had been heavily involved, with Franklin, in the affairs of the Grand Ohio Company, which hoped to purchase and develop a large tract of land west of present day Virginia (Benjamin Franklin Papers, vol. 25, page 272 ). Dr. Franklin writes: I ought long since to have acknowledg d [sic] the Receipt of the Bills you sent me, in full Discharge of the Balance of our Account. For which I thank you. I am sorry Lord Chatham s Motion for a Cessation of Arms, was not agreed to. Every thing seems to be rejected by your mad Politicians that would lead to Healing the Breach; and every thing done that can tend to make it everlasting. Not being sure that we remember perfectly Mr. Wharton s Direction, we beg leave to send some American Newspapers to him under your Cover. From a Sketch Dr. B. had which was drawn by your ingenious and valuable Son, they have made here Medallions in terre cuit. [terra-cotta] A Dozen have been presented to me, and I think he has a Right to one of them. Please to deliver it to him with my Compliments [Postscript] My sincere Respects if you please to your noble Friends, Lords Chatham and Cambden [sic]. Blessed are the Peacemakers. Your most obedient humble servant, B. Franklin''. If you ve read the content, then you know why you should own this letter from our most remarkable and versatile Founding Father. There are certainly very few letters to match or compete with the content or importance of this Franklin! Acquisition of same, is certain to become a cornerstone of any important collection of: Signers, Founding Fathers, Americana or Science. Simply: One of our Best of the Best .

4to. 4 vols. (10), 20 pp. (10), 40 pp. (14), 33 pp. (12), 19 pp. With 2 watercoloured and 4 coloured engraved coats of arms, 1 coloured engraved dedication plate, 183 (instead of 186) plates of birds, 15 of which in watercolour and 168 on splendidly illuminated engraved plates, partly heightened in gold, silver and copper, with lavish watercolour borders. Contemporary glazed red morocco binding with double gilt engraved spine labels, splendid floral spine and cover gilding. Vols. 4-6 with coloured armorial supralibros to upper covers. Calico endpapers, all edges gilt. Unique copy of one of the rarest works of zoological book illustration, from the library of the banker, art collector, and patron Moritz von Fries (1777-1826), for whom the set was in all likelihood specially produced. Around 1800, Fries was considered without doubt the richest man in the Habsburg monarchy. The splendid engraved plates were elaborately illuminated, each with rich botanical and architectural decoration extending even beyond the engraved matter. In addition, the copy at hand was enhanced by 15 original watercolours (all in vols. 5 and 6), whereas the regular copies include merely prints. The only verifiable complete copies, in the Austrian National Library (ÖNB) and the Bavarian State Library (BSB), show less splendid decoration, with only three watercolours each in the respective volumes and no watercolour borders whatsoever. The Fideicommissum collection in the ÖNB holds 5 illuminated volumes of Spalowsky's work, with volume 5 containing the highest traceable number of watercolours among all copies available for comparison. As the final volume is lacking in the Fideicommissum collection, the eight watercolours and splendid framings of vol. 6 of Fries's copy are probably unique. - Since 1932, the only copies traceable at auction were those at Ketterer, 2017 (vols. 1-4) and Christie's, 2012 (vols. 1-3). The volumes sold in 2017, along with the ones at the ÖNB and BSB, belong to the normal edition without the watercolour embellishment and the artist's colouring, while the copy sold at Christie's would seem to have been at least comparable to Fries's in respect to its décor. However, neither the Christie's copy nor any of the others discussed above include any original watercolours, which are to be found in that of Fries's alone. - The splendid avian illustrations surrounded by landscape motifs and architectural decoration are labelled in red ink, identifying the animals' German and scientific names. The labelling is sometimes overpainted, suggesting that the decision to extend the watercolour décor was made at a later stage. The engravings were produced by five artists, among which were Benedikt Piringer and Sámuel Czetter. In vol. 5 of the Fideicommissum copy, Piringer signed one of the watercolours, proving that he provided templates for the engravers and contributed to the colouring. - Spalowsky's "Naturgeschichte der Vögel" was planned as part of a large natural history publication. In a subscription announcement from 1791 the surgeon and army physician advertised the plates showing species "previously not illustrated by any author" and promises the vivid, realistic colour "of the originals". A large proportion of the species depicted, including four falcons, originate from Asia, mostly from India and China, and are not to be found in Brisson's or Buffon's works. The present copy constitutes a special edition of the most expensive version of decoration, priced at 36 guilders - 15 times the cost of the plainest version. The eventual failure of this ambitious project was undoubtedly due not alone to the author's untimely death in 1797, although Spalowsky did succeed in wooing several prominent dedicatees for his elaborate publication. The "Naturgeschichte der Vögel" is dedicated to Alois I Joseph von Liechtenstein and Caroline von Manderscheid-Blankenheim (vol. 1), Beethoven's patron Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz and Caroline Theresa von Schwarzenberg (vol. 4), Wenzel count Paar and Maria Antonia Princess Liechtenstein (vol. 5), as well as Anton Theodor von Colloredo-Waldsee-Mels, archbishop of Olmütz (vol. 6). - Provenance: 1) Maurice count Fries, with his library stamps, "EX BIBL(iotheca) MAVR(icii) COM(es) FRIES" to title-page (verso), now obscured by monogrammed red seals ("MF"); 2) Dorotheum sale, 12 Feb. 1932, lot 44, 75 ATS (description mounted to lower flyleaf of vol. 6); 3) Austrian private collection; 4) Dorotheum sale, 18 Dec. 2019, lot 222, not mentioning the Fries provenance or the 15 watercolours. - Marginal flaw to armorial supralibros of vol. 5. Lacks 3 plates (plate 2 in vol. 1, plates 6 and 39 in vol. 5). Index and plate 42 in vol. 4 have small flaws. Plate 31 in vol. 1, plate 43 in vol. 4, and plate 44, as well as one armorial engraving in vol. 5 slightly smudged. - Nissen, IVB 888. Schlenker 345.1. Wurzbach XXXVI.56. Sitwell/Buchanan p. 143. Not in Nissen, ZBI. Not in Anker.

Hardcover. Etat : Near Fine. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. Folio (22 3/8" x 15 1/4"). Text in English and French. Folding engraved map with original hand-colour. 220 hand-colored engraved plates after Catesby. Modern red calf; modern red cloth cases. Third edition. In 1712, the English-born artist and naturalist Mark Catesby embarked on a series of expeditions to the southern colonies of British North America. Catesby was enthralled by the wildlife of the New World, and he spent years traveling by foot through parts of present-day Virginia, Georgia, the Carolinas and the Bahamas. Over the course of his journeys, he encountered and documented uncountable varieties of animal and plant life that were entirely unknown to Europeans. His drawings and written observations were the raw material for an unprecedented project: a scientific account of previously uninvestigated wildlife, with illustrations taken from life. Catesby initially encountered some difficulty in interesting sponsors in his monumental Natural History. Determined nonetheless to persevere in his project, and also wishing to maintain control over the translation of his drawings into print, the artist learned to engrave copper plates and set out to complete the Natural History himself. He produced all but two of the plates, and painted the impressions himself to further insure their fidelity to his models. The result was the most sweeping, complete and unique natural history study ever done. Despite Catesby's initial difficulties in finding subscribers, his striking finished product received widespread acclaim. Cromwell Mortimer, Secretary of the Royal Society, declared the publication to be "the most magnificent work I know since the Art of printing has been discovered." Catesby's charming, distinctive style sets his work apart from all artists who later followed his example. The overt simplicity of his compositions is deceiving; the artist arranged each of his images with great care, often combining seemingly incongruous elements to create the most artful scene possible. A sense of Catesby's enthusiasm for his subjects is palpable in his engravings. Very few artists were so personally involved in the completion of a published work, and Catesby's images convey what the artist must have experienced in America: the colors and varieties of the exotic species of birds, fish, animals, insects and plants of the New World. Widely considered the great achievement of 18th-century art and science, Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands has lost none of its power to delight in the 250 years since its publication. This remarkable study of American plants and animals is a monument to Catesby's intelligence, scientific devotion and love of nature. The Natural History has provided an important model for ornithologists and scientists, including John James Audubon, who followed in Catesby's footsteps a century later. Catalogued by Kate Hunter.

Hardcover. Etat : Near fine. Second. THE FRANK S. STREETER COPY OF "ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MAPS PUBLISHED IN AMERICA BEFORE INDEPENDENCE". Second edition of the text, with the second state of the map. Philadelphia: Printed by B. Franklin, and D. Hall. Quarto (9 3/16" x 6 15/16", 234mm x 176mm). [Full collation available.] With a folding engraved map. Bound in modern crushed red morocco with a blind fillet border. On the spine, five raised bands. Title and author gilt to the second panel, date gilt to the tail. Presented in a blue cloth four-fold box. A little soiling to the title-page. Trimmed at the lower edge, just touching the catch-word on p. 17. A few graphite marginalia. Some little tears at the folds, and a stub-tear to the map, which is otherwise a rich impression. Bookplate of Frank S. Streeter to the front paste-down. Lewis Evans (ca. 1700-1756) was a Welsh geographer, who emigrated to North America in the 1730's, spending a considerable portion of his life working in Philadelphia and traveling throughout the Middle Colonies (viz. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware). He had trained as a surveyor and became friends with Benjamin Franklin in 1736 after buying a book from him; it was Franklin who encouraged him to pursue his scientific and geographic interests and explore the East coast. Accompanied by Conrad Weiser, who had extensive connections with Native Americans in the region, and the botanist John Bartram, Evans collected material for a detailed map of New York, New Jersey and Delaware, which, later modified to include Pennsylvania, was published in 1749 as A Map of Pensilvania, New Jersey, New-York, and the Three Delaware Counties. Evans's best-known map, however, is A General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America, which spanned from the Falls of the Ohio to Narragansett Bay and from Virginia to Montreal. Though issued before the publication of the present item, it is often, as here, included with it. Evans in his analysis points out the advantages to the English colonies of the Ohio territory and vehemently urges a general study of that region and the ways by which it could be reached so that the French might be more easily driven out. He divides the eastern United States geomorphically for the first time, delineating the New England Upland, the Coastal Plain, the Fall Line, the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, the Folded Appalachians, the Allegheny Front, and the Allegheny Plateau. The present second edition is, essentially, a page-for-page reprint of the first, published earlier the same year. Schwartz and Ehrenberg anoint the map as above; along with Mitchell's map of the same year (which, unlike Franklin's Philadelphia production, was published in London), it paints the most authoritative picture of the impending theater of war. The present second state of the map is distinguished by the additional legend "The Lakes Cataraqui" above Lake Ontario. From the collection of Frank Sherwin Streeter (1918-2006), purchased at his sale ("Important navigation, Pacific voyages, cartography, science") at Christie's New York 16 April 2007, lot 185 ($168,000). Streeter was the son of the legendary Americana collector Thomas Streeter, whose sale catalogue has become a reference work in its own right. Some of his collection he inherited from his father (those he did not he would often buy back), but other volumes he added over many decades until his death. Church 1003; Evans 7411; Howes E 226; Pritchard & Taliaferro 34; Sabin 23175; Schwartz & Ehrenberg, p. 165; Streeter II:819 (first edn.).

First edition. INSCRIBED PRESENTATION COPY OF THE EXTREMELY RARE ABSTRACT. First edition, inscribed presentation copy from Hutton to Matthew Boulton, of one of the great rarities in the history of science, Hutton's first announcement of his revolutionary view that our earth was shaped by slow, steady forces acting over a long period of time - the doctrine of uniformitarianism. According to Victor Eyles, "10 or at most 12" copies of this Abstract exist (photocopy of letter from Eyles to a previous owner laid in; Eyles is the author of a published bibliographical account of the Abstract, and of the DSB article on Hutton). "Hutton's theory, or 'System of the Earth,' as he called it originally, was first made public at two meetings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, early in 1785. The society published it in full in 1788, but offprints of this paper were in circulation in 1787, and possibly in 1786. The theory first appeared in print in condensed form, in a thirty-page pamphlet entitled Abstract of a Dissertation . Concerning the System of the Earth, Its Duration, and Stability, which Hutton circulated privately in 1785. The interest of this pamphlet is that it states all the conclusions which were essential to the theory as a whole. It emphasizes that even at this early date Hutton's thinking was far ahead of that of his contemporaries" (ibid.). "Hutton's most important contribution to science was his theory of the earth, first announced in 1785. Hutton had then been actively interested in geology for fully thirty years. It is known that he had completed the theory in outline some years earlier, and according to Black, writing in 1787, Hutton had formed its principal parts more than twenty years before. In essence the theory was simple, yet it was of such fundamental importance that Hutton has been called the founder of modern geology" (DSB). "The effect of his ideas on the learned world can be compared only to the earlier revolution in thought brought about by Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, German astronomer Johannes Kepler, and Italian astronomer Galileo when they displaced the concept of a universe centred on Earth with the concept of a solar system centred on the Sun. Both advances challenged existing thought and were fiercely resisted for many years" (Britannica)."Born in Edinburgh, James Hutton (1726-97) studied medicine at the university there during 1744-47, after which he spent two years in Paris, where he probably first developed an interest in geology. Hutton returned to Edinburgh in 1750, where "he entered fully into the intellectual and social life of the city. Joseph Black became his most intimate friend. Through Black he became a friend of James Watt, in whose work he took much interest . About 1781 he first met [John] Playfair, and later he befriended Sir James Hall, who attained distinction as a geologist and chemist" (DSB). Through Watt, Hutton met the members of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a group of scientists, engineers and industrialists from the English Midlands, which included Watt's business partner, Matthew Boulton. Six copies are recorded by ESTC: three in Britain and three in America. ABPC/RBH list one other copy (Sotheby's, 1988). Provenance: Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) (presentation inscription on title in Hutton's hand: 'Matthew Bolton [sic] Esqr from James Hutton'); Henry Faul (d. 1981). Hutton's closest friends included Joseph Black, Adam Smith (who appointed Hutton and Black as his literary executors), and James Watt. It was Watt who introduced him to Matthew Bolton, manufacturer, scientist and entrepreneur, very probably when visiting Birmingham in 1774 as Watt moved to that city to join in partnership with Bolton to develop the steam engine. Hutton was a 'satellite' member of the famous Lunar Society, which included John Whitehurst, Boulton, Josiah Wedgewood, Erasmus Darwin, Joseph Priestley, Watt, William Withering, and others. Henry Faul was professor of geophysics at the University of Pennsylvania and a noted collector of rare geological books. Laid in is a photocopy of a letter from V. A. Eyles to Faul, dated 26 October 1971, discussing the rarity ("10 or at most 12") of the book and the importance of this copy and authenticating the inscription. In the Abstract, "Hutton describes briefly his purpose in carrying out the inquiry, the methods he employed in reaching his conclusions, and the conclusions themselves. His purpose was to ascertain (a) the length of time the earth had existed as a "habitable world"; (b) the changes it had undergone in the past; and (c) whether any end to the present state of affairs could be foreseen. He stated that the facts of the history of the earth were to be found in 'natural history,' not in human records, and he ignored the biblical account of creation as a source of scientific information (a view he expressed explicitly later on). The method he employed in carrying out his inquiry had been a careful examination of the rocks of the earth's crust, and a study of the natural processes that operated on the earth's surface, or might be supposed, from his examination of the rocks, to have operated in the past. In this way, 'from principles of natural philosophy,' he attempted to arrive at some knowledge of the order and system in the economy of the globe, and to form a rational opinion as to the course of nature and the possible course of natural events in the future. "Hutton concluded that rocks in general (clearly he referred here to the sedimentary rocks) are composed of the products of the sea (fossils) and of other materials similar to those found on the seashore (the products of erosion). Hence they could not have formed part of the original crust of the earth, but were formed by a 'second cause' and had originally been deposited at the bottom of the ocean. This reasoning, he stated, implies that while the present land was forming there must have existed a former land on which organic life existed, that this former lan.

First edition. EVANS (49) - THE DISCOVERY OF CARBON DIOXIDE. First edition of one of the greatest rarities in the history of science, the discovery of carbon dioxide and the foundation work of quantitative chemical analysis. "There is perhaps no other instance of a graduation thesis so weighted with significant novelty as Black's 'De humore acido a cibis orto, et magnesia alba' presented to the Faculty, 11 June, 1754" (William Osler in DNB). It "was soon recognised for what it is: a brilliant model, perhaps the first successful model, of quantitative chemical investigation, as well as a classic exemplar of experimental science worthy of comparison with Newton's Opticks . The Dissertatio in its original form is virtually unprocurable" (Guerlac, p. 124). Black's biographer Sir William Ramsay, who was awarded the 1904 Nobel Prize in chemistry "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air," wrote of "Black's celebrated thesis, which gained for him not merely the degree of Doctor of Medicine, but also brought his name before every 'philosopher' in Europe and America as that of a man who had made a discovery of more fundamental influence on the progress of Chemistry than any which had previously been described" (Ramsay, p. 20). "In the late spring of 1754, the famous Scottish chemist and physician Joseph Black (1728-99) put the finishing touches on his thesis for the doctorate of medicine at the University of Edinburgh. Entitled Dissertatio medica inauguralis, de humore acido a cibis orto, et magnesia alba, . it has received unstinted praise as one of the great classics in the history of science . [Black] studied and carefully distinguished the chemical behaviour of the common alkalis (carbonates) and of the two alkaline earths, lime and magnesia. He showed that the changes produced in these substances by roasting and calcining the mother substances (limestone, chalk and magnesia alba) were associated with the loss of an elastic, aeriform constituent, a 'fixed air' [carbon dioxide], and need not be explained by assuming that some hypothetical 'principle' was added during intense heating. Most important of all, Black proved by careful gravimetrical experiments that this elastic fluid was a precise quantitative constituent of these chemical compounds. As is well known, Black's results led directly to the classic studies on gases carried out by Henry Cavendish, Joseph Priestley, and Black's own pupil, Daniel Rutherford" (Guerlac, p. 125). An expanded English translation was published by the Edinburgh Philosophical Society in 1756, and the original thesis was reprinted in 1785 in William Smellie'sThesaurus medicus (Tom. II, pp. 271-304). ESTC lists 11 copies of the Dissertatio worldwide (7 in the UK, 3 in North America, and one in the Netherlands). We have been unable to trace any other copy having appeared in commerce. Joseph Black was born in Bordeaux where his father, who was born in Belfast but was ultimately of Scottish descent, had a wine business. Joseph was sent to school in Belfast in 1740, and around 1745 entered Glasgow University, where he studied languages and natural philosophy, and later, about 1748, anatomy and medicine under William Cullen. After working for three years in Cullen's laboratory, in 1752 Black left Glasgow for the more prestigious University of Edinburgh, where he attended the lectures of the physiologist Robert Whytt, and of Charles Alston, a botanist and chemist who lectured on materia medica. "In 1754 Black received the M.D. with his now historic dissertation De humore acido a cibis orto et magnesia alba" (DSB). Black succeeded Cullen as professor of anatomy and lecturer in chemistry in Glasgow in 1756, but exchanged the chair of anatomy with the professor of medicine. He succeeded Cullen as professor of chemistry in Edinburgh on 1 November 1766, and occupied that position, at the same time practising medicine, until his death in 1799. "Black's investigation of alkaline substances had a medical origin. The presumed efficacy of limewater in dissolving urinary calculi ('the stone') was supported by the researches of two Edinburgh professors, Robert Whytt and Charles Alston. It interested Cullen as well, and Black came to Edinburgh as a medical student with the intention of exploring the subject for his doctoral dissertation. "But at this moment Whytt and Alston were at loggerheads: they disagreed as to the best source, whether cockleshells or limestone, for preparing the quicklime. And they differed as to what occurs when mild limestone is burned to produce quicklime. Whytt accepted the common view that lime becomes caustic by absorbing a fiery matter during calcination, and thought he had proved it by showing that quicklime newly taken from the fire was the most powerful dissolvent of the stone. Alston, in an important experiment on the solubility of quicklime, showed that this was not the case, and that the causticity must be the property of the lime itself. Both men were aware that on exposure to the air quicklime gradually becomes mild, and that a crust appears on the surface of limewater. For Whytt, this resulted from the escape of fiery matter; but Alston, noting that the crust was heavier than the lime in solution, hinted that foreign matter, perhaps the air or something contained in it, produced the crust. Yet he was more disposed to believe that the insoluble precipitate formed when the quicklime combined with impurities in the water. Black, although he had criticized Alston as a chemist, was soon to profit from his findings. "Preoccupied at first with his medical studies, Black did not come to grips with his chosen problem until late in 1753. When he did so, he found it expedient to avoid any conflict between two of his professors; instead of investigating limewater, he would examine other absorbent earths to discover, if possible, a more powerful lithotriptic agent. He chose a white powder, magnesia alba, recently in vogue as a mi.

Broadsheets (21 6/8 x 15 2/8 inches). 99 double-page maps, most with outlines hand-colored, most by Delisle, 8 by Pierre Mortier, some with margins extended to establish uniform sizing for binding (map of France partly split along fold). 18th-century English diced russia gilt, the covers decorated in gilt with broad borders of flower roll tools, a central lozenge of floral tools, spine in nine compartments, morocco lettering piece in one reading "De L'Isles Works and Other Mapps", the others decorated with gilt flower tools (a few repairs at spine ends and corners). Provenance: Bookplate of Frank Sherwin Streeter (1918-2006) (Collection of Important Navigation, Pacific Voyages, Cartography and Science). ".towering landmarks along the path of Western cartographic development" (Wheat) A FINE COMPOSITE ATLAS, probably assembled to order circa 1725 for an English client. The maps include "Mappemonde a l'usage du Roy" (1720); four hemispheric World maps (1714 and 1724); and "Plan de la Villes et Fauxbourgs de Paris" (1716). The eight maps relating to the Americas comprise: "Carte d'Amerique" (1722); "Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France" (1703); "Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi" (1718); "Carte du Mexique et de la Floride" (1703, Schwartz & Ehrenberg pl. 82); "Carte des Antilles Françoises et des Isles Voisines" (1717); "Carte de l'Isle de Saint Domingue" (1725); "Carte de la Terre Ferme du Perou, du Bresil et du Pays des Amazones" (1703); "Carte du Paraguay du Chile" (1703). Also included is the "Orbis veteribus moti tabula nova" (1714). Including one of the most important maps of the American West, the "Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi" based on the maps of La Salle, Spanish expeditions and maps from Le Moyne. The first map to correct the position of the mouth of the Mississippi River and the Mississippi Valley: "with their corrected course of the Mississippi and these many items farther west, [his maps] are towering landmarks along the path of Western cartographic development" (Wheat "Mapping the Transmississippi West" 99 and pp.58-59). From the distinguished library of Frank S. Streeter. Cohen, "Mapping the West" pp.48-50. Catalogued by Kate Hunter.

First French edition of the Constitution of the United States of America, inscribed by Founding Father Benjamin Franklin who had the translation published and personally distributed each of the 600 copies produced. Octavo, bound in one quarter calf with gilt ruling to the spine, burgundy morocco spine label lettered in gilt. Presentation copy, inscribed by Benjamin Franklin on the front free endpaper, "A Madame, Madame la Presidente de Manieres [sic] de la parte du. B. Franklin." The recipient, Madame Durey de Meinires was a a French writer best known for her translations of Samuel Johnson, David Hume, and Sarah Fielding. On March 24th, 1783, Franklin wrote to the Comte de Vergennes, "I am desirous of printing a translation of the Constitutions of the United States of America, published at Philadelphia, by Order of Congress. Several of these Constitutions have already appeared in the English and American newspapers but there has never yet been a complete translation of them." At Franklin's suggestion, the Duc de La Rochefoucault produced the first French translation, and FranklinÂis believed to have contributed the fifty-plus footnotes.ÂFranklin had 600 copies of Constitutions des Treize Etats-Unis de l'Amerique privately printed by Philippe-Denis Pierres, first printer ordinary of Louis XVI, which were not made available for sale. Franklin distributed them himself, and was happy to fulfill the request of Madame Durey de Meinires, who wished to receive a copy. On August 31, 1783, Franklin sent a copy of the newly published volume to Madame Durey de Meinires, along with a letter, "I send with great Pleasure the Constitutions of America to my dear & much respected Neighbour, being happy to have any thing in my Power to give that she will do me the honour to accept, and that may be agreeable to her." The inscribed page included in the present volume was previously sold as a loose flyleaf by Charles Hamilton in 1959, and it has since been professionally tipped into an edition of the book with which it was originally sent. The book contains the Constitutions of each of the thirteen States of America, the Declaration of Independence of the 4th of July 1776, the Friendship and Commerce Treaty, the Alliance Treaty between France and the United States, as well as the treaties between the United States and the Netherlands and Sweden. The title page contains the first appearance of imprint of the United States seal in a book. Franklin's grand gesture in publishing and distributing these constitutionsâ about which there was intense interest and curiosity among statesmenâ was one of his chief achievements as a propagandist for the new American republic. In good condition. Benjamin Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation. Franklinâ s contributions to science and politics were immense and his passion for making books more available to a broader audience prompted him to establish North Americaâ s first subscription library. In 1731, Franklin convinced the members of his Junto (a mutual improvement club he founded) to pool their money to purchase books they would collectively share. The collection became the Library Company of Philadelphia and is now regarded as the predecessor to the public library. Franklin was also instrumental in the establishment of the Library of the Pennsylvania Hospital (North Americaâ s first medical library), the Pennsylvania State Library, The Library of the American Philosophical Society, and the Library of the University of Pennsylvania.

folio (530 x 320mm.), printed title and text in German, engraved table of conventional symbols inset at p.8, 19 double-page engraved regional maps and folding engraved general map at end, contemporary half calf, folding general map with a few wormholes, manuscript annotations on map in ink, covers slightly worn. A fine copy of the first printed atlas of russia. "Joseph Nicolas Delisle, brother of Guillaume Delisle, was invited by Peter the Great to survey the vast empire of Imperial Russia. Initially accompanied by his step-brother Louis, in 1726 the two Parisians journeyed to Russia (now under the reign of Catherine I) to start their surveys" (Shirley). At first, Delisle also worked with Ivan Kirilov, with whom he co-founded the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences. However, the two men did not always see eye to eye, and Kirilov went on to produce an incomplete atlas published in 1734 before the French team had finished their surveys. Kirilov died in 1737, eight years before the eventual publication of Delisle's atlas. The Atlas russicus (as it is generally known) is effectively in two parts: the first covering European Russia in thirteen sheets (at a uniform scale of 1:1,527,000), the second covering Siberia in six sheets (at a uniform scale of 1:3,360,000). Almost every map is based on a system of astronomically determined points or on the sides of geodetically computed triangles. On publication in 1745, Russian cartography came of age: Delisle's own contribution was considerable, for he trained many of the surveyors and geodesists himself. Even so, his contract with the Academy was not renewed, and Delisle left St Petersburg in 1747. Book.

Exceedingly rare complete first edition set of all three books in Defoe's classic Robinson Crusoe series, including the scarce first and only printing of the third book in the series. Octavo, three volumes bound in full crushed red morocco by Francis Bedford with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, triple gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. The set consists of: Vol. I. The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, where-in all the Men perished by himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates. Written by Himself. First edition, mixed state with the famed engraved frontispiece portrait of Robinson Crusoe by Clark and Pine, the title in second state with semi-colon after London, third state of the preface with the catchword "apply" correctly spelled, and first state of Z4r with "Pilot" misspelled "Pilate" and "Portugnese" for "Portuguese", four pages of advertisements at rear. Bibliographic note tipped in. Vol. II. ; Being the Second and Last Part of His Life, And the Strange Surprizing Accounts of his Travels Round three Parts of the Globe. Written By Himself. First edition, second issue with the publisher's notice to the verso of the last leaf of the Preface and page 295 corectly numbered, folding map of the world and 11 pages of advertisements at rear. Volume III. : With His Vision of the Angelick World. Written By Himself. First edition, first issue with the catchword "The" on page 270, folding engraved plan of Crusoe's island by Clark and Pine, 2 pages of advertisements at rear. [Grolier English 41; Hutchins 52-71, 97-112, 122-8; Moore 412 & 417; PMM 180; Rothschild 775]. In fine condition. An exceedingly rare and handsomely bound complete set of this cornerstone in English literature. Often hailed as the first novel in the English language and purportedly based on the experiences on Alexander Selkirk, who spent four years on the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez from 1704, the adventures of Crusoe and his companion Friday have attained mythical status in the history of Western literature. The book's success was immediate, a second edition being called for only seventeen days after publication of the first on April 25, 1719, with a further two editions published before the end of year. The Farther Adventures appeared on August 20, and relates how Crusoe revisited the island with Friday. A final part, The Serious Reflections, followed in 1720. "The romance of Crusoes's adventures, the figure of civilized man fending for himself on a desert island, has made an imperishable impression on the mind of man. much of modern science fiction is basically Crusoe's island changed to a planet" (PMM).

3 volumes. Folio. (13 1/2 x 10 5/8 inches). 102 watercolors over etched line. 90 distinct watercolors with 12 variants. 1795 Volume: Unpaginated, 86 pp. Manuscript title page and 42 watercolors over etched line. 1796 Volume I: Unpaginated, 130 pp. Manuscript title and 30 watercolors over etched line, each with manuscript description on preceding leaf. 1796 Volume II: Unpaginated, 68 pp. 29 watercolors over etched lines with 3 ink manuscript leaves with descriptions. All finely bound in contemporary straight-grained red Morocco, 1795 Volume with gilt fillet, 1796 Volumes with gilt fillets and Greek key pattern borders on covers, all spines gilt in compartments, 1796 Volumes with drawer-handle motifs, all titled in gilt in second compartment [MARTYN'S PLANTS], 1795 Volume with marbled black and red endpapers, 1796 Volumes with marbled cobalt endpapers. 1795 Volume and 1796 Volume I with binder's ticket of Charles Hering (1763-1815) of 10 St. Martin Street in London on front pastedowns of each. An unparalleled collection of 102 magnificent watercolor botanical illustrations by Thomas Martyn and his academy. One of the rarest botanical books by a renown master; only four other examples in the census of copies. The Thomas Martyn (fl. 1760-1816) who produced Figures of Plants is not the Thomas Martyn (1735-1825) who wrote the commonly found Flora Rustica (1792) and was a professor of botany at Cambridge, like his father John Martyn (1699-1768). Our Martyn was born in Coventry, England. He was an artist and publisher of the natural sciences known best for the Universal Conchologist which illustrated exotic sea shells and won medals from many European leaders. His illustrations of plants, butterflies, shells, and spiders, remain among the most exquisite issued in book format. The plates of Martyn's books were lightly etched and watercolored by a group of young apprentice artists trained by Martyn for an operation he called the Academy for Painting Natural History. Martyn opened the academy in 1786 and by 1789 he employed 10 apprentices. Martyn recruited these youths because he desired a "uniformity and equality of style, conception, and execution which it would be in vain to expect from a variety of independent artists." Subsequent publications Martyn and his academy published include The English Entomologist (1792); Aranei or a Natural History of Spiders (1793); and Psyche: Figures of Nondescript Lepidopterous Insects (1797). The 1795 Volume has chain-laid endpapers with a "Lepard" watermark and wove paper with "J. Whatman" watermarks. The 1796 Volumes have "J. Whatman" watermarks on wove paper. The 1795 Volume is credited to "Mr. Martyn" at "No 10 Great Marlborough Street London" while the 1796 Volumes are credited to "Thomas Martyn" at "Great Marlborough Street London" with no street number. Each of the manuscript description leaves in the 1796 Volumes include the plant's common name, its Latin binomial, and a brief description as to its prevalence, habitat, size, and season. All of the drawings in 1796 Volume 1 have a leaf of manuscript description; only 3 in 1796 Volume II do. Figures of Plants Census: 1. British Library copy: 43 plates, no descriptions, 1795. Shelf number: 44.i.18 2. Newberry Library copy formerly owned by Henry Probasco: 2 folios, 65 plates, 1795-1796. 3. John Townley copy sold at Christie's October 19, Lot 28 in 1999: 2 volumes in 1, 65 plates, 1796. Sold at $157,965. 4. Fattorini copy sold at Sotheby's May 8, Lot 20 in 2002: 1 volume, 51 plates, 1795. Sold at $87,162. 5. Our copy: 3 volumes, 102 plates, many with descriptions, 1795-1796. Plate names: 1795 Volume: 42 distinct figures, hand-numbered in pencil with plate names. Unlike the 1796 volumes, these figures are depicted within gilt-rulings: 1. Sublinear Aster. 2. Heart Leaved Aster. 3. One Flowered Aster. 4. Indian Aster. 5. Umbrella Aster. 6. Pyrenean Aster. 7. Thready Flap. 8. Broad Leaved Pokeweed. 9. Short Rayed Aster. 10. Dolled Aster. 11. Curled Leaved Aster. 12. Canada Teucrine. 13. Teattering Aster. 14. Long Beaked Cranebill. 15. Caroline Sun Flower. 16. Hyssop Skullcap. 17. Oval Rockweed. 18. Wavy Leaved Aster. 19. Tuft Sword Leaf. 20. Common Willow Wart. 21. Long Spiked Aster. 22. Drooping Leaved Aster. 23. Pinnfield Bryong. 24. Blustery Aster. 25. Hairy Sleeps Rampion. 26. Expanded Hopwort. 27. Flaxy Aster. 28. Embroidered Cranebell. 29. Superb Tuft Flower. 30. Blue Sapifrage. 31. Arrow Broom. 32. Five Leaved Rattlewort. 33. Hoary Linwood. 34. Painted Cranebell. 35. Tall Bare Rocked. 36. American Hyssopine. 37. Entire Leaved Starry Scabious. 38. Alpine Downwort. 39. Ramping Leopard's Bane. 40. Helianthoide Ox Eye. 41. Hooked Mariot. 42. Pale Mullein. 1796 Volume I: 31 figures, 20 of which are distinct, 11 are variants. Hand-numbered in pencil with preceding ink manuscript name and description. 1. Sublinear Aster. 2. Pale Mullein. 3. Dingy Wellwood. 4. Coval Bears Sanicle. 5. Dark Loose Stripe. 6. Short Rayed Aster. 7. Heart Leaved Aster. 8. Broad Loose Stripe. 9. Indian Aster. 10. Hairy Aster. 11. Red-disk'd Aster. 12. Tufty Sword Leaf. 13 Heathy Aster. 14. Five Leaved Rattlewort. [Skips plate 15.] 16. Woody Tobacco. 17. Ramping Leopard's Bane. 18. Warted Thorn Apple. 19. Folded Sanicle. 20. Leafy Knight Weed. 21. Hyssop Skullcap. 22. Helianthoide Ox-Eye. 23. Fine Saned Pleuridge. 24. Violet Bell Flower. 25. Moors Teucrine. 26. Decumbent Mud-Weed. 27. Egg-Leaved Light Wort. 28. Stinging Tobacco. 29. Painted Cranebill. 30. Oriental Taperweed. 31. Azure Pink Weed. 32. Sea Scording. 1796 Volume II: 29 figures, 28 of which are distinct, 1 is a variant, with 3 ink manuscript title leaves and plates hand-numbered in pencil: 33. Long-Flowered Marvel of Peru. 50. Prickly Molucca Baum. 54. Water Mint. The rest of the figures are untitled. Boulger, Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 36. Dall, "Thomas Martyn and the Universal Conchologist," Proceedings of the US National Museum, No. 1425, 1905, 415-432. Nichols, Li.

No binding. Etat : Fine. Printed Document Signed as Secretary of State, An act to promote the progress of useful arts, and to repeal the act heretofore made for that purpose, February 21, 1793. Signed in type by George Washington as President, Jonathan Trumbull as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and John Adams as Vice President and President of the Senate. [Philadelphia: Francis Childs and John Swaine?, 1793], 4 pp. Evans 26309 Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson signs the second U.S. Patent Act, which played a signal role in the commercial development of the United States. A key difference between this act and the one it replaced was that, in addition to new inventions, patents could be issued for improvements to existing products. The measure helped foster American innovation, successfully ushering the nation into the Industrial Revolution. We locate no other signed copies of this milestone act. Partial Transcript". when any person or persons, being a citizen or citizens of the United States, shall allege that he or they have invented any new and useful art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement on any art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, not known or used before the application, and shall present a petition to the Secretary of State . it shall . be lawful for the said Secretary of State, to cause letters patent to be made out ."Historical BackgroundIn August of 1787, well into the proceedings of the Federal Convention, James Madison and Charles Pinckney recommended adding the power to issue patents to the draft U.S. Constitution. The delegates agreed without a dissenting vote. The clause appears in Article 1, Section 8, charging Congress with the promotion of "the progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."The first Patent Act was passed by Congress on April 10, 1790. It gave complete power to grant patents to a board consisting of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War and the Attorney General. As Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson personally examined all applications. "He was now able to keep his finger on the pulse of American discovery," Jefferson biographer Dumas Malone observed. "No compatriot of his was so well fitted to enjoy and fill such a position." Only 57 patents were granted during Jefferson's tenure, in part because of his strict interpretation of the requirement for originality and practicality. It wasn't long, however, before Jefferson and the other board members realized thatmore pressing duties left them with insufficient time to assess the applications.This 1793 Patent Act specifically addresses the problem, charging the Secretary of State with issuing a patent to any applicant who complied with a set of prescribed formalities, swore his invention was original, and paid a fee. Also, through Jefferson's private influence, it broadened the wording to include any "new and useful improvement" to an existing product, a definition that remains to this day. To reduce the Patent Board's responsibility, however, the 1793 Act left any claims of the novelty and validity of an invention for the courts to decide. This system remained in effect for more than 40 years, by which time patents-many of them for inventions that were not original-were being issued at a rate of 600 per year. To stem the tide of derivative and useless inventions, a revised act was passed in 1836, which returned to the practice of examining an application before the issue of a patent.Legislative measures signed by Jefferson as Secretary of StateFollowing a law passed on September 15, 1789, Thomas Jefferson, as Secretary of State, signed two copies of each law, order, vote, or resolution of Congress for distribution to the executive of every state. (By the same law, a single copy was distributed to each U.S. senator and representative, t. (See website for full description). Printed Document Signed.

Hardcover. Etat : Very good. Second. Second edition. Amsterdam: Gerard Valk & Peter Schenk, 1708. Folio (20 1/8" x 12 1/2", 511mm x 318mm). 3 text-leaves (title, blank, contents, blank; duplicate title, blank), engraved title-page (Frederik Hendrik van den Hoven) and 29 double-page engraved plates, all of which with hand-color by a contemporary hand. Bound in contemporary sheep panelled in blind (re-backed). All edges of the text-block speckled red. Re-backed, with some strengthening to the fore-corners. Duplicate letter-press title-page with a repaired loss to the upper edge. Plates numbered in ink manuscript verso. With pigment oxidation to the verso of the plates, consistent with original coloration. A very good copy indeed, with fine color. Andreas Cellarius (or Keller, ca. 1596-1665) was born in Germany and worked principally in Holland. From 1637 he was rector of the Latin school in Hoorn, North Holland's third city (after Amsterdam and Haarlem). Apart from this, little is known except for his production of the revolutionary Harmonia macrocosmica in 1660. The XVIIc was a time of revolution in the field of astronomy; Copernicus's heliocentricity of the XVIc released science from the shackles of Aristotle, paving the way for Brahe, Galileo, Kepler and Newton. Cellarius made visible those great strides, integrating ancient astronomy and mythology and forming the armature of modern astronomical illustration. By 1708 -- the publication date of this second edition, with the only change being the addition of Valk's and Schenk's names to the engraved title-page -- the world of astronomy had progressed considerably. Newton's publications came to reshape and to dominate the field (along with several others) from the 1680's, and yet Cellarius's visualizations and aestheticization of the cosmos held then as they do now an appeal that has never been surpassed. Koeman IV.Cel 3.

Mostly 4to. 23 ff. 4 letters on halved sheets; mostly folded. Addendum. Highly interesting collection of personal letters from the last years of the King's life. In French, to Eléonore de Maupertuis, lady-in-waiting to Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia, Frederick's youngest sister. Eléonore was the daughter of the well-esteemed Prussian diplomat, scholar, and translator Kaspar Wilhelm von Borcke. In 1744 she had married the French mathematician and astronomer Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, also a close confidant of Frederick's and head of the Prussian Academy of Science. After her husband's death in 1759 she concentrated on her office in the household of the Princess. - Since 1756 Anna Amalia of Prussia was Abbess of the Quedlinburg Convent but spent most of her time in Berlin. She is mainly remembered for her alleged affair with the Prussian officer and adventurer Frederick von der Trenck. While the historical truth of this anecdote cannot be proven, she was undoubtedly - and more importantly - one of the 18th century's few female composers of note. Her music collection ("Amalienbibliothek") contains many important prints and manuscripts, including the autograph of Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concerts. She spent her last years in seclusion at Berlin, always remaining in close contact with her brother, who visited her regularly. She survived Frederick's death on 17 August 1786 by just a few months, passing away on 30 March 1787 (cf. MGG I, 486f. and T. Debuch, Anna Amalia von Preußen, Berlin 2001). - There are but few sources for the life of Anna Amalia, many of which are dubious (such as Trenck's autobiography) or focus on Frederick the Great (such as the diaries of Count Lehndorff). Thus, the King's present letters to Eléonore de Maupertuis constitute a unique source for the last years of the Princess. They reflect Frederick's concern for Amalia's health after she suffered a stroke in 1773 and underscore the close relationship between the siblings: "Ma cher Madame, J'ai non recours a Vous pour ne point fatiguér ma bonne Soeur, Com(m)e je suis obligé de ma rendre demain au Parc pour des affaires je me propose des profités en ces Voisinages pour rendre visite a ma bonne Soeur [.]" (Charlottenburg, 2 May 1783). - "Je Vous prie Ma chere Madame, de Conjurer ma Soeur en mon nom de Voulloir prendre quelque Medecine, pour Luy facillitér L'expectoration [.]" (n. d.). - "Voici ma bonne Madame deux Sortes de Tabac pour ma bonne Soeur [.]" (n. d.). - "Je vous prie Ma chere Madame, de m'envoyer Le Nom de Soupes que Ma Soeur mange avant dinér, et une Liste des plats qu'elle aime et qui convienent le mieux en Sa Santé [.]" (n. d.). - "Je vous suis bien obligé, des bonnes nouvelles que vous me donnez de la Santé de la Principe ma Soeur, par votre lettre endate d'hier [.]" (6 March 1785). - Almost all letters close with the words "Votre (tres humble) Serviteur Federic". Most of the present letters are a quarter or half page in length and undated; a few are dated only by day but not year ("ce 6 May", "ce 22", "ce 25 Juin", etc.). One bears a note by another hand on the reverse ("[.] Potzdam, 1777, Von I. M. d. König"). Only two are dated in full: "Charlottenburg ce 2 May 1783" and "a Potsdam le 16 de Mars 1785". This last letter is written by a scribe's hand, bearing only an autograph postscript and signature by the King. This is also the only letter formally addressed "à la Gouvernante de Maupertuis, neé de Borck, à Berlin". Content and form, however, prove that all letters are from the same time and to the same recipient. - All letters written in brown ink on fine, clean laid paper, most with posthorn watermark. Includes a browned folio sheet (watermark St. Wolfgang, pointing to Georg Friedrich Meyer's Röthenbach paper mill) with late 18th-c. caption: "Collection de Lettres de Fredéric le Grand Roi de Prusse, de Sa main propre; à feüe Madame de Maupartuis Gouvernante de feüe la Princesse Amélie Soeur de ce Roi". - An exceptionally well-preserved collection.

hardcover. Etat : very good(+). First. Also, Two Treatises of the Species and Magnitude of Curvilinear Figures. 4 parts in 1 volume. Title page printed in red & black within a double-ruled border. Illustrated with 19 folding copperplate engravings.[4], 144, 211, [1]pp. (In the second sequence, p. 120 is marked 112, and there are blank pages between 137-8 and 138-9). Thick 4to, contemporary blind-tooled panelled calf, expertly rebacked in matching leather (contemporary signature on title dated 1704; last several pages have marginal dampstains, otherwise a remarkably clean crisp copy). London: Smith & Walford, 1704. First edition, first issue - with the author not named on title page. The work contains: The First Book of Opticks, The Second Book of Opticks, The Thrid Book of Opticks (Tertii Ordinis: Enumeratio Linearum), Tractatus de Quadratura Curvarum. The main work is in English, the 2 treatises (pages 138-211) are in Latin. Babson 132; Gray 174; Horblit 79b; PMM 172; Norman 1588; Dibner 148; Wallis 174.

An extremely rare pair of miniature terrestrial and celestial globes, each with 12 hand-coloured engraved paper gores, over a paper mâché and plaster sphere, each globe with paper mâché meridian ring, mounted on horizon rings with a handwritten number VIII and III on each globe. The horizon rings supported by four quadrants with text "Zu finden in Nürnberg / wohnhaft unter der Vesten / bey denen Homaenischen Erben/ dem Prediger Klöster gegenüber", both globes on a turned single wooden black stand. Diameter 64 mm (2.5 inches), height 185 mm. RARE. Johann Baptist Homann (1664 1724), was a German geographer and cartographer. He founded a publishing business in Nürnberg in 1702, and published his first atlas in 1707, becoming a member of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin in the same year. Homann was appointed Imperial Geographer to Charles VI in 1715 and became the most important map and atlas producer in Germany. His firm was continued by his son Johann Christoph after his death and as Johann Christoph died the company continued under the name of Homann Heirs until 1848. Stands by Homann Heirs, (after 1730). Meridian rings with slight wear.

First edition, first issue, without the author's name on the title page. Newton's Opticks expounds his corpuscular theory of light and summarizes his experiments concerning light and colour. It also prints two important mathematical treatises (omitted in later editions) describing his invention of the fluxional calculus, the grounds for his claim of priority over Leibniz. Newton arrived at most of his unconventional ideas on colour by about 1668, and Opticks was largely complete by 1692. However, when he first partially expressed his theories in public, in 1672 and 1675, they provoked hostile criticism, especially on the continent. As a result, Newton delayed the publication of Opticks until his most vociferous critics - especially Robert Hooke - were dead. Unusually for Newton, and in what was probably a further defensive move, the work was first published in English rather than Latin, becoming a major contribution to the development of vernacular scientific literature. By about 1715, Opticks established itself as a model for interweaving theory with quantitative experimentation. Newton's aim was not to "explain the properties of light by hypotheses, but to propose and prove them by reason and experiments" (p. 1). The great achievement of the work was to show that colour was a mathematically definable property. Newton demonstrates that white light is a mixture of infinitely varied coloured rays (manifest in the rainbow and the spectrum) and that each ray is definable by the angle through which it is refracted on entering or leaving a given transparent medium. "Newton's Opticks did for light what his Principia had done for gravitation, namely place it on a scientific basis" (D. W. Brown, cited in Babson). Other topics discussed in this groundbreaking work include the degree of refraction associated with different colours, theories of the rainbow, colour circles, Newton's rings, and reflective lenses. Provenance: from the distinguished library of the Northern Lighthouse Board, with their device stamped on the spine. The board was founded in 1786 to remedy the fact that none of the major passages through dangerous narrows in Scotland were marked. Headed by the Stevenson family of engineers - of which novelist Robert Louis Stevenson was a member - the Board embarked upon an ambitious construction scheme and still operates over 200 lighthouses today. This volume, along with a portion of their library - with strong holdings across the applied sciences, exploration, maritime, and local geography - was offered at auction in 2010 to raise funds for heritage projects. Babson 132 (1); ESTC T82019; Gray 174; Horblit 79b; Norman 1588; Printing and the Mind of Man 172. Quarto (233 x 186 mm). Late 19th-century tan calf, spine divided into 6 compartments with raised bands and gilt fillets, Northern Light Board device gilt-stamped to first, black calf label to second, gilt scrollwork motifs to remainder, covers framed with triple fillet in blind, red and blue sprinkled edges. 19 engraved plates, of which 2 folding, charts and diagrams within text, title page printed in black and red within double-ruled border. Extremities rubbed, a few minor marks to calf but presenting handsomely, endleaves browned from turn-ins and initial blank browned facing title page, contents and plates lightly foxed in places but generally clean, with a few finger marks and pencilled annotations in margins, intermittent faint damp stain at lower outer corners, some plates a little trimmed in the binding process (just touching a few captions and images), thin paper stock of Nn4 resulting in short closed tear at fore edge expertly repaired. Overall a crisp, bright copy in a very smart calf binding.

Folio (56.2 x 44 cm). 34 engraved views by many engravers after various artists, including 12 of the cities in European Russia and 22 of Siberia, on 22 leaves, with captions in Russian and French, printed on Dutch handmade paper watermarked C & I Honig IV, one engraving signed in the plate by N.Ya. Sablin; the first view (Zilantov monastery) cut and pasted at the time of binding on paper watermarked "Whatman 1818", views of Kokshaysk and Astrakhan conjoined. Early 19th-century half calf over marbled boards, gilt rules, spine with raised bands, gilt lettering in second compartments, gilt decorative elements in others; joints restored. Exceptionally rare complete collection of the earliest views of Russian cities on the Volga river and in Siberia, engraved by Russian masters. An excellent example. These views are part of a series that includes a total of 34 prints. The process of their publication spanned almost forty years (from the creation of the first drawings until the prints were issued) and involved seven artists and twelve Russian engravers. The cities were drawn on the spot between 1733 and 1766 during two great expeditions; the originals were later corrected and re-worked between 1748 and 1768, before being printed at the Academy between 1769 and 1771. The views offered here of Mangazey and other Siberian cities are based on drawings made during the Great Northern Expedition (1733 1743), ordered by Empress Anna Ioanovna. Under the leadership of Vitus Bering the expedition was charged with mapping the eastern reaches of Siberia and, if possible, continuing on to the western shores of North America in order to explore and map them as well. The twenty eight views of towns encountered on the way, including Novgorod, Tver, Kazan, Tobolsk and Yakutsk, were drawn by the expedition artists J.C. Berckhan and J.W. Lursenius. Delays in passing the drawings to the Engraving Chamber and disruptions in the engraving process meant the plates were not finished until 1771. The twelve views of cities in the European part of Russia, including Kokshaysk, Sinbirsk, Kuznetsk and Penza, are based on original drawings by Alexander Ivanovich Svechin (end of 1720s 1796). Svechin, a colonel and artist, headed an expedition to the Volga region in 1765, commissioned by Catherine the Great in order to investigate whether Kazan's oak forests would provide a decent timber supply for the construction of Russia's naval fleet. With the help of a camera obscura, Svechin produced twenty-eight drawings during this trip, including fourteen views of cities on the Volga river that Makhaev then had to review on Catherine's orders. The result was twelve amended versions of the cities, in which the artist corrected inaccuracies of perspective and unified the composition. In December 1768 the drawings were finally sent to the Engraving Chamber of the Academy of Sciences. The engraved plates were sold individually and are exceptionally rare. We were able to trace only two copies comprising all 34 views, both in Russia in the collections of the State Hermitage Museum and the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. Outside Russia the collection of these views was found only in the Eton library, where the copy, in a modern binding, is lacking one plate. Complete examples are of exceptional rarity, as the engraved plates were sold individually. Absent from all usual Russian bibliographies and great collections. We were able to trace only two copies comprising all 34 views, both in Russia in the collections of the State Hermitage Museum and the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. Outside Russia the collection of these views was found only in the Eton College library, where the copy, in a modern binding, is lacking one plate. List of plates: 1. = Vue du Monastere Zilantow dans les Environs de Casan. Image: 19.3 x 26 cm; plate: 21 x 26 cm; sheet: 28.3 x 40.5 cm (Landscape format; pasted on early XIX c. paper); 2. e e - = Vue de Sizran du côté de l'Est prise du chemin sur le bord de la riviere. Image: 30.5 x 42.4 cm; Plate: 33.5 x 43 cm (landscape format); 3. e e - = Vue de la Ville de Sinbirsk au Nord-ouest en entrant. Image: 30.5 x 42.4 cm; Plate: 35 x 43 cm (landscape format); 4. = Vue de la ville de Iakoutzk. = Vue de la ville de Irkoutzk. Each image 14 x 44 cm; plate: 35 x 49.3 cm, (landscape format); 5. i = Vue des fabriques de Newiansk. = Vue de la Ville de Krasnoiarsk. Each image 14.8 x 44 cm; plate: 34.5 x 49.3 cm, (landscape format); 6. = Vue la Ville de Saransk du côté de l'Est en entrant Image: 30.5 x 42 cm; Plate: 34 x 44 cm (landscape format); 7. = Vue de la Ville de Tiumen. = Vue de la Ville de Catherinebourg. Each image 15.5 x 44.5 cm; plate: 36 x 47 cm (landscape format); 8. . = Vue de la Ville de Tschebaksar sur le Volga du cote du Nord. Image: 30.7 x 42.4 cm; Plate: 34.5 x 44 cm (landscape format); 9. = Vue de la Kokchajsk du Cote de Wolga. Image 16.3 x 43 cm; plate 18.5 x 44.5 cm; Image 16.6 x 43.2 cm; plate 19.6 x 45 cm; (Impressions from two plates on two conjoined sheets, landscape format); 10. e e - = Vue de la Ville de Vladimir du côté du Nord-Ouest, prise du chemin de Moscou. Image: 30.5 x 42 cm; plate: 34.3 x 44,5 cm (landscape format); 11. . e - = Vue de la Ville de Pénze sur la Soura du côté du Nord-Est. Image: 30.7 x 42 cm; plate: 34.5 x 44.2 cm (landscape format); 12. = Vue de la Ville de Sviajsk du cote du Midi prise Lors du debordement. Image: 30.7 x 42.8 cm; plate: 12. 33 x 44 cm (landscape format); 13. = Vue de la ville d'Ilimsk. = Vue de la ville de Ieniseisk. Each image 14.6 x 44.8 cm; plate 35 x 49.4 cm (landscape format); 14. = Vue de la Ville de Tobolsk. Image 15.5 x 41.5cm = Vue de la Ville de Pelim. Image 14.2 x 41.2 cm; Plate: 35 x 49.3 cm (landscape format); 15. = Vue de la Ville de Mangasei. = Vue de la Ville de Kousnezk. Each image 16.8 x 32 cm; plate 49 x 35.5 cm (portrait format) ; 16. = Vue de la place fortifiée Oudinsk. = Vue de la Ville de Tourinsk Each image 16.4 x 31.5 cm, p.

Hardcover. Etat : Very good. First. First edition in Latin. Amsterdam: Johannes Oosterwyk, [1718]. Small quarto (7 3/8" x 5 5/8", 188mm x 142mm). [Full collation available.] With 154 engraved plates: a hand-colored allegorical frontispiece, a portrait of Merian, 3 hand-colored part-titles (as garlands without text) and 149 (of 150) natural-historical plates numbered 2I-L (part II), 31-50 (part III) and 11-50 (part I); part I is bound at the end, with pl. 50 of that part before pl. 50 of the third part. Bound in calf (re-backed) with a double gilt fillet border. On the spine, five raised bands. Title gilt to burgundy sheep in the second panel. Gilt roll to the edges of the boards. All edges of the text-block glazed red. Re-backed. Scuffing and rubbing to the extremities. Marginal losses to the re-inserted front binder's blanks. The odd spot of foxing, but altogether a very good copy. Lacking pl. 49 of the first part. Part I plates following those of parts II and III; pl. 50 of the first part is bound before pl. 50 of the third part. Graphite collation to the verso of the front free end-paper, to p. 1 and to p. 17; all in a single hand. Graphite marginalia to most plates, noting the corresponding page at upper right and, in most cases, the Latin and English names of the plants; this hand appears to be consistent with that marking the text. Armorial bookplate of Harry Arnold of Arnbarrow to the front free end-paper. Bookplate of the Arcadian Library to the front paste-down. Ownership signature of "T. Harrison/ 1820." above a signature crossed out ("F. Wh."?) above the signature of J. Gough, all to the recto of the first free end-paper. Old price in ink manuscript ("6. 40") to the title-page. Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) came from a distinguished Swiss-German family; her father was Matthäus Merian and her grandfather Johann Theodor de Bry. In 1685, Merian moved with her two daughters and her mother into a Labadist community at Waltha Castle. She was so inspired by the Wunderkammer of Cornelis van Sommelsdijck, who had been governor of Surinam (Dutch Guiana or Suriname), at the castle, that she sailed for South America with her younger daughter Dorothea. There she studied, drew and collected specimens for nearly two years, focusing intently on the metamorphoses of insects there. Indeed, metamorphic insects were the principle subject of her lifelong study and publication, even before her time in Surinam; the first edition of the first part of the present work (with only European insects) was published in German in Nuremberg in 1679 as "Der Raupen." Merian suffered a stroke in 1715 but completed the work with its third part, aided by her daughter Dorothea Maria Graff and incorporating additional material from Surinam sent by her elder daughter Johanna Helena Herolt, which was published shortly after her death in 1717. A Latin text reaching a wider audience than the Dutch, the present item, published they year after Merian's death, can be considered the culmination of her lifetime's work. Colored examples are so rare that Landwehr cites none (though he did own a (colored) counter-proof copy that sold at Christie's in 2020). The ownership signatures would appear too generic to place, except for the bookplate of Harry Arnold (d. 1907) of Arnbarrow (in Cumbria, just over the border from Lancashire). Mary Susan Arnold (née Gough, d. 1904) was the daughter of the naturalist Thomas Gough (1804-1880), third child of John Gough (1757-1825), the "Blind Philosopher" of Middleshaw in Cumbria, teacher of botany and zoology. John Gough apprenticed with his uncle, Dr. Thomas Harrison (1774-1834), a surgeon who served as mayor of Kendal in Cumbria. The Arcadian Library is an extraordinary private collection in London that focuses both on the history of science and on East-West cultural exchange. A selection of their books was sold at Christie's London (14 November 2007; the present item was lot 238). Brunet III.1650; Nissen, BBI 1342; Landwehr, Dutch Books 135.

Hardcover. Etat : Very good. First. The Hague: Pieter Gosse, 1726. First edition in French, third Latin edition. Folio (20 ¼" x 14 1/8", 515mm x 359mm). [Full collation available.] With 72 hand-colored engraved plates as well as engraved vignettes to the title-pages. Bound in later (1962?) half blue morocco over blue cloth. On the spine, six raised bands. Title gilt to the second panel, author gilt to the fourth. All edges of the text-block glazed red. Scuffed, with some sunning to the spine. Peripheral tanning throughout, with some leaf-edges friable and chipped. Mild foxing throughout. Lacking the two-page dedication, two-page Latin preface and two-page French preface (*1, **2). With an octagonal paper ticket, printed "Mura, England" and completed in graphite manuscript "O.R.22 R2" to the upper fore-corner of the front paste-down. Armorial bookplate of the City of Liverpool Public Libraries to the verso of the front free end-paper and their ink-stamp to the recto of the Latin title and the verso of the French. Their reference-library bookplate (completed in ink manuscript; Class: "Cf 48" and Bound "D+W 6/62" to the recto of the rear free end-paper. Blind-stamps (generally quite discreet) of the library to each plate. Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) came from a distinguished Swiss-German family; her father was Matthäus Merian and her grandfather Johann Theodor de Bry. In 1685, Merian moved with her two daughters and her mother into a Labadist community at Waltha Castle. She was so inspired by the Wunderkammer of Cornelis van Sommelsdijck, who had been general of Surinam (Dutch Guiana or Suriname), at the castle, that she sailed for South America with her younger daughter Dorothea. There she studied, drew and collected specimens for nearly two years, focusing intently on the metamorphoses of insects there. Upon her return, she worked to publish the first edition of the Dissertatio (1705). Working with her daughters Dorothea and Johanna, she colored the plates -- and even took counter-proof impressions, providing only the faintest printed linework and preserving the original orientation of her water-colors. Merian suffered a stroke in 1715 but continued to work until her death in 1717, even coloring some sheets in preparation for an envisioned revised second edition. Johanna, her elder daughter, emigrated to Surinam in 1711 and sent back additional material to be worked into twelve new plates. That revised edition appeared two years after Maria Sibylla's death. The present item is the first translation of the work into French (parallel with the Latin), expanding its readership considerably. Mura was a stationer who made gummed labels for both dealers and collectors; perhaps this was an early shelf-mark used by Liverpool? Both Liverpool Public Library bookplates were designed by Stephen Gooden (1892-1955) in 1944; he also made bookplates for Geoffrey Keynes, Stephen and George Courtauld, Royal Library Windsor, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, and Lord Fairhaven. Hunt 467; Nissen, BBI 1341; Pritzel 6105.

First edition. "THE FOUNDATION OF THE SCIENCE OF PHOTOMETRY" (PMM 205) . First edition, very rare, and the finest copy we have seen, of the foundation work of photometry, the measurement of the intensity of light, both objectively and as perceived by the eye; this is one of the rarest of modern science books of this stature. Lambert's discoveries "are of fundamental importance in astronomy, photography and visual research generally . Both Kepler and Huygens had investigated the intensity of light, and the first photometer had been constructed by Pierre Bouguer (1698-1758); but the foundation of the science of photometry - the exact scientific measurement of light - was laid by Lambert's 'Photometry' . In the Photometria he described his photometer and propounded the law of the absorption of light named after him. He investigated the principles and properties of light, of light passing through transparent media, light reflected from opaque surfaces, physiological optics, the scattering of light passing through transparent media, the comparative luminosity of the heavenly bodies and the relative intensities of coloured lights and shadows" (PMM). "It is difficult to overstate how original most of Photometria was and how great was the advance Lambert made with it. He was the first to accurately identify most fundamental photometric concepts, to assemble them into a coherent system of photometric quantities, to define these quantities with a precision sufficient for mathematical statement, and to build from them a system of photometric principles . The behavior of point light sources had been understood since Kepler's time. Lambert was the first to correctly solve the problem posed by extended light sources. He was the first to state the cosine emanation law, which describes how a surface of perfect diffusion emits light, and to see the far-reaching consequences of this idea. Lambert spent one tenth of Photometria developing equations for the calculation of illumination at points and surfaces from luminous areas of various forms - equations that are now used in modern computer graphics, and thermal and lighting engineering . With his emanation law, Lambert calculated the average brightness of the moon and planets, anticipating part of modern astrophysics by a century . Lambert made extensive measurements of the photometric properties of materials by ingenious application of the process of equating two brightnesses. He determined the reflectance and transmittance of glass for a range of angles, the brightness of images produced by lenses, the diffuse reflectance of matte surfaces, and the absorption of light in glass and in the atmosphere. He measured the color composition of white and colored surfaces and was the first to mix colored light and record that the result was different from mixing colored pigments . Lambert was the first to attempt to establish a relationship between the subjective assessment of a luminous stimulus - the brightness - made by the visual system, and the strength - the luminance and size - of that stimulus" (Dilaura, pp. i-ii). ABPC/RBH record the sale of three copies since Norman. OCLC lists copies in US at Brown, Harvard Medical School and Oklahoma. Provenance: Georg Hermann Quincke (1834-1924) (signature on front free endpaper). Quincke received his Ph. D. in 1858 at Berlin, having previously studied also at Königsberg and at Heidelberg. He became privatdozent at Berlin in 1859, professor at Berlin in 1865, professor at Würzburg in 1872, and in 1875 was called to be professor of physics at Heidelberg, where he remained until his retirement in 1907. Quincke did important work in the experimental study of the reflection of light, especially from metallic surfaces. "Lambert began with two simple axioms: light travels in a straight line in a uniform medium and rays that cross do not interact. Like Kepler before him, he recognized that 'laws' of photometry are simply consequences and follow directly from these two assumptions. In this way Photometria demonstrated (rather than assumed) that Illuminance varies inversely as the square of the distance from a point source of light. Illuminance on a surface varies as the cosine of the incidence angle measured from the surface perpendicular. Light decays exponentially in an absorbing medium. "In addition, Lambert postulated a surface that emits light (either as a source or by reflection) in a way such that the density of emitted light (luminous intensity) varies as the cosine of the angle measured from the surface perpendicular. In the case of a reflecting surface, this form of emission is assumed to be the case, regardless of the light's incident direction. Such surfaces are now referred to as 'Perfectly Diffuse' or 'Lambertian'. "Lambert demonstrated these principles in the only way available at the time: by contriving often ingenious optical arrangements that could make two immediately adjacent luminous fields appear equally bright (something that could only be determined by visual observation), when two physical quantities that produced the two fields were unequal by some specific amount (things that could be directly measured, such as angle or distance). In this way, Lambert quantified purely visual properties (such as luminous power, illumination, transparency, reflectivity) by relating them to physical parameters (such as distance, angle, radiant power, and color). Today, this is known as 'visual photometry.' Lambert was among the first to accompany experimental measurements with estimates of uncertainties based on a theory of errors and what he experimentally determined as the limits of visual assessment. "Although previous workers had pronounced photometric laws 1 and 3, Lambert established the second and added the concept of perfectly diffuse surfaces. But more importantly, as Anding pointed out in his German translation of Photometria [Leipzig, 1892], 'Lambert had incomparably clearer ideas about photometry' and with them establis.

Hardcover. Etat : Very good. First. First folio edition. Amsterdam: J.F. Bernard, 1730. Folio (20 1/8"x 13 15/16", 337mm x 511mm). [Full collation available.] With 184 hand-colored engraved plates on 94 leaves (4 with a single plate, 90 with two), numbered (single plates indicated with an asterisk): [1*] (general title-page), 1.I, 2.I, II-L*, 1.LI, 2.LI, LII-C*, CI-CLXIX CLXXI CLXXIII-CLXXXIV*. Bound in contemporary half speckled calf over speckled boards (re-backed, with the original back-strip laid down). On the spine, five raised bands. Title gilt to the second panel. Re-backed, with the original back-strip laid down. Scuffed generally and worn at the edges, with some skinning. End-papers creased, with the front end-papers laid in loose. The odd spot of foxing, but internally quite a good copy. Minor worming to the lower margin from the half-title (Ï 1) through D2. Pigment oxidation to the verso of most plates. Bookplate of Bob Luza to the front free end-paper. Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) came from a distinguished Swiss-German family; her father was Matthäus Merian and her grandfather Johann Theodor de Bry. In 1685, Merian moved with her two daughters and her mother into a Labadist community at Waltha Castle. She was so inspired by the Wunderkammer of Cornelis van Sommelsdijck, who had been governor of Surinam (Dutch Guiana or Suriname), at the castle, that she sailed for South America with her younger daughter Dorothea. There she studied, drew and collected specimens for nearly two years, focusing intently on the metamorphoses of insects there. Indeed, metamorphic insects were the principle subject of her lifelong study and publication, even before her time in Surinam; the first edition of the first part of the present work (with only European insects) was published in German in Nuremberg in 1679 as Der Raupen. It was issued in Dutch 1713-1714 as Der Rupsen. with the addition of a second part. Merian suffered a stroke in 1715 but completed the work with its third part, aided by her daughter Dorothea Maria Graff and incorporating additional material from Surinam sent by her elder daughter Johanna Helena Herolt, which was published in 1718 (after Merian's death) as the Erucarum ortus in three parts, with 150 plates in total. The work was translated into French by Jean Marret in 1730 as Histoire des insectes de l'Europe -- it now being necessary to distinguish Merian's European work from her South American. That 1730 edition was published in folio (with the same small plates, usually 2 or 4 to a page) with, according to Nissen, a total of 186 plates, including "18 nouvelles planches, dessinées par la même dame" and also in Dutch -- as the present item. Nissen disregards that two numbers, CLXX and CLXXII, are not independent plates, bringing the total plate-count to 184 (as Landwehr confirms). Four of those plates are title-wreaths (the first part-title being used as a general title, then pll. 1.LI, CI and CLXXI as the remaining three). The numbers are a little difficult to square; the fourth part, whose plates are rather larger -- ca. 203mm x 146mm -- than those of the original three parts -- ca. 154mm x 121mm, adds 31 plates (title + 30) and not 18. Bob Luza (1893-1980) was a Jewish physician in Amsterdam who amassed a large library, notably emblem books and other illustrated material. His large library was disbursed in a two-day sale by van Gendt in 1981. Cf. Hunt 483; Landwehr, Dutch Books 136 (46 leaves of plates, viz. 4 plates per leaf); Nissen, BBI 1342.

Folio. 17 text vols., 11 plate vols., 5 vols. of supplements. Without the 2 index vols. Altogether 33 vols. with 3129 plates (doubles and triples counted as such) and the engraved frontispiece. Contemporary marbled calf, gilt, with double spine labels. First edition, second printing, issued simultaneously with the final volumes of the original edition and even reproducing its predecessor's imprint down to the original years of publication. It can be distinguished from the original edition only by the missing accent over the word "Mathématique" and two additional composition errors in the title, for which reason the trade usually offers it as the first edition: indeed, among the more than fifty "Paris" folio editions of the "Encyclopédie" auctioned during the last decades, not a single one is identified as the Geneva reprint, although this edition's press-run was fully half as great as that of the Paris original. - The supplement volumes, which "had no formal connection with the original 'Encyclopédie' and involved a new group of contributors" (Darnton 33), are here present in the 1776-1777 edition published in Paris and Amsterdam, which is generally treated as part of the Paris first edition. - Lough 15-21 & 52-110. Darnton 34. Cf. PMM 200.

The port and city of Nagasaki Coloured manuscript map, preserved in folding case covered in blue cloth. A detailed manuscript plan of Nagasaki that predates the earliest printed map of Nagasaki made in 1745 (McGovern, Imago Mundi Vol.15, 1960), and the first dated map of Nagasaki which was published in 1752. It shows navigation into Nagasaki, the town, its layout and surrounding areas, orientated to the North West, names in Japanese Katakana and classical Chinese, signed in lower right corner "Chokanemon". The city, streets, temples, shrines, waterways, ships and boats, gardens and fortifications are clearly depicted. Most of these features are labelled on the map. The small fan-shaped island in the bay is Dejima, an artificial island built in 1634 to house Portuguese traders who were expelled in 1639. It was subsequently taken by the Dutch V.O.C. trading out of Batavia in 1641. During most of the Edo period Dejima was the single place of direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world. Above Dejima are two Dutch trading ships with flying flags and several local vessels. At that time, the Dutch sent out ships on a yearly base to Nagasaki. The printed maps are all of a later date and are showing therefore more ships. To the south west of Dejima is the Tojin district where the Chinese lived, shown with small buildings with blue roofs. It was an important conduit for Chinese goods and information for the Japanese market. The plan clearly marks the Shorikisha, the largest Shinto shrine, and Yakusho, the administration building supervising foreigners and overseas trade, as well as numerous Buddhist temples and several rice warehouses. A scale of seven colours is given to indicate different domains, starting from the left: grey for the lands of the feudal lord, yellow for Shimabara land, violet for Omura family land, blue for water, red for roads, dark yellow for rice fields and white for the city centre. Nagasaki was a small fishing village in the 16th century but grew to be one of the most important cities in Japan by the late 17th century, since it was the only foreign trading port and brought considerable wealth to the city. It was also a place where European ideas began to infiltrate Japanese society in thought, medicine and science.

A FINE MANUSCRIPT CHART OF THE ADRIATIC BY A PROMINENT PORTUGUESE CARTOGRAPHER Manuscript chart on paper 20 7/8" x 52" c. 1799 This original manuscript chart of the Adriatic Sea is a fine work by one of the foremost Portuguese cartographers of the nineteenth century. The map comprises the eastern coasts of Italy, the Gulf of Venice and the Adriatic coast south to Corfu. It shows the coastlines in great detail, noting ports, harbors, shoals and rocks, with soundings on the Italian coasts, naming the principal bays and capes . It is flawlessly drafted in a meticulous and intricate calligraphic style that is highly suited to the representation of hydrographical information. This is a superb example of the "scientific school" of cartography that arose in the European Enlightenment: spare and elegant, its aesthetic quality comes from its restraint and precision, while all overtly decorative flourishes are banished. Marino Miguel Franzini was the son of noted Italian mathematician Miguel Franzini, tutor to the future king of Portugal João VI and professor at the venerable University of Coimbra. His son, Marino Miguel Franzini, began his career in the Portuguese Navy, which was disbanded by the French general Jean-Andoche Junot shortly after his successful (if short-lived) invasion of Portugal in 1807. Franzini then held a position as major in the Corps of Engineers before being enlisted into the Legião Portuguesa by Junot. In 1811 he published his map of the Portuguese coast Carta geral que comprehende os planos das Principaes Barras de Portugal, which was followed by statistical, cartographic and scientific works, including his meteorological observations, which were the first to be made in Portugal. In later life, Franzini held political, military and legal positions, among them Director of the Military Archive, Minister of State, and member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon. This is an important original map of the Adriatic by one of the most prominent figures in Portuguese Enlightenment cartography. Book.

Hardcover. Etat : Very Good. Two volumes. Second state of portrait as usual. Two volumes. Second state of portrait as almost always. Contemporary calf rebacked at an early date, endpapers replaced. Some browning and rubbing. A very good set. FIRST EDITION. This is a handsome set of Teerink s A edition, the true first edition. As Sir William Temple s secretary at Moor Park, the young Swift had access to many travel accounts in Temple s library. A frequent reader of such books during his formative years, Swift began working in 1714 on his own fictional account of the travels of Martin Scriblerus. The success of Robinson Crusoe (1719) helped spur on the writing of the book, a satire not only of travel narratives but of many aspects of eighteenth-century life including politics, science, commerce, and society. By the 1720s that work had become Gulliver s Travels. In March 1726 Swift came to England for the first time since 1714, bringing the manuscript of Gulliver s Travels. To preserve his anonymity, Swift dealt with Motte by post and through intermediaries. It has always been assumed that political prudence was the main reason for Swift s so carefully preserving the secret of his authorship. Certainly Swift enjoyed the thought (whether real or illusion) of writing dangerously (Lock, The Text of Gulliver s Travels ). The author returned to Dublin even before the parcel had been delivered to the publisher. Although it was rumored that Swift was the author, he maintained the fiction that he knew nothing of the authorship in his conversation and correspondence. Motte hurried the book into print, using five printers who took different sections of the text. The initial printing (Teerink A) sold out within one week, and two additional editions (AA and B) soon followed. Gulliver s Travels was an immediate success, and the book has remained one of the enduring classics of English literature. John Gay wrote that from the highest to the lowest it is universally read, from the Cabinet Council to the Nursery. The influence of Gulliver s Travels has been vast. The terms Lilliputian, Brobdingnagian, and Yahoo have entered the language. The book inspired countless sequels, adaptations, parodies, and imitations worldwide in print, comics, cartoons, television, stage, and film. The wildly imaginative book became a source of inspiration for authors from Voltaire to Orwell, and it is one of the few works of fiction of its time that is still widely read for pleasure. Teerink 28 (A edition). Rothschild 2104-6. Printing and the Mind of Man 289. Grolier/English 42.