On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection Association Copy by Darwin, Charles - 1861

1888. HERTZ, H[einrich]. UBER STRAHLEN ELEKTRISCHER KRAFT. (Berlin: Gedruckt in der Reichsdruckerei, 1888.) Offprint from Sitzungsberichte der Koniglich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1888, No. 50, pp. 1297 - 1307. The text of a lecture on electric waves delivered 13 December 1888, it relates qualitative experiments undertaken by Hertz, at the Karlsruhe Polytechnic, on the analogy between electric and light waves. Passing electric waves through huge prisms of hard pitch, he showed that they refract exactly as light waves do. He polarized electric waves by directing them through a grating of parallel wires, and he diffracted them by interrupting them with a screen with a hole in it. He reflected them from the walls of the room, obtaining interference between the original and the reflected waves. He focused them with huge concave mirrors, casting electric shadows with conducting obstacles. This is the first print appearance, preceding its appearance in Annalen der Physik (36, p.… Read More

London: John Martyn & James Allestry, 1670 Sylva or a Discourse of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in his Majesties Dominions, as It was delivered to the Royal Society the XVth of October, 1662, upon occasion of certain queries propounded to that illustrious assembly by the honourable the principal officers, and commisioners of the navy to which is annexed Pomona, or an appendix concerning fruit trees in relation to cider; the making and severall wayes of ordering it; published by expresse order of the Royal Society. Also Kalendarum Hortense; or the Gardners' Almanak; directing what he is to do monthly throughout the year. All which several treatises are in this second edition much enlarged and improved. [4]. 247, [4], 67,33, plus errata.Five copper plate engravings plus engraved title page. Bound in period leather with five raised bands, later black spine label with gilt titles and borders. Front hinge with old repair, half title with old repair of a closed tear, intermittent… Read More

1670. Lugduni [Lyon], Apud Ioannem Thioly, 1670. 8vo. Contemporary half calf with simple gilding to spine. Gilt title-label to spine partly missing. Four tiny worm-holes to upper front hinge, just touching front free end-papers and nothing else. Minor edge-wear, but a nice, clean, and tight binding. Ex-libris stamps to title-page (one being R.D.-E. Gelin's, the other unlegible but probably a theological library). Mostly very faint marginal dampstaining to lower margin thorughout, not touching text. Neat old owner's name to inside of front board (Soldner). Without the two blank leaves between the end of the dedication and the beginning of the text (there is clearly no leaf with any text lacking; there is either a pagination-error, or there has been one or two blank leaves between the end of the dedication and the beginning of the work. In the other copies that we have been able to find collations of, there has been no leaf a4 nor A1 either - there is no doubt that the text is complete), and without… Read More

Oppenheim: Par Iean Theodore dé Bry marchant libraire & bourgeois d'Oppenheim qui est sur le Rhin, 1619. Small quarto (19.5 x 14 cm.), [7], 8-72 pages, five plates engraved on copper, one folding. ~ FIRST FRENCH LANGUAGE EDITION and FIRST SEPARATE EDITION. The first book on individual heating using stoves. A rare work on improvements in fireplaces and stoves, featuring five plates of ornate examples. It was published by the copper engraver and publisher Jean Theodore de Bry (1561-1623), born in Strasbourg, who settled in Oppenheim in 1609. The text was published by the same publisher the previous year in German as part of a larger work by the author and titled Holzsparkunst. Franz Keslar or Kessler (circa 1580 - circa 1630) a painter from Frankfurt, describes several models of heating previously unrecorded in France. Keslar's innovation was a response to the dwindling supply of wood for heating and cooking throughout the Continent, promoting a transition from the use of hearths to the more efficient… Read More

Paris: Masson et Cie, Libraires de l'Académie de Médecine, 1959. Octavo. Original grey wrappers printed in black. 3 double-sided plates from photographs. Wrappers rubbed, a little creased, and partially tanned with a few small spots and marks. Slight crease affecting the margins of the first half of the contents. A very good copy. First edition, first impression of this uncommon and important monograph on bacterial genetics. An exceptional presentation copy signed by author François Jacob, with whom Brenner would partner only a year later to perform one of the most elegant experiments in the history of biochemistry, proving the role of messenger RNA and elucidating a key mechanism in the cell's process for decoding DNA. Cheekily inscribed by Jacob's co-author, Elie Wollman (1917-2008), "To Sydney Brenner, to disgust him / a good of bacterial sex" (possibly missing the word "dose" or similar before "bacterial sex"). And with Brenner's ownership signature in pencil on the upper cover. Wollman and… Read More

Antwerp: Christopher Plantin, 1574. Book. Very good- condition. Hardcover. Early edition. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. Three important early textbooks in ethics, physics, mathematical geography; in De sphaera are eleven illustrations; bound in early vellum, rebacked; edges colored red with some bleeding into leaves and some staining, not affecting text. Title pages have printer's device. Valerius (1512-1578), professor at Louvain and author of popular textbooks, professed the Capellan system. Category: Astronomy - Early works to 1800..

Venice: Comin da Trino di Monferrato, 1558. Hardcover. See Description. Third Edition. 4to in 8’s. ff. [8], 168. Including decorative initials and 84 woodcut illustrations with the text. Title within woodcut border depicting a variety of metallurgical and mining equipment. Final leaf (recto) contains a printer’s device and colophon - "In Vinegia per Comin da Trino di Monferrato MDLIX" [1559]. Attractive copy. Pages are generally clean and fresh with occasional mild spotting / staining. An old bookplate from the "Royal Military College" is located on the inside front cover. The bookplate is stamped "Sold by H.M Stationery Office." Bound in original limp vellum (minus thong fore-edge ties). Minus binder’s blank fly-leaf in the rear. Vannoccio Biringuccio (1480-1539?) was a Siennese nobleman, engineer and metallurgist. His "Pirotechnia" (first published in Venice, 1540) is considered the earliest detailed hand-book on metallurgy. The work contains… Read More

London: John Martyn & James Allestry, 1670 Sylva or a Discourse of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in his Majesties Dominions, as It was delivered to the Royal Society the XVth of October, 1662, upon occasion of certain queries propounded to that illustrious assembly by the honourable the principal officers, and commisioners of the navy to which is annexed Pomona, or an appendix concerning fruit trees in relation to cider; the making and severall wayes of ordering it; published by expresse order of the Royal Society. Also Kalendarum Hortense; or the Gardners' Almanak; directing what he is to do monthly throughout the year. All which several treatises are in this second edition much enlarged and improved. [4]. 247, [4], 67,33, plus errata.Five copper plate engravings plus engraved title page. Bound in period leather with five raised bands, later black spine label with gilt titles and borders. Front hinge with old repair, half title with old repair of a closed tear, intermittent… Read More

London: Thomas Cotes, 1640. First edition. Large thick folio, title page, dedication page, preface two pages, author's tributes ten pages, then (ii), 1734 (but actually slightly less as there are several errors of pagination), illustrated with over 2,100 woodcut figures, lacking the extra engraved title page, the 20-page addenda at the rear and the errata leaf, but otherwise complete and very sound. The contents are extremely clean and tight, there is the odd crease and an occasional tiny corner missing but overall in impressive condition. The front and rear endpapers are a little browned and marked, both front and rear hinges are cracked and showing a little silver-fish damage but there is no weakness at all. Full panelled calf, probably eighteenth century but possibly earlier, a little rubbed, a little worn at the edges, scuffed on the upper cover, rebacked fairly recently with a leather spine and red morocco label. Blanche Henrey 286. [ Very heavy - extra postage will be required.]. [John… Read More

Taipei, Taiwan: Newmoon Book Co., Ltd., 1956 - 1965. Reprint. SIGNED PRESENTATION COPY OF FIRST 5 VOLUMES OF JOSEPH NEEDHAM'S MONUMENTAL HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN CHINA: HONG KONG, TAIWAN CONNECTIONSFive hardcover volumes, 9 3/4 inches tall small quarto, beige cloth boards, spine lettering in red, endpapers discolored, otherwise very good in very good dust jackets. VOL. I. Introductory Orientations. Joseph Needham, with the research assistance of Wang Ling (reprinted 1961; Cambridge 1954). xxxviii, 318 pp, tables, bibliographies, figures, 2 large folding maps. Inscribed and signed on title page, "for Franklin Woo and Marcus Woo/Hongkong Mar 74/Joseph Needham" with author's signature in English and Chinese. Also handstamped date, 1 May 1974, lower right corner of title page. Same date stamp right upper corner of rear endpaper, with address to left of date: "Bishop's House/Hong Kong/May 1, 1974". Rear endpaper, flyleaf and paste-down filled with notes in blue and red ink, presumably by Woo; VOL. II. History… Read More