Search Results: Math & Science from George Robert Minkoff, Inc.

Early English treatise on maritime laws, namely navigation, shipping, tonnage, customs, and trade, printed in both Roman and black letter fonts.With an early engraved bookplate of Marques of Tweeddale. Also with the signature of Nathaniel Westland, dated 1675. Westland, a prominent merchant from Burlington, New Jersey, was appointed agent for the sale of land by the West New Jersey Society, a great land company organized in London in 1691. Being a merchant, Westland would have had much use of this book to check shipping rates on cargo from England. Small 8vo. Leather binding, rebacked, leather label on spine. In the Savoy: Printed by the Assigns of J. Bill and Chr. Barker, 1675. First Edition. Fine.

Hardcover. Fine. Illustrated with 1 large folding lithographed plate and 12 double-page lithographed plates. 4to. Modern ¾-blue cloth-backed marbled boards, gilt ruled spine bound in antique style, with gilt lettering and designs in compartments. London: Published by R. Ackermann, 1820. First Edition in English, with additional material. Engineering techniques of the mid-19th century were very sophisticated and many British engineers, such as Henry Maudsley and William Donkin, accepted that Lanz and Béttancourts seminal work had greatly influenced them. The work was originally published in 1808 by Jean Nicholas Pierre Hachette as a text for his engineering students. It complemented his own Programme du cours élémentaire des machines. Hachette taught at the Ecole Polytechnique, the first school that instilled rigorous mathematical training for engineers, and occupied an important role in engineering education in the 19th century. Minor wear to covers and spine; title page… Read More

Johannes Dryander. Annulorum trium diversi generis instrumentorum.Illustrated with large woodcut of an armillary sphere on title-page and the divisional title to Regiomontanus; verso of title-page with a large woodcut of "Dryander's astronomical rings" suspended from a hand in the clouds; numerous woodcut illustrations and diagrams in text; woodcut printer's device on pi4v and verso of final leaf; several large historiated woodcut initials. Text in Latin (a few passages in Greek). Slim 4to. Modern ¼-vellum (using old material) over marbled boards; printed paper title-label in gothic script pasted on front cover. Printed in Marburg by Eucharius Cervicornus, 1537. First Edition of this important assembly of texts on a popular Renaissance astronomical instrument: the astronomical ring-dial, a precursor of the equatorial. (Adams D940; BM STC German p 255; Houzeau and Lancaster 2459; Honeyman Collection 930; Zinner 1661)The ring-dial was intended as a navigational aid and could be adjusted for different… Read More

4to. Modern half-calf over marbled boards, red leather label on spine. London: Printed for W. Nicoll and C. Etherington, 1767. First Edition. With a list of subscribers and a fold-out chart measuring rainfall in England for 1755-66. A fascinating set of contemporary statistics and observations on population patterns, cultural movements, food supply and meteorology in England for three hundred years – well within the life of Shakespeare. Therefore, it gives some implications for society in the time of Shakespeare. It is thought that Malthus may have used some of Short's methodologies; also it is known that Benjamin Franklin read the book. With the bookplate and perforated stamps of the John Crerar Library; minor bowing of the boards; light foxing on initial and final leaves; o/w a Fine Copy.

The Contents, Virtues, and Uses of Nevil-Holt Spaw-Water, Further Proved, Illustrated, and Explained, from Experiments and Reason. With some Histories of its Signal Effects in Various Diseases. . . Collected by Several Hands. 8vo. Bound in modern blind ruled light calf; black morocco label with gilt letters on the front cover. London: Printed and sold by Mr. Corbett . . . 1749. Second Edition, with several Emendations and Great Additions. Bound with:A Treatise on the Nature, Properties, and Medicinal Uses of the Waters of Pyrmont, Spa, and Seltzers. Also of the Malvern Waters, From Dr. Wall's Observations. Being a Proper Supplement to Dr. Russel's Dissertation, on the Use of Sea Water, &c. London: Printed for W. Owen . . . 1762. From the Middle Ages on doctors believed disease to be transmitted via 'miasma,' through the air. Bathing, it was thought, opened up the pores of the skin allowing the miasma into the body. Therefore, doctors recommended against bathing anything but visible areas, well into… Read More

Hardcover. Fine. Illustrated with over 100 copperplate engravings, including a folding plate and 2 double-page plates, all by Giovanni Giorgi; numerous engravings in text; woodcut printers mark on colophon page; with the phallic illustrations completely intact. (These, as noted by Graesse, are often defaced or removed.). Folio. 17th-century full calf, spine with 6 raised bands, richly tooled in compartments, title in gilt in second compartment. All edges speckled. Printed in Udine, Italy by Niccolo Schiratti for Francesco Bolzetti, 1653 (colophon dated 1652). Second Edition. First Enlarged Folio Edition, second issue, with new title page. This illustrated treatise on the sepulchral lamps of the ancients (mostly Greek and Roman) was first printed in Venice in 1621 in a smaller 4to format with fewer illustrations. (Brunet III, 1069; Cicognara 1678; Graesse IV, p.202.) Fortunio Liceti, often Latinized as Licetus, an Italian doctor, philosopher, and scientist, was professor at the universities of Padua… Read More

A JESUIT CORRECTS EULER'S THEORY OF LUNAR ATMOSPHERERuggero Giuseppe Boscovich. De Lunae Atmosphaera Dissertatio. Text in Latin. Illustrated with fold-out engraved plate comprising numerous geometric diagrams bound at the end; large woodcut device on title-page; woodcut baroque decorative head-piece and woodcut initial on page III. Errata on verso of last leaf. Slim 4to. Original Italian flexible carta rustica, later backed in parchment, untrimmed. Printed in Rome by Generoso Salomoni for Venanzio Monaldini, 1753. First Edition of this important pioneering workby Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich, the celebrated Croatian Jesuit scientist, in which he examines and disproves the claims (by Leonhard Euler among others) that the moon has an atmosphere. (Riccardi I, 177-8 (42); Honeyman Collection 422)"Boscovich's first contribution to the pluralist debate was indirect and antipluralist in its implications; in 1753 he published De lunae atmospheraera, in which he analyzed whether or not the moon possesses an… Read More

The oldest surviving geographical text written in Latin.Pomponius Mela is considered an accurate sum of the European geographical knowledge before the discovery of the New World. De orbis situ libri tres dates from the first century A.D, and was first printed in 1471.Mela's descriptions of Africa were used by the Portuguese sailors navigating the waters of the Atlantic for the first time.Hardcover. Fine. With commentary by Ioachimi Vadiani. Illustrated with elaborate woodcut title page and woodcut initials. 4to. Bound in modern brown leather, spine with 5 raised bands, gilt letters, gilt decorations. Basel 1522. First Edition with the Vadianus Appendix. Mela's text (printed in Roman) is surrounded by extensive commentary in italic by Joachim Vadianus. The volume ends with an appendix, Loca aliquot ex Vadiani commentarijs summatim repetita, & obiter explicata, consisting of Vadianus study of Melas work and attempting to address inconsistencies and problems in it. Additionally the appendix, has a coda… Read More

Illustrated with engraved title border incorporating a bell, symbolizing Campanella's name; plus a few woodcut headpieces and initials. 4to. 19th- early 20th-century sheep, with blind ruled calf covers (presumably from the original binding) laid down on both boards; spine with raised bands and gilt-lettered black morocco label. Frankfurt: Egenolph Emmel for Gottfried Tampach, 1620. First Edition. Written when Campanella was imprisoned by the Inquisition. (Krivatsy 2088; Wellcome 1236; Graesse, Trésor, VII, pp.150-151; Thorndike, VII, 291; Caillet, I, 1984; cf. Ferguson I, 138, citing 1636 edition only.)In this work Campanella, a prominent Italian Renaissance philosopher, theologian, astrologer, poet, and political thinker, expounds his vision of the natural world as a sentient organism whose individual parts are invested with life and sensitivity. On this basis he discusses natural divination, natural magic, and occult marvels. He discusses the senses, the intellect, the soul, immortality,… Read More

8vo. Full 18th century-style morocco binding by Philip Dusel, gilt ruled, gilt decorations on spine, 5 raised bands, spine label with gilt letters. A Leyde 1744. First Edition of Maupertuis' pioneering work on embryology and genetics. Maupertuis, a French mathematician, philosopher and man of letters, was the Director of the Académie des Sciences, and the first President of the Prussian Academy of Science, at the invitation of Frederick the Great. This present dissertation "was written after an albino Negro appeared in Paris. A scientist, philosopher, and original thinker, Maupertuis was years ahead of his time in many aspects of biology, particularly embryology and genetics. His arguments against the then-prevailing theory of peformation and for epigenesis were so close to the idea of evolution that he is a true forerunner of Darwin and Mendel. His theories and observations are contained in this work, which he may have had published anonymously to avoid repercussions from Church authorities."… Read More

Jacob Bryant. A Dissertation concerning the War of Troy, and the Expedition of the Grecians, as Described by Homer; Shewing that No Such Expedition was ever Undertaken, and that No Such City of Phrygia Existed. Illustrated with folding map. 4to. Late 18th or early 19th century half-calf over marbled boards, leather label on spine. London N.D. (1796 per ESTC). First Edition of Bryant's controversial dissertation in which he ignited one of the longer scholarly controversies of the 18th century, asserting that there never was a war at Troy. Bound with: John Bacon Sawrey Morritt ('Troy Morritt'). A Vindication of Homer and of the Ancient Poets and Historians, Who Have Recorded the Siege and Fall of Troy. In Answer to Two Late Publications of Mr. Bryant. Illustrated with a folding map of the plain of Troy and 5 folding plates. York 1798. First Edition of Morritt's very critical and beautifully illustrated response to Bryant. The 5 folding pictorial views include the plain of troy; the tombs of Ajax;… Read More

SATIRICAL LITHOGRAPHS OF EARLY FRENCH CARS
Encyclopédie Automobile: La Belle Epoque et Les Pionniers de L'Automoile. Illustrated with 16 original color lithographs by Guy Sabran. Oblong Folio. Original pictorial olive green folding cover; title in a frame representing the entrance to the Parisian metro station. Guimard, Champrosay, Editeur, Paris, 1956. First Edition.
Loose illustrations, as issued, inserted in folding cover. A wonderful series of color lithographs satirizing early French car culture. Illustrations are: Coupé de Ville Renault 1905; Zèbre 1904; Double Phaéton Morse 1903; Double Phaéton Delaunay-Belleville 1911; Landaulet d'Amédée Bollée 1878; Phaéton Panhard Levassor 1891; Léger George Richard 1893; Peugeot Grand Luxe 1895; Delahaye 1897; Le Petit Phaéton Renault 1898; Cabriolet Chenard et Walker 1904; Le Phaéton Bardon 1899; LA "Jamais Contente" de Jenatzy 1899; Phaéton Grand Sport Panhard 1899; - La Limousine de Ville de Léon Bollée 1899; Taxi Renault 1905. Covers… Read More

Illustrated with 68 pages of measured drawings, some full page, and 72 collotype reproductions of photographs.Oversize Folio. Original dark green cloth, blind stamped. B.T. Batsford, London 1904. First Edition. With a list of subscribers. Examples include Drayton House, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Belton House, Traquair House, etc. Some rubbing to covers, head and heel of spine chipped, some slight foxing, o/w Fine

Illustrated; with a full-page fold-out garden plan. Modern pebbled brown cloth with gilt lettering on spine. London: Published by A. Cobbett, 1838. An English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, William Cobbett gained a reputation as a rabble rouser, famed for his political publications aimed at working class readers. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm laborers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly. He was also against the Corn Laws, a tax on imported grain and although he was not a Catholic, he became a fiery advocate of Catholic Emancipation in Britain. While supporting these more progressive policies, he was at the same time opposed to abolition. Through the seeming contradictions in Cobbett's life, his opposition to authority stayed constant.Cobbett issued numerous volumes on agriculture, encouraging the cultivation of unique flora, such as a variety of maize he named "Cobbett's… Read More

Illustrated with 3 folding engraved plates. 8vo. Contemporary mottled calf binding, leather label on spine, 5 raised bands, gilt decorations. Strasbourg: Jean George Treuttel; Paris: Cuchet 1787. First Edition in French of Ehrmann's work; First Edition of Lavoisier's Mémoires. "Friedrich Ludwig Ehrmann, professor of physics at Strasbourg, was one of Lavoisier's correspondents and one of the earliest converts to his new chemical theories. A series of experiments on which Ehrmann's work... is based were conducted at the same time as Lavoisier was working on the effects of high temperatures on various substances. The results that both obtained... were so similar that Lavoisier, who must have seen Ehrmann's manuscript before its publication, requested that his own memoirs on the subject be printed together with Ehrmann's essay" Binding slightly worn; the text block bright and clean; one plate with some extra vertical creases from mis-folding; o/w Fine.

An Essay on the Principle of Population, or A View of its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness; With An Inquiry into our Prospects Respecting the Future Removal or Mitigation of the Evils which it Occasions.8vo. Modern ½-brown calf leather binding over marbled boards, gilt decorated spine with 5 raised bands, two black and red gilt lettered morocco labels; new endpapers added. London: Printed for John Murray, 1817. Fifth Edition with Important Additions. 3 volumes. An Essay on the Principle of Population was first published anonymously in 1798 through J. Johnson (London). The author was soon identified as The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus. In 1803 a second and much enlarged edition was published, with the author acknowledged. Later editions were taken from the second edition, and there are additional changes throughout the sixth edition. It has been acknowledged as one of the most influential economic works in history. Library stamps on the title pages; some numbers in pencil on the copyright… Read More

Hardcover. Fine. Illustrated with woodcut printers mark on title and sectorial titles, 3 engraved head-pieces, 3 engraved initials, 1 full-page engraving of a theatre and another engraved illustration in text (all by A. Visentini, though only one signed); 3 series of woodcuts numbered 1-33, 1-3 and 1-21; plus 6 full-page woodcuts. Folio. Original limp boards. Padua, typis Seminarii, apud Joannem Manfré, 1739 (sectional title 1741). First Edition. Poleni was known especially as a prominent physicist. His scientific activities were paralleled by archaeological and architectural researches which made him so famous that the Pope called him to Rome to examine Saint Peters dome and to propose means to prevent its further movement. This work had been devised in 9 parts, but only the 3 gathered here were ever published. The first part is the first Vitruvian bibliography reedited with scientific criteria. The second part contains a letter of Morgagni on different passages of medical interest comprised in the… Read More

Illustrated with engraved title within a scrollwork border with the coat of arms of the dedicatee, Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandino; plus 51 plates of diagrams and illustrations of measurement, of which 44 are by Pomodoro and 7 by Giovanni Scala; plus historiated initials, vignettes and 6 different tailpieces. Folio. Limp reddish-brown 19th century Italian red marbled boards, rebacked. (Rome, Appresso Stefano Paolini, 1599). First edition, first issue, of this finely illustrated manual of Euclidean geometry, with practical applications for surveyors, architects and others. 16th century treatises on surveying and other aspects of 'practical' geometry were almost exclusively written for university men. Pomodoro's was the first work on practical geometry that made a genuine attempt to render the subject accessible to practical men. [Riccardi I, 300; Mortimer, Harvard Italian 394; Honeyman 2512; Macclesfield 1655 (1667 edition). Brusaporci, 'Giovanni Pomodoro (XVI Century),' pp. 201-222 in Distinguished… Read More

Hardcover. Very Good. Illustrated with 12 full-page hand-colored engravings illustrating 24 species of amaranthus. Folio. Modern ¼-leather-backed marbled boards. Turici (Zurich): impensis Ziegleri et fil, 1790. First Edition. The only edition of a specialist botanical work on the species of amaranthus by Carolo Willdenow, director of the Berlin Botanical Garden. The engravings are designed and engraved by R.J. Schellenberg. Willdenow is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants. He was also a mentor of Alexander von Humboldt, one of the earliest and best known phytogeographers. Willdenow was interested in the adaptation of plants to climate, showing that similar climates had plants with common characteristics. His herbarium, containing more than 20,000 species, is preserved in the Botanical Garden in Berlin. Occasional foxing; title page browned; plates in very good condition.

William Robertson. An Historical Disquisition Concerning the Knowledge Which the Ancients had of India; and the Progress of Trade with that Country Prior to the Discovery of the Passage to it by the Cape of Good Hope. With an Appendix Containing Observations on the Civil Policy – the Laws and Judicial Proceedings – the Arts – the Sciences – and Religious Institutions of the Indians. Illustrated with 2 folding maps. 4to. Rebound in modern leather-backed boards. London, Printed for A. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1791. First Edition. William Robertson was an eminent Scottish historian. "Having published a highly influential History of Scotland; established his reputation with his life of Charles V; and expanded his fame with his History of America . . . Robertson turned his attention to India. The Disquisition falls into two main parts: the first two-thirds is a narrative of the commercial contacts India had with the outside world from ancient times to the sixteenth century; the remainder is a long… Read More