Search Results: Authors starting with H from Alembic Rare Books

Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1944. Quarto. 14-page offprint. Original orange wrappers printed in black. Just a little rubbed and toned along the edges, contents very lightly toned in the margins. An excellent copy. The true offprint, in the orange wrappers, of the third of Hahn and Strassman's "three fundamental papers on nuclear fission, containing the first comprehensive account of the phenomenon" (Hook & Norman, Norman Library of Science and Medicine 963). Offprints in the orange wrappers labelled "Einzelausgabe" are the true offprints, because these only ever contained a single paper. The "Abhandlungen" issues in the green wrappers are not true offprints because they could contain multiple papers, though in the case of the Hahn & Strassman fission papers each contains only the one paper. "In 1938 Hahn and Strassman had demonstrated the presence of radioactive barium, lanthanum and cerium among the products of neutron bombardment of uranium, an observation that seemed to contradict all… Read More

Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1939. Quarto. 20-page offprint, original green wrappers printed in black. A little fading along the spine and edges, lightly rubbed at the extremities. An excellent copy. The Abhandlungen offprint of the first of Hahn and Strassman's "three fundamental papers on nuclear fission, containing the first comprehensive account of the phenomenon" (Hook & Norman, Norman Library of Science and Medicine 963). Abhandlungen issues in the green wrappers are not true offprints because they could contain multiple papers, though in the case of the Hahn & Strassman fission papers each contains only the one paper. Offprints in the orange wrappers labelled "Einzelausgabe" are the true offprints, as they only ever contained a single paper. "In 1938 Hahn and Strassman had demonstrated the presence of radioactive barium, lanthanum and cerium among the products of neutron bombardment of uranium, an observation that seemed to contradict all previous experiences of nuclear physics"… Read More

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office for the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, 1992. Quarto. Original green boards, titles to spine and crest with balance and crown to the upper board gilt. With the dust jacket. Illustrations from photographs throughout the text. Corners bumped, also slightly affecting the corners of the dust jacket, but otherwise fresh. An excellent copy. First edition, first impression of this comprehensive account of the history of government chemical and measurement standards laboratories in the United Kingdom. A very nice copy. The recipient of this volume, Sir Robert Robertson, was an expert on explosives and made numerous contributions to their development and manufacture in colonial India and during the Boer War and both World Wars. Appointed government chemist in 1921, he also "pursued important fundamental research. In collaboration with John Jacob Fox, who succeeded him as government chemist, he made a detailed study of the infra-red absorption of the gases… Read More

New York: Bloomsbury, 2009. Octavo. Original black boards, titles to spine in silver. With the dust jacket. Illustrations and charts within the text. Spine a little rolled. An excellent, fresh copy in the bright jacket. First edition, first printing of this important popular work by leading climate scientist James Hansen (1941 - ). Hansen, currently director of the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions at Columbia University, has been studying climate change since the 1970s, making important contributions to our understanding of the atmosphere of Venus; how the global average temperature is measured and calculated; the effects of black carbon (such as that produced by forest fires and burning coal); and the design and analysis of climate models, showing that climate change has been occurring faster than most early models predicted. Hansen first came to public prominence when he testified to Congress in 1988 on the causes and effects of climate change. In recent years he has been an… Read More

Bethesda, Maryland: privately published, 1988. Comb-bound photocopy, text on both the rectos and versos. Title on yellow paper. Original brown paper covers, the upper cover with a plastic window for the title and "BK Dynamics" embossed in gold. The author's Directed Technologies business card, with the address corrected by hand, is stapled to the upper cover. Illustrations, charts and graphs throughout, one coloured by hand. The author's name and address in pencil partially erased from the title. Occasional additions and corrections made by taping or pasting in new slips of paper. The "second edition" of this rare and unusual self-published text proposing to correct the entire field of modern physics by reframing it metaphysically. Described as a "not-for-sale" edition "limited to 100 copies", this copy was sent to Allan R. Sandage, the astronomer who determined the first reasonably accurate values for the Hubble Constant and the age of the universe and was considered "the greatest and most… Read More

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1947. Soft cover. Very Good. Octavo. Original cream wrappers printed in brown. 2 plates from photographs, equations and charts within the text. Ownership signature to upper cover, title and author's name written in ink on the spine. Wrappers tanned, crease to lower cover also slightly affecting final ten leaves. A very good copy. First edition, first impression of "the first booklet on electronic computers separately published by a conventional publisher, and also one of the earliest discussions of how these machines could be used in scientific calculations" (Origins of Cyberspace 649). In addition to his significant contributions to ballistics and quantum theory, British mathematician Douglas Hartree (1897-1958) was a leader in efforts to automate scientific calculations. He was "involved in the development of the digital electronic computer, which emerged from wartime attempts to automate calculation further... In 1946 Hartree's advice was sought in the… Read More

London: Macmillan & Co., 1875. Octavo. Original green cloth elaborately blocked in gilt and black with floral designs on the spine and upper board, brown coated endpapers. Burn & Co. binder's ticket to the rear pastedown. 9 steel engraved plates, steel engravings throughout the text. Single leaf of ads at rear. Blind stamp of the W. H. Smith lending library to the front free endpaper. Cloth only very lightly rubbed at the extremities with a few small marks, a few light spots to the title. An excellent copy. First edition, and a lovely copy, of this delightful, well-illustrated work on flower arrangements and indoor plants that was highly praised by contemporaries. By 1875, botanical pursuits such as flower collecting, pressing, and arranging had been a major hobby for British women for at least a generation. Floral Decorations for the Dwelling House expanded on the work of earlier authors, such as A. E. Maling (Flowers for Ornament and Decoration, 1875), by adding advice on living plants in addition… Read More

Edinburgh & London: W. and D. Lang; Treuttel and Wurtz ad Richter, 1832. Octavo. Original brown morieé silk, printed paper label to spine. 2 hand-coloured maps, one being the double page folding frontispiece, 6 lithographed plates of which 3 are double page, 18 illustrations within the text. Table and directions to the binder at rear. Publisher's advert on the front pastedown, covered by a late-19th century Munden family bookplate. Splits at the head of the spine, some small worn spots at the extremities, joints cracked, some light offsetting affecting the maps, a few of the plates darkened, light spotting to the edges of the text block. Edges untrimmed. Very good condition. First and only edition of this rare work on the effect of volcanic activity on the development of the Rhine Valley, in the original cloth. WorldCat locates only three copies, at Berlin, Göttingen, and the University of Manchester. Only two have appeared at auction in the last decade, this copy at Forum Auctions in 2017 and one… Read More

New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1940. Octavo. Original buff cloth, titles to spine and upper board blocked in green, decorative design blocked in brown, top edge dyed green. 8 double-sided plates. Light rubbing at the extremities, small bump to the edge of the lower board, small white spot to spine, slight abrasions and creasing to the edges of a few leaves, some light spotting to the plates. A very good copy. First edition, first printing, presentation copy inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Inscribed for Dr. G. A. C. Colston, from his long-time associate, Justine Hill, Baltimore, Mar 26, 1940". This work on disease-causing microbes was described as "the best popular presentation that had yet appeared" on the subject by psychiatrist Karl Menninger (Ogilvie, Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science, p. 601). Author Justina Hill (1893-?) attended Smith College and the University of Michigan, then served as a Red Cross worker, running a bacteriological laboratory in Spartanburg,… Read More

New York: Workman Publishing, 1988. Octavo. Original black boards, black cloth backstrip, titles to spine gilt, red endpapers. With the dust jacket. 4 double-sided plates from colour photographs, black and white illustrations throughout the text. Spine rolled. An excellent copy in the fresh dust jacket. First edition, first printing. A lovely copy of this important memoir of excavating Egg Mountain in Montana, one of the most productive fossil beds on earth and the location of both the first dinosaur embryos and the first nests of baby dinosaurs to be discovered. John "Jack" Horner (1946 – ) is one of the most recognisable of contemporary palaeontologists. The recipient of numerous awards, including a McArthur Fellowship, for his work on dinosaur reproduction, development, and physiology, he was also a staple of 1980s and 90s documentaries and served as a technical advisor for the Jurassic Park films, whose main character, Dr. Alan Grant, he partially inspired. Horner has come under scrutiny in… Read More

London: Collins, 1967. Octavo. Original black boards, titles to spine gilt. With the dust jacket. Bookplate of Eric J. Hosking. Tail of spine a little bumped, lightly rubbed at the edges. An excellent copy in the jacket that is also a little faded on the spine panel and edges, and lightly rubbed at the extremities. First edition, first impression of this masterpiece of 20th century nature writing, cited by Ted Hughes, Andrew Motion, Werner Herzog, and others, as one of the most important works of its kind. Uncommon in such nice condition in the dust jacket. This copy from the library of eminent bird photographer Eric J. Hosking, with his owl bookplate. Author J. A. Baker (1926-1987) was a librarian who spent ten years tracking peregrine falcons in coastal Essex during the 1950s and 60s. This, the first of his two published works, distils his observations of the birds and their changing habitat into a lyrical account of a single year, beginning in autumn with the birds' migration from Scandinavia.… Read More

London: Methuen & Co., 1906. Quarto. Original red cloth, titles to spine and upper board gilt. Frontispiece and 22 plates, roundel of Francis Bacon to the title page. The list of illustrations includes 22 numbered plates as well as the frontispiece and, unusually, also counts the title page roundel and the gilt crest on the upper board, making a total of 25 "illustrations". Loosely inserted in this copy is a photographic reproduction, probably from microfiche, of a manuscript document dating to 1670. Occasional light pencil marks in the contents, faint chemical smell from the inserted microfiche reproduction. Cloth lightly rubbed at the tips, small tear at the head of the spine, which is faintly toned. An excellent copy. First edition, first impression of this history of the Royal Society, from the library of chemist Sir Robert Robertson (1869-1949). The contents also include addresses by Huggins on the importance of fundamental research to industry and the state, the relationships between the Royal… Read More

Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, April 1943. Large octavo. Original buff cloth, titles to spine and upper board in red. Illustrations throughout the text. Ownership inscriptions to the front free endpaper, manuscript notes and underlining throughout, a few pieces of related material taped-in and loosely inserted, cloth rubbed, scratched, and marked, large gauge from the spine, which is also rolled, wear at the corners and spine ends. A good copy. Second impression of the second edition of this classic textbook that was originally published in 1922. A battered copy that is of interest for the extensive notes and other signs of use by university students. The ownership inscriptions on the front free endpaper are "A. Graham Zool '48" and "Sydeny Rosen Meds 49". The text is full of notes and underlining in multiple pencil colours and by different hands; some of the illustrations have been coloured in for study purposes; and material has also been taped in and loosely inserted, including a… Read More