Search Results: Authors starting with R from SOPHIA RARE BOOKS

Paris: for the author, 1588. First edition. DIBNER 173: RENAISSANCE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING A LANDMARK IN BOOK DESIGN. First edition, in a beautiful contemporary binding, of one of the most famous illustrated books of the sixteenth century and a landmark in book design. "The military engineer Agostino Ramelli produced a remarkable illustrated book in 1588 describing a large number of machines that he devised. Called Le diverse et artificiose machine del Capitano Agostino Ramelli (The various and ingenious machines of Captain Agostino Ramelli); this work had a great impact in the field of mechanical engineering. The book contains 195 superb engravings of various machines along with detailed descriptions of each one in both French and Italian" (Brashear). About half of the engravings depict hydraulic devices, the rest showing military machines as well as fountains, bridges, cranes, foundry equipment, etc., and a smattering of innovative devices such as the famous 'reading wheel' or the bouquet with… Read More

Würzburg: Verlag und Druck der Stahel'schen K. Hof- und Universitäts-Buch und Kunsthandlung, 1896. First edition. Soft cover. EVANS 46 - DISCOVERY OF X-RAYS. First editions, first issues, and fine copies, of the rare offprints of Röntgen's discovery of X-rays, the most important contribution to medical diagnosis in a century, and a key to modern physics. "While performing experiments with a Crookes vacuum tube, a type of cathode-ray tube, Röntgen observed that some agent produced in the tube was causing barium platinocyanide crystals to fluoresce. Upon investigation he found that the fluorescence was caused by unknown rays (which he named 'X-rays') originating from the spot where cathode rays hit the glass wall of the vacuum tube. He announced his discovery in the present paper, which described the rays' photographic properties and their amazing ability to penetrate all substances, even living flesh. Although he was unable to determine the true physical nature of the rays, Röntgen was certain… Read More

Paris: Antoine Bertier, 1644. First edition. THE LAW OF UNIVERSAL ATTRACTION . First edition, exceptionally rare, of Roberval's cosmology, in which he expresses, covertly, his support for Copernicus, and also formulates for the first time the law of universal attraction - that any two material bodies in the universe attract each other. This principle is normally ascribed to Robert Hooke, who published it three decades later, and to Newton in the Principia (1687). Roberval (1602-75) was one of the most brilliant members of Mersenne's circle. He developed indivisibles independently of Cavalieri, invented an original method of drawing tangents, and solved many of the problems on the cycloid that were formulated and solved by Pascal two decades later. However, since almost nothing of his work was published in his lifetime, he was for long eclipsed by Fermat, Pascal, and, above all, by Descartes, his irreconcilable adversary. In fact, Roberval himself published only two works, the Traité de mécanique… Read More

Paris: Didot jeune and Knapen & Delaguette, 1772. First edition. A FUNDAMENTAL WORK OF MODERN CRYSTALLOGRAPHY - VERY RARE LARGE PAPER COPY. First edition, a magnificent and very rare large paper copy (both larger and printed on thicker paper than the octavo issue), of one of the fundamental works of modern crystallography; it appeared 12 years before Haüy's Essai d'une Théorie sur la Structure des Cristaux. Romé de L'Isle established that various shapes of crystals of the same natural or artificial substance are all closely related to each other. Measurements he took with a goniometer enabled him to determine that the angles between corresponding faces of a crystal are always the same, which earlier had only been described in specific cases, in particular by Niels Steno (this is often described as the first law of crystallography). In addition, he demonstrated that these angles are a characteristic of mineral type, introduced the concept of truncation, and also enlarged the crystallographic… Read More

Stockholm: Lars Salvius, 1764. First edition. A seminal treatise on paediatrics. First edition in book form, rare, of this seminal treatise on paediatrics. "Sir Frederic Still considered this work 'the most progressive which had yet been written;' it gave an impetus to research which influenced the future course of paediatrics. Rosen was particularly interested in infant feeding. The Underrattelser were originally published in the calendars of the Academy and were later collected and issued in book form in 1764" (Garrison-Morton). "In 1764 a very important work on the diseases of children and their treatment was published in Stockholm by a physician who had already become famous" (Still). The book contained chapters on such topics as smallpox and smallpox inoculation, teething, and measles. Also included were suggestions on the frequency of breastfeeding and information on how breastfeeding affects an infant's health. He was ahead of his time when he recommended feeding young children with diluted… Read More

Nuremberg: Johann Joseph Fleischmann, 1758. First edition. "ONE OF THE CLASSICS OF AMPHIBIOLOGY" (WOOD) . First edition of one of the most beautiful works devoted to frogs and toads, with a strikingly beautiful frontispiece after the author, preface by Alfred von Haller and plates depicting all the then known species of frogs and toads indigenous to the locality of Nuremberg. Wood describes the work as "one of the classics of amphibiology. The illustrations are of the finest, and the whole work is admirably done ... altogether a very valuable, early contribution to the literature of the batrachia." "During his research on insects, Roesel studied amphibians and reptiles. This work culminated in the publication of Historia naturalis ranarum in several instalments between 1753 and 1758. When all of them had appeared, Albrecht von Haller offered to contribute a preface to the work. The text of the Historia, printed in both Latin and German, contains descriptions of all the German frogs and toads. The… Read More

Bologne: Stamperia di S. Tommaso d'Aquino, 1799. First edition. Soft cover. UNSOLVABILITY OF THE QUINTIC. First edition, very rare, of the first statement and proof that the general equation of degree five or more cannot be solved algebraically. This is a remarkable author's presentation copy, uncut in the publisher's printed wrappers. "One of the most fascinating results in the realm of algebra - indeed in all of mathematics - is the theorem that the general polynomial of degree ≥ 5 is not solvable by radicals. Its discovery at the very end of the 18th century went counter to the belief and expectations of mathematical scholars; it came as a great surprise and was naturally met with scepticism ... this revolutionary idea was not accepted without a great deal of resistance" (Ayoub, p. 253). An exception was the great French mathematician Augustin-Louis Cauchy, who wrote to Ruffini in 1821: "Your memoir on the general resolution of equations is a work that has always seemed to me worthy of the… Read More

Bologna: Heirs of Giovanni Rossi, 1598. First edition. DIBNER 186: ONE OF THE GREAT RARITIES OF EARLY ZOOTOMICAL LITERATURE - PRESENTED BY THE AUTHOR IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION . First edition, first issue, of this sumptuous work, presented by the author in its year of publication and of his own death. This is "one of the great rarities of early zootomical literature" (Cole, p. 90), with illustrations considered comparable to those in Vesalius' Fabrica. "The unusual rarity of the first edition might be partially explained by the fact that a portion of the sheets of the first edition were reissued the following year by Gaspare Bindoni in Venice. Copies of this second issue, which is also rare, contain a cancel title and a different dedication leaf, changing the dedication to César, Duke of Vendôme, natural son of Henri IV" (Norman). "His book is the first devoted to the anatomy of an animal, and is one of the finest achievements of the heroic age of Anatomy" (Singer, The Evolution of Anatomy, p.… Read More

First edition. Hardcover. RUTHERFORD ON RADIUM. Important letter from Rutherford to Charles Herman Viol requesting information about the production of radium, in preparation for a series of lectures he was to deliver at The Royal Institution. "From 1921, when he succeeded [J. J.] Thomson, until his death, Rutherford was professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution in London, a post that entailed several lectures each year" (DSB). Rutherford (1871-1937) had moved in 1919 from Manchester to Cambridge, where he was director of the Cavendish Laboratory. There he continued his research on radioactivity, mainly in collaboration with James Chadwick, work which depended on a steady supply of radioactive materials. Since 1913 Viol had been director of research at the US Standard Chemical Company, the first successful large-scale producer of radium, and editor of its in-house journal Radium. He was thus in an excellent position to respond to Rutherford's request. Rutherford letters with significant… Read More