Search Results: Titles starting with D from SOPHIA RARE BOOKS

Vienna: Leopold J. Kaliwoda, 1745. First edition. "ONE OF THE MOST EXQUISITELY ILLUSTRATED ASTRONOMICAL WORKS EVER PRINTED" (KENNEY) - AUTHOR'S PRESENTATION COPY . First edition, author's presentation copy, of "one of the most exquisitely illustrated astronomical works ever printed" (Kenney, p. 200), which describes and illustrates the astronomical instruments in the private observatory of Marinoni, mathematician and astronomer to the Imperial Court of Austria and geodetic surveyor. Like the private observatories of Tycho Brahe and Hevelius in the two preceding centuries, Marinoni's observatory was one of the most beautiful and best equipped in Europe in his time. He built his own instruments and those illustrated here include quadrants, telescopes, micrometers, an improved Graham pendulum, and a camera obscura. Marinoni left all the instruments to the Empress Maria Theresa, to whom he dedicated this work. Some of Marinoni's astronomical observations appeared in journal articles, but many remain… Read More

Rome: Bonfadino; Facio, 1606. First edition. Hardcover. INITIATED THE TRANSITION FROM CLASSICAL GREEK GEOMETRY TO MODERN MATHEMATICS. First editions of these two rare and fundamental works on determining centres of gravity - these are fascinating copies with numerous contemporary annotations in an untouched contemporary binding. In these books Valerio transformed the Archimedean 'method of exhaustion' into a series of important theorems "so that for a whole class of convex curves and solids it was no longer necessary to establish results by special methods" (Baron, p. 101). Valerio was thus able to determine for the first time the centres of gravity of a number of 'Archimedean solids,' notably the hemispheroid and hyperboloid "which is undoubtedly one of the most difficult results in classical-Renaissance mathematics" (Napolitani & Saito, p. 108). These works were also important for initiating the transition from classical Greek geometry to modern mathematics (see below) - for example, according to… Read More

Venice: Evangelisto Deuchino, 1615. First edition. THE THEORY OF THE ARCHIMEDEAN SCREW - THE MACCLESFIELD COPY. First edition, the Macclesfield copy, of this very rare and important work of Renaissance engineering and mathematics, Guidobaldo's analysis of the theory and operation of Archimedes' most famous mechanical invention, the 'cochlea' or 'Archimedean screw'. This is a device used for raising water consisting of a helical tube wound around the outside of a cylinder; when the cylinder is inclined at an angle to the horizontal and the lower end of the tube is placed in water, rotating the cylinder causes water to be raised through the tube and ejected from the top. The Archimedean screw, and other variants of it, is still in use today; it is also used in reverse to generate hydraulic power (when water is poured into the tube at the top it causes the screw to rotate). The first to correctly explain the functioning of the Archimedean screw was Galileo: in Le meccaniche (written around 1600 but not… Read More

Zürich: Jacob Gesner, 1566. THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED BOOK ON FOSSILS. First edition and a fine copy in contemporary binding, very rare when complete, of this collection of eight treatises, the most important being De rerum fossilium [On fossil Objects], Gesner's last work, the earliest scientific attempt to classify the mineral kingdom, and the first illustrated book on fossils. "It presents a picture of the mineral kingdom as seen through the eyes of the greatest naturalist of his time" (Adams). Gesner's work contains numerous woodcuts after his own drawings, many of which are still preserved in Basel University Library. Gesner's book also famously contains the first printed illustration of a lead pencil (f. 104v). The other seven other works, by six authors, in this composite volume were all edited by Gesner. They include the first appearance of a catalogue of a mineral collection, that of Johannes Kentmann, "stated to have been the first man in Europe to make a collection of minerals." His catalogue… Read More

Leipzig: Leopold Voss, 1827. First edition. Hardcover. First edition, rare, especially in original boards as here, of von Baer's landmark paper, in which he announced the discovery of the mammalian ovum. The idea that all animals begin as eggs had been current at least since the seventeenth century, when William Harvey, in his De Generatione Animalium (1651), defended it against the false notions of spontaneous generation and the "preformation" of the foetus. Harvey's theory was strengthened in 1672, when Reinier de Graaf published his observations of the Graafian vesicle (which contains the ovum) and the process of ovulation; and in 1825, when Johann Evangelista Purkinje announced his discovery of the germinal vesicle in the embryo. However, the mammalian ovum itself remained unobserved until von Baer, in his experiments with dogs and other mammals, "plot[ted] the course of ovulation and fertilization from its later stages back to the ovary and there ... identif[ied] the minute cell which was the… Read More

Venice: Remondini, 1761. First edition. Hardcover. EVANS 98 - VIRTUALLY THE CREATION OF PATHELOGICAL ANATOMY. First edition, first issue, a very fine copy, of "one of the most important [works] in the history of medicine" (Garrison & Morton). "After Antonio Benivieni (1443-1502), Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the founder of pathological anatomy. His 'De sedibus', regarded as one of the most important books in the history of medicine, established a new era in medical research" (Norman). "Morgagni's contribution to the understanding of disease may well rank with the contributions of Vesalius in anatomy and Harvey in physiology" (Heirs of Hippocrates). "On the basis of direct examination and records of some 700 post mortem dissections, he advanced the procedure of basing diagnosis, prognosis and treatment on a detailed and comprehensive knowledge of the anatomical conditions of common diseases. In the above volumes, some of the cases are given with a precision and details hardly surpassed in… Read More

Como: Gottardo da Ponte for Agostino Gallo and Aloisio Pirovano, 1521. First edition. DIBNER 170: FIRST VERNACULAR EDITION - A SUPERB COPY. First edition in the vernacular, and a superb large copy untouched in its first binding, of one of the finest illustrated books of the Italian Renaissance. "This handbook on classical architecture is the only Roman work inspired by Greek architecture that has come down to us. It is therefore important as a prime source of many lost Greek writings on the subject and as a guide to archaeological research in Italy and Greece. By exemplifying the principles of classical architecture it became the fundamental architectural textbook for centuries. Vitruvius, who lived during the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus, and probably composed his book prior to 27 BC, was basically a theoretical rather than a practising architect and his only known work is the Basilica at Fano. The 10 books of 'On architecture' deal with principles of building in general, building materials,… Read More

[Colophon:] Venice: Venturino Ruffinello for Curtio Navo and brothers, 1540. First edition. DIBNER 38: THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE TREATISE ON THE PYROTECHNIC ARTS. First edition, very rare in contemporary binding, of the "first comprehensive treatise on the 'pyrotechnic' or fire-using arts, including mining, metallurgy, applied chemistry, gunpowder, military arts and fireworks. Virtually all of Biringuccio's descriptions are original, based upon first-hand information garnered during his various employments as a mine and forge operator, director of the Sienese mint, cannon caster and fortification builder, director of building construction at the Duomo, and head of the papal foundry and munitions works. His account of the adaptation of metals to use by alloying, working and casting excels those of Ercker and Agricola, and his sections on glass, steel and the purification of salts by crystallization were copied almost verbatim in Agricola's De re metallica (1556). Biringuccio's work is important to art… Read More

Milan: Lodovico Monza, 1678. First edition. CEVA'S THEOREM. First edition, rare, of Ceva's first and most important book. "Ceva's most important mathematical work is De lineis rectis (Milan, 1678), dedicated to Ferdinando Carlo. Chasles mentions it with praise in his Aperçu historique. In this work Ceva used the properties of the center of gravity of a system of points to obtain the relation of the segments which are produced by straight lines drawn through their intersections. He further utilized these properties in many theorems of the theory of transverse lines-for example, in placing at the points of intersection of the straight lines weights that are inversely proportional to the segments. From the relations of the weights, which are determined by the law of the lever, the relation of the segments is then derived. Ceva first applied his method, which is a combination of geometry and mechanics, to five basic figures, which he called 'elements.' He then used these in special problems, in which… Read More

London: Peter Short, 1600. First edition. Hardcover. EVANS 26 - THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC TREATISE ON ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM. First edition of "the first major English scientific treatise based on experimental methods of research. Gilbert was chiefly concerned with magnetism; but as a digression he discusses in his second book the attractive effect of amber (electrum), and thus may be regarded as the founder of electrical science. He coined the terms 'electricity,' 'electric force' and 'electric attraction.' His 'versorium', a short needle balanced on a sharp point to enable it to move freely, is the first instrument designed for the study of electrical phenomena, serving both as an electroscope and electrometer. He contended that the earth was one great magnet; he distinguished magnetic mass from weight; and he worked on the application of terrestrial magnetism to navigation. Gilbert's book influenced Kepler, Bacon, Boyle, Newton and, in particular, Galileo, who used his theories [in the Dialogo] to… Read More

Pesaro: Camillus Franceschinus, 1572. First edition. THE ONLY SURVIVING WORK OF ARISTARCHUS - THE FIRST TO PROPOSE A HELIOCENTRIC THEORY. First separate edition, rare, of Aristarchus' only surviving work, in which Aristarchus (310-230 BCE) demonstrated an ingenious method for calculating the sizes and distances of the Sun and the Moon. It was first published, with other texts, by Giorgio Valla at Venice in 1488, and again in 1498, but the present edition is more elaborate and includes the first printing of the additions by Pappus of Alexandria and those of the great Renaissance commentator Federico Commandino. "Aristarchus is celeated as being the first man to have propounded a heliocentric theory, eighteen centuries before Copernicus" (DSB). Aristarchus also said that the stars were distant suns that remained unmoved and that the size of the universe was much larger than his contemporaries believed. "Aristarchus' treatise on the sizes and distances is a purely mathematical exercise which has as… Read More

Florence: G. Cocchini, 1659. First edition. THE FIFTH BOOK OF APOLLONIUS' CONICS RECONSTRUCTED . First edition, and a fine copy, of Viviani's reconstruction of the fifth book of Apollonius of Perga's Conics, "one of the greatest scientific books of antiquity" (Stillwell), alongside those of Euclid and Archimedes. Of the eight books of the Conics only the first four were known in Latin until the mid-17th century. An Arabic manuscript of three of the missing four books came to light while Viviani was working on his reconstruction; this was published by Borelli two years later. The consonance between Viviani's reconstruction and Borelli's edition provoked great admiration. "Apollonius's theory of the conic sections (about 220 BC) is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of ancient mathematics and will remain one of the great classics of mathematical literature" (Neugebauer, p. 136). To understand its importance in modern science, we need only recall Kepler's use of the Conics in his Astronomia Nova, where… Read More

Bologna: Dominici Ferri, 1670. First edition. Hardcover. THE FIRST TREATISE ON CAPILLARITY. A fine copy of one of the most important early treatises on fluid mechanics. In this work Borelli "argues against positive levity, discusses the Torricellian experiment, takes up siphons, pumps, and the nature of fluidity, tries to understand the expansion of water while freezing, and deals with fermentation and other chemical processes" (DSB). "This work is important as the first treatise on capillarity, and for containing important investigations on the action of capillary tubes, in which the author, inter alia, formulates the law that the height of the ascent of liquids in capillary tubes is inversely proportional to their diameters. His investigations also led him to the conclusion that the phenomenon of capillarity is independent of the pressure of air" (Zeitlinger in Sotheran, First supplement, 3060). "[De motionibus naturalibus] was well known among Borelli's contemporaries and is quoted by Varignon in… Read More

Basel: Hieronymus Froben, 1546. First edition. Hardcover. THE FIRST HANDBOOK OF MODERN SYSTEMATIC MINERALOGY. An exceptionally fine copy, completely untouched in its original binding, of 'the first handbook of modern systematic mineralogy' (Grolier/Horblit 2a). "Georgius Agricola (latinized from the German 'Georg Bauer') became interested in the theoretical and practical aspects of mining, metallurgy and geology after being appointed town doctor of Joachimsthal, a silver-mining community on the east side of the Erzgebirge mountains in what is now Czechoslovakia. He published his first work on mining, Bermannns sive de re metallica dialogus, in 1530, and followed it sixteen years later with this collection of five treatises on geology and metallurgy, including the first work on physical geology ("De ortu & causis subterraneorum"); the first systematic mineralogy ("De natura fossilium"); a work on subterranean waters and gases ("De natura eorum quae effluunt ex terra"); a treatise on references to… Read More

Florence: Giorgio Marescotti, 1583. First edition. the first true textbook of botany (PMM 97). First edition, and an exceptionally fine copy, of "the first true textbook of botany' (DSB): the introduction of Cesalpino's classification system, which anticipated Linnaeus' system of binomial nomenclature. "Whereas other sixteenth-century botanists were content simply to compile vast haphazard catalogues of plants, Cesalpino was the first to devise a rational classification system based upon plant morphology, the principles of which he set forth in the first book of De plantis" (Norman). "With Andreas Caesalpinus a new era begins ... His book 'On Plants' was the first attempt to classify plants in a systematic manner based on a comparative study of forms ... The traditional division into trees, shrubs, half-shrubs and herbs is retained, but they are now subdivided into different categories according to their seed, fruit and flower. The first section contains the general system, while the other fifteen… Read More

Paris: Jacques Villery, 1643. First edition. CARDANO'S FAMOUS (AND INFAMOUS) AUTOBIOGRAPHY - THE FIRST WORK OF PSYCHOANALYSIS? First edition, extremely rare, of one of the most famous autobiographies of all time. Girolamo Cardano, famous and influential Italian humanist and natural philosopher, supposedly wrote or at least finished his autobiography after 1570, when the Inquisition had arrested him, he was forced to spend some months under arrest, to step back from his position at the university of Bologna and move to Rome. Modelling his account on the works of ancient biographers, especially on Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars, Cardano does not offer a pure autobiography in chronological order, but rather structures the work on different aspects of himself to depict his whole character: starting with his origin, his parents, his birth and a short summary of his most important life events, the author goes on to focus on his physical appearance, his health and physical activities, a quite unflattering… Read More

Nantes; Paris: the author & Forest; Bachelier, 1836. First edition. MIDY'S THEOREM ON REPEATING DECIMALS. First edition, presentation copy, extremely rare, of the privately printed proof of Midy's Theorem. "It is well known that a real number is rational if and only if its decimal expansion is a repeating decimal. For example, 2/7 = .285714285714 ... Many students also know that if n/m is a rational number reduced to lowest terms (that is, n and m relatively prime), then the number of repeated digits (we call this the length of period) depends only on m. Thus all fractions with denominator 7 have length of period 6. A sharp-eyed student may also notice that when the period (that is, the repeating digits) for 2/7 is split into its two half-periods 285 and 714, then the sum 285 + 714 = 999 is a string of nines. A little experimentation makes it appear likely that this is always true for a fraction with the denominator 7, as well as for fractions with denominators 11, 13, or 17. A natural conjecture is… Read More

London: William du Gard for Laurence Sadler and Robert Beaumont, 1650. First edition. THE FIRST FULL CLINICAL DESCRIPTION OF RICKETS . First edition, co-author's copy, of the first full clinical description of rickets, then thought to have appeared only recently in England, and the first description of infantile scurvy. "In 1645 the Royal College of Physicians assigned to Glisson, Bate and Regemorter the task of writing a book on rickets - one of the earliest Instances of collaborative medical research in England. Six years later they published De rachitide, which, though not the first, was the fullest and most important account of rickets that had yet appeared [Daniel Whistler's Leiden 1645 dissertation was the first description of rickets as a definite disease]. Glisson's investigation of the essential nature of the disease so impressed his fellow workers that they allowed him to draft the entire book, which combined the observations of the three principal investigators with those of five other… Read More

Venice: Tomasso Baglioni, 1611. First edition. THE FIRST CORRECT THEORY OF THE RAINBOW. First edition, extremely rare, of this important early work on the optics of the telescope and related optical phenomena, and containing the first essentially correct theory of the rainbow to be published. Dominis and Galileo were both teaching mathematics and physics in Padua at the same time, and it is almost certain that they knew each other. The present work has the same publisher as Galileo's Sidereus nuncius of the previous year. Dominis sought to provide the theoretical explanation behind Galileo's telescopic observations, and his work appears to have been completed before Galileo's, although published later (see below). The work was edited by Dominis's friend Giovanni Bartolo. "In the preface, Bartolo says that the work is based on notes prepared by De Dominis for his lectures at Padua and Brescia twenty years before; but he adds that De Dominis himself had revised these notes and inserted an explanation… Read More

Basel: [colophon:] Hieronymus Froben and Nicolaus Bischof, 1556. First edition. DIBNER 88: ONE OF THE EARLIEST BOOKS ON TECHNOLOGY. First edition, the Harrison D. Horblit copy, of the "first systematic treatise on mining and metallurgy and one of the first technological books of modern times" (PMM). "The twelve books of Agricola's treatise ... embrace everything connected with Renaissance mining and metallurgical industries, including administration, the duties of companies and workers, prospecting, mechanical engineering, ore processing and the manufacture of glass, sulfur and alum. Book VI provides detailed descriptions of sixteenth-century mining technologies, such as the use of water-power for crushing ore and the improvements in suction pumps and ventilation that became necessary as mine shafts were sunk deeper underground; it also includes an account of the diseases and accidents prevalent among miners, along with the means of preventing them. De re metallica remained the standard textbook on… Read More