Search Results: Titles starting with O from Antiquariaat Schierenberg

London, The Royal Society, 1789. 4to (24.0 x 17.6 cm). 16 pp. Disbound. = The author describes a method to determine with certainty the difference between venomous and non-venomous snakes and blames Linnaeus for not attempting the separate the two groups accordingly. Whether the author was right remains debatable. Published in the Society's Philosophical Transactions, volume 89. A very good, clean copy. Rare.

Vratislaviae et Bonnae, Academia Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Naturae Curiosorum, 1843. 4to (29.7 x 22.7 cm). Title pages in German and in Latin, to the volume and the work. xxxii, 312 pp.; 13 engraved plates of which four hand-coloured. Slightly later pebbled blue half cloth over marbled boards. Gilt title on the spine. Marbled endpapers. Edges speckled red. = A seldom-seen botanical work by the German medical doctor and botanist Franz Julius Ferdinand Meyen (1804-1840), compiled with the assistance of several of the foremost German botanists of the time. Published posthumously. After an apprenticeship as a pharmacist in Memel (Lithuania), Meyen came to Berlin in 1821, where he studied medicine at the University of Berlin. From 1826 onwards, Meyen worked as a military doctor. On the recommendation of Alexander von Humboldt, he took part in a circumnavigation of the world as a ship's doctor on the Princess Louise from 1830 to 1832. This took him to Brazil, Chile, Peru, Polynesia, China, and… Read More

London, The Royal Society, 1808. Large 4to (29.2 x 23.0 cm). pp. 146-163; one plate. = Tewo papers in one, by the famous astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822). His observations on the 1807 comet - discussed here - are thought-provoking regarding the conundrum, are comets illuminous by themselves or only reflecting sunlight. An original section, taken from the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1794 (not from the later, abridged edition). This section also contains an article by Thomas Young on hydrolic investigations. Unbound, some pages loose, a good copy. Rare.

Paris, Crochard, 1834. 8vo. 12 [ 6; 6] pp.; one engraved plate. Disbound. = From the Annales des Sciences Naturelles edited by Audouin and Milne-Edwards. Text and plates a bit spotted, plate with marginal water-stain, oterwise good. Rare.

London and New York, NY, MacMillan and Co. 1968. Thick 8vo (26.7 x 17.5 cm). 1298 pp. (the essential paper 5 pp.: 709-713). Contemporary full buckram with printed title on the spine. = This discovery was done at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge and was reason to the Nobel Prize Comittee to grand Hewish the Nobel Prize in physics. "One of his PhD students, Jocelyn Bell, noted the radio source which was ultimately recognised as the first pulsar. The paper announcing the discovery had five authors, Hewish's name being listed first, Bell's second. Hewish and Martin Ryle were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974 for work on the development of radio aperture synthesis and its role in the discovery of pulsars. The Nobel award to Ryle and Hewish without the inclusion of Bell as a co-recipient was controversial, and was roundly condemned by Hewish's fellow astronomer Fred Hoyle" (Wikipedia). We offer the complete Nature… Read More

Paris, Muséum d'Histoire naturelle, 1825. 4to. 21 pp.. Disbound. = Important early paper on the (social) intelligence of the European common seal by the French zoologist and paleontologist Frédéric Cuvier (1773-1838). "[Cuvier] was the younger brother of noted naturalist and zoologist Georges Cuvier. Cuvier has been described as the first scientist to use terms "héréditaire" (hereditary) in 1807 and "heredity” in 1812 in their now biological context. He used both words in promoting the inheritance of acquired characteristics based on his studies of animal behaviour" (Wikipedia). Published in the Museum's Annales, volume 17. Rare. Some soiling or age-toning to the first page, otherwise a very good, clean copy.

London, The Zoological Society, 1879. Large 4to (31.8 x 25.0 cm). 36 pp.; four lithographed plates of which two beautifully hand-coloured. Disbound. = A seldom seen monograph with amazing illustrations, written by one of the foremost 19th-century British entomologists, John Obadiah Westwood (1805-1893). Many species are new. Published in the Society's Transactions. Small damp stain in the lower outer edge of the plain plates, not on the full colour plates. A very good copy. Horn-Schenkling II(4) p. 422.

Paris, Maison; Leipzig, T. O. Weigel, 1846. Four parts in one. Tall 8vo (25.7 x 16.0 cm). 375 pp.; 22 engraved plates of which several partly hand-coloured [1: 47 pp.; five plates (four larger, folded; one partly hand-coloured); 2: 39 pp.; two large, folding, partly hand-coloured plates); 3: half-title, title page, 254 pp.; 13 large, folded plates (numbered 1-12, 1bis) of which one partly coloured; 4: 37 pp.; two large, folded plates]. Contemporary dark green half cloth over marbled boards. Spine with gilt floral ornaments and title. Marbled endpapers. = A very rare publication by the French botanist Claude Thomas Alexis Jordan (1814-1897). "Born into a wealthy family, he chose a career path in natural history rather than becoming a businessman like his father. From 1836 to 1877 he traveled widely throughout France, collecting many botanical specimens on trips to the Massif Central, the Alps, the Pyrenees as well as on excursions to locations near Lyon. As a member of the Linnaean Society of… Read More

London, The Royal Society, 1793. 4to (27.2 x 21.0 cm). 20 pp. (numbered 201-219), with a foldout plate on linnen bound in. = A rare original issue of this paper, issued in the Society's Philosophical Transactions for the year 1793 (so not from the later, abridged edition). Disbound. Margins a bit spotted; small library stamp, unfortunately, in the plate, otherwise good.

London, The Royal Society, 1799. Two papers in one. Large 4to (29.4 x 22.6 cm). 55 [33; 22] pp.; 17 [8; 9] large, folded engraved plates. Original printed wrappers. = The most detailed study of Asiatic elephants to that date. It includes a detailed account of the Bengalese "taxonomy" and nomenclature of elephants, which differ widely from the scientific ones. The plates mainly show parts of the skull and the teeth. John Corse [later: John Corse-Scott of Sinton (or Synton)] (ca. 1762-1842) was an army surgeon and naturalist who resided in India for a long time. He wrote more on elephants, but this is his most important anatomical-osteological contribution. Subsequent to Corse's paper, and announced there as a continuation, is a work by Everard Home (Some observations on the structure of the teeth of graminivorous quadrupeds; particularly of the elephant and Sus aethiopicus), which includes illustrations of the African elephant's teeth as well. Both publications were communicated by… Read More

Uppsala, Societas Regia Scientiarum Upsaliensis, 1784. 4to (26.8 x 20.6 cm). 10 pp. Not bound. = Early observations on the mineral resources of India, and in particular of granites, quartzes (onyx, achates, etc.), calcarous stones, etc. Written jointly by the Swedish mineralogist Johan(n) Jacob Ferber (1743-1790), and the Swiss naturalist Johann Gerhard König (1728-1785). König, a pupil of Linnaeus and corresponent of Sir Joseph Banks, died in India. The paper was based on his personal observations. Published in the society's Nova Acta, volume 4. Uncut, with ample margins. Rare.

Boston, MA, The Boston Society of Natural History, 1902. Two papers in one. 4to (29.0 x 22.3 cm). 73 pp. [numbered 313-385]; 22 lithographed plates [numbered 39-61], including one hand-coloured. Later red buckram with gilt title on the spine. = Two papers written by the American malacologist and invertebrate zoologist Edward Sylvester Morse (1838-1925). Both papers published in the Society's Memoirs. The paper on Terebratulina septentrionalis [11 pp. two plates], bound in the rear. It was published 31 years earlier, in 1871. Stamp of the American malacologist Richard Irwin Johnson (1925-2020) in the top margin of the title page. A few, short tears in the wrapper margins, but otherwise excellent, with clean wrappers, text, and plates.

Bruxelles, Académie Royal des Sciences et Belles-Lettres, 1838. 4to (27.1 x 21.5 cm). 46 pp., three lithographed plates. Later speckled wrappers. = One of the earlier detailed studies in this field. The plates depict frogs, tadpoles and their anatomy. Published in the academy's Mémoires, volume 13. Untrimmed, with wide margins. Plates spotted, otherwise a good copy. Rare.

[Metz, Société d'Histoire naturelle du Département de la Moselle, 1847]. 8vo (22.3 x 14.3 cm). 60 pp., three engraved plates. Contemporary blind quarter cloth over paper-covered boards. = Rare offprint from the society's Bulletin of this important paper on a new, mosasaur-like reptile, based on a well-preserved skull found in northeastern France. Sometimes the naming of the new species is supposed to be done by Pascal Monard, but the paper offers no clue to this. Although no-where indicated this copy is from the Moquin-Tandon library. The French naturalists, malacologists and palaeontologists Olry Terquem (1797-1887) and Christian Horace Benedict Alfred Moquin-Tandon (1804-1863) both wrote much on the natural history of France. Light wear to the boards, otherwise a very good copy. Not in Cat. BM(NH), where several other Terquem titles are listed.

Edinburgh, Archibald Constable (for the Wernerian Natural History Society), 1818. 8vo (21.2 x 13.1 cm). 49 pp. Disbound. = A little-known study, summarizing what was known about a group of mostly European falcons, their variability, ontogeny, and synonymy. The author, James Wilson of Woodville (1795-1856) was a Scottish zoologist. "Wilson was one of the first to have used the term "evolution" in the context of biological speciation ... Wilson's use of the term predated Charles Lyell in 1832" (Wikipedia). A very good, clean copy. Cat. BM(NH), p. 2333.

London, The Royal Society, 1768. 4to (22.6 x 17.4 cm). 13 pp., one folded plate. Disbound. = In this paper, William Hunter, a prestigious lecturer of anatomy, compares the fossil remains found by William Croghan in the Ohio Valley in 1765 to bones of the modern elephant. Hunter concluded that the creature, dubbed the "American incognitum" was distinct from the elephant, but that it may belong to the same species as the Siberian mammoth. The pronounced knobs on the teeth had convinced him that, unlike the elephant, this animal was carnivorous. Significantly, Hunter also concluded that the beast was probably extinct. Indeed, he told his audience that they should be grateful that such a monster no longer presented a threat to men. Extract from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society for the year 1768, not from the later abridged edition. Contents fine.

London, The Zoological Society of London, 1883. Large 4to (32.1 x 25.4 cm). 8 pp. [numbered 215-222], and five plates (two in fine hand-colouring). Original printed wrappers. = The plates showing Chelys fimbriata (Schneid.), Metopoceros cornutus (Wagler), Tejus rufescens, and Ceratophrys ornata. Rare and sought after work by Günther on species mostly brought from South America to the Society's menagerie. The coloured plates are large and beautiful. Published in the Society's Transactions, vol. XI part 10. This part also contains a paper on fish new to British waters, by Günther (with one hand-coloured plate). Lacks the rear wrapper; front wrapper a bit foxed, otherwise very good, unmarked.

London, The Royal Society, 1851. Two papers in one. 4to (28.3 x 22.0 cm). 38 pp.; five lithographed plates. Contemporary pebbled half calf over marbled boards. Spine with gilt title. Brown endpapers. = Two seldom-seen papers on pelagic tunicates, both written by the famous British naturalist, comparative anatomist and Darwinist Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), discussing material partly obtained during his voyages, as a ship's assistant surgeon, on board of H.M.S. Rattlesnake. Published back-to-back, with a blank page in between, but sharing the plate explanations. Small stamp removed from top margin of the first leaf, otherwise very good, clean.

Paris, Journal de Physique, 1809. 4to (26.5 x 21.0 cm). 25 pp.; one folded engraved plate. Original printed wrappers. = Written by the Polish geologist Stanislaw [Stanislas] Dunin Borkowski (1782-1850). According to the author, "Parmi les grands conceptions dont l'esprit humain s'honore, la Géognosie tient le premier rang". Borkowski continued with explaining the different types of rock and their formation according to Werner's neptunism. This may well be the first French work explaining Werner's theory. The author's name is misprinted as "Stanislas Dublin Borkowski", and this has been emended in an old hand. Offprint. With broad margin and untrimmed. Signed and dedicated, on the front wrapper, by the author to Baron de Moll; i.e., the Austrian naturalist and statesman Karl Maria E(h)renbert Freiherr von Moll (1760-1838). "From 1790 to 1804 he served as chancellor of the exchequer for Salzburg, afterwards residing in Munich and Augsburg, where he… Read More

Paris, Rozier, [("1775") 1777]. Large 4to (27.6 x 21.3 cm). 9 pp. Not bound. = Interesting early paper on hermaphroditism, in this peculiar case in a deer, by the French naturalist Jacques-Christophe Valmont de Bomare (1731-1807). Offprint, with new pagination, from the Journal de Physique. Uncut. Edges, therefore, uneven; a few small spots; otherwise a very good, clean and unmarked copy.