Rare books from Jeremy Norman & Co., Inc.

Basel: ex officina Isingrinana, 1542. Fuchs, Leonhardt (1501-1556). De historia stirpium. Folio. [26, of 28], 33, 35-60, [1], 61-896, [4]pp.; lacking leaf 2, containing the first two pages of Fuchs's letter to the Elector of Brandenburg. Woodcut portrait of Fuchs on verso title, full-page woodcut illustrations drawn by Albrecht Meyer, copied onto the blocks by Heinrich Füllmaurer and cut by Veit Rudolf Speckle; the artists' portraits appear on fff5r. Basel: Officina Isingriniana, 1542. 378 x 248 mm. Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards, skillfully rebacked, free endpapers renewed, original brass clasps and catches retained, some edgewear. Lower margins of leaves eee4 - fff6 repaired (not affecting text), tear in leaf p3 repaired, occasional minor spotting, but a very good, tall and clean copy. Old signature partially removed from title page. First Edition. "Perhaps the most celebrated and most beautiful herbal ever published" (Printing and the Mind of Man). Fuch's magnificent… Read More

London: apud Joannem Billium, 1620. Bacon, Francis (1561-1620). Instauratio magna. [Novum organum sive indicia vera de interpretatione naturae.] Small folio. [12, including blank leaf conjugate with engraved title], 172, 181-360, 36, [2]pp. Beautiful engraved title-page by Simon de Passe (1595-1647); early inscriptions partially erased from top margin and center of engraving. London: John Bill, 1620. 292 x 192 mm. Vellum ca. 1620, leather spine labels, a bit soiled. Remnants of blue paper on front and back pastedowns, first leaves a bit soiled but a fine copy. Leather booklabel of Frederick Spiegelberg. First Edition, second issue. (Only a handful of copies of the first issue exist.) The philosophical exposition of the experimental method in science, which greatly influenced the creation and development of the first scientific academies—the "Invisible College," the Royal Society, and the Académie Royale des Sciences, with inestimable effect on the development of scientific thought. At a time… Read More

Venice: Deuchinum, 1627. Casserio, Giulio (1561?-1616) Tabulae anatomicae LXXIIX . . . Daniel Bucretius [1600?-1631] . . . XX . . . addidit [by Francesco Valesio (1560-1648?) after Odoardo Fialetti (1572-1638)]. Folio. [3] 97ff. Engraved title-page, 97 full-page text engravings. Venice: apud Evangelistam Deuchinum, 1627. With: Spiegel, Adriaan van der (1578-1625). De humani corporis fabrica libri decem . . . Engraved title, [10], 328 (i.e., 330), [12]pp., plus final blank. Venice: apud Evangelistam Deuchinum, 1627. Bound with: Spiegel. De formato fœtu liber singularis æneis figuris exornatus . . . Padua: Apud Io. Bap. de Martinis, & Livium Pasquatum, [1626]. [8], 104pp. 9 engraved plates. Together 3 works in 1, folio. 383 x 265 mm. 18th century quarter calf gilt, vellum boards (vellum reused from an earlier binding), light wear, front cover a bit warped. Plate in De formato fœtu repaired, some marginal dampstaining on last several leaves, upper corners of first few leaves worn, but very good.… Read More

Boston: John Allen for Nicholas Boone .., 1720. Culpeper, Nicholas (1616-54). Pharmacopoeia Londinensis; or, the London dispensatory further adorned by the studies and collections of the fellows now living, of the said college. 8vo. [24], 305, [39]pp. Boston: John Allen for Nicholas Boone. . . Daniel Henchman. . . and John Edwards, 1720. 175 x 113 mm. American blind-tooled sheep ca. 1720, spine cracked, inner hinges repaired, some rubbing and edgewear. Margins of first few leaves trimmed touching some text, some toning as is usual for American books of this era, but very good. Ownership signatures of James Simpson (dated April 30, 1777) and William Whipple (dated 1750). First American Edition. This 1720 Boston edition of Culpeper's Pharmacopoeia Londinensis enjoys the triple distinction of being the first herbal, the first pharmacopoeia, and the first full-length medical book published in the American colonies. It is the earliest American medical book possibly obtainable today. This copy is also… Read More

National Physical Laboratory, 1948. Wilkinson, James Hardy. (1) Confidential. Progress report on the Automatic Computing Engine. Mimeograph typescript. [1], 127ff. 12 plates. N.p.: National Physical Laboratory, April 1948. 324 x 202 mm. Original tan printed wrappers, green cloth spine, small tear in upper portion of backstrip, corners a bit worn, back wrapper a bit creased. The word "Confidential" crossed out on both front wrapper and title, "Not for publication" and illegible initials inscribed on front wrapper. (2) Report on the pilot model of the Automatic Computing Engine. Part II. The logical design of the pilot model. Mimeograph typescript. [4], 18pp. 6 diagrams (stapled together) in pocket of back wrapper. N.p.: National Physical Laboratory, September 1951. 331 x 203 mm. Original printed wrappers, cloth backstrip. Very good. Ownership stamp of W. W. Youden on front wrapper. Together two items. Bookplate of Erwin Tomash in each part. First Editions of Both Parts, and Extremely Rare, with OCLC… Read More

St. Petersburg, 1832. Korsakov, Semyon Nikolaievich (1787-1853). Aperçu d'un procédé nouveau d'investigation au moyen de machines à comparer les idées. [2], 22pp. 2 folding plates. St. Petersburg: De l'imprimerie de la III-me section de la chancellerie privée de Sa Majesté Impériale, 1832. 213 x 135 mm. Original printed wrappers, vertically creased, some spotting. Minor foxing and dampstaining, but very good. First Edition, Extremely Rare, with no copies cited in either OCLC or Rare Book Hub. Korsakov, a statistician with the Russian Police Ministry in St. Petersburg, was a pioneer in the concept of "mechanized thought," or artificial intelligence. His "machines for comparing ideas," described and illustrated in the present pamphlet, can "be considered as the very first attempt to design a mechanical device capable to perform such intellectual operations as data analysis, comparison, and selection" (Shilov and Silantiev, p. 71). "While working in the statistics department of the Police… Read More

Cambridge: University Mathematical Laboratory, 1950. Wilkes, Maurice (1913-2010) et al. Report on the preparation of programmes for the EDSAC and the use of the library of subroutines. Dittoed document in two colors. [3], 40 [2], 26, 39, xi ff. 323 x 201 mm. N.p., September 1950. Original tan printed wrappers, cloth spine. Fine. Stamp of John Todd (1911-2007) on the front wrapper. First Edition, One of No More Than 100 Copies Issued. The first report on how to program an operational stored-program computer—Cambridge University's EDSAC, the world's second stored-program computer and the first to be truly usable for large-scale operations. The machine was constructed at the University's Mathematical Laboratory (now the Computer Laboratory) by Maurice Wilkes, who was inspired by John von Neumann's account of the EDVAC; it ran its first program on 6 May 1949. The Report on the Preparation of Programmes for the EDSAC was prepared by Wilkes and a fifteen-man team of researchers at the Mathematical… Read More

1931. Fermi, Enrico (1901-54) et al. Archive of scientific correspondence to Bruno Rossi (1905-93) plus related materials; calendar of archive available on request. 68 items total. 1930-36. Various sizes. Rust-stains from paper clips on some items, a few minor chips and marginal tears, but very good. An extraordinary archive of scientific correspondence, written to Italian experimental physicist Bruno Rossi, one of the founders of the study of cosmic rays and a major contributor to particle physics. In addition to four letters from Fermi, the archive includes correspondence from Nobel laureates Hans Bethe, Patrick Blackett, John D. Cockcroft, and Emilio Segrè, as well as letters from Lise Meitner, Hans Geiger, Homi J. Bhabha, Yoshio Nichina, and Rossi's student Giuseppe Occhialini. The materials in the archive date from the period 1930 to 1936, the time when Rossi did some of his most important and fruitful work on cosmic radiation. As a young physics professor at the University of Florence, Rossi… Read More

Basel: Oporinus, 1543. Vesalius, Andreas (1514-64). Suorum de humani corporis fabrica librorum epitome. Broadsheet folio. [14]ff. signed A-M [N-O],with woodcut title, large woodcut portrait of Vesalius, 9 full-page anatomical woodcuts, 2 full-page figures of a nude male and female, 2 sheets of woodcut anatomical details for cutting out & mounting, and several woodcut initials. Basel: Oporinus, June 1543. 553 x 407 mm. Original limp vellum creased horizontally and vertically, some staining; preserved in a cloth folding case. All sheets with horizontal fold-marks across center (as in all copies) as well as vertical fold-marks, repair on title-page affecting several words in the "Lectori" paragraph and the "Basileae" at the foot, with a few letters in ink facsimile, a few lacunae in the title-leaf and one or two other leaves, some staining and toning. Overall a very good, well-preserved and complete copy with large margins; except for the comparatively minor title repair, this copy is unrestored. First… Read More

Strasbourg: Joannus Scotus, 1532. [Abulcasis (936-1015.] [Priscianus, Theodorus (fl. 4th cent.)] Horatianus, Octavius. Rerum medicarum lib. quatuor . . . Albucasis [sic] chirurgicorum omniu[m] primarii, lib. tres . . . Folio. [8], 319pp. 8 full-page woodcuts by Hans Wechtlin (ca. 1480 - post 1526). Argentoratum [Strasbourg]: apud Joannem Schottum, 1532. 307 x 202 mm. Full paneled calf, gilt-lettered front cover in antique style. Library stamp removed from title, occasional spotting, but very good. Early ownership signature at the foot of the title; manuscript notes in what appears to be another early hand in the title margins. Third Latin edition, first published in 1497 of three books of surgery from the Kitab al-Tasrif of Arabic physician Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas al-Zahrawi. Al-Zahrawi, whose first name was Latinized as Abulcasis or Albucasis, was the personal physician to Hakam II, Caliph of Córdoba in Muslim Spain; he ranks with ibn Sina (Avicenna) among the most important Arabic… Read More

London: In officina Ioanni Herfordie, 1545. Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio. Folio. 44 leaves, unpaginated. Engraved title and 40 plates by Geminus after the woodcut illustrations in Vesalius's Fabrica and Epitome; first and last plates in facsimile. London: [John Herford, October 1545 (colophon)]. 396 x 290 mm. Full calf in period style. Engraved title skillfully, almost invisibly repaired, some foxing and staining, but a very good copy apart from the facsimile plates. Annotations in an early hand on 17 plates and several text leaves. First Edition of the rarest and most famous of the plagiarisms of Vesalius, which introduced Vesalian anatomy to England. Geminus published a slightly abridged version of Vesalius's Epitome illustrated with copperplate engravings of figures from both the Fabrica and the Epitome. The Compendiosa filled an important need by providing a summary view of Vesalius's anatomical discoveries more complete than the Epitome, less bulky and expensive than the Fabrica, and… Read More

1869. Darwin, Charles (1809-82). Portrait photograph of Darwin at age 59, by Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79). [1869]. Albumen print. 340 x 250 mm. Archivally framed. Excellent unfaded condition. One of two portraits of Darwin taken by the noted Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron in 1869, when Darwin and his family rented one of Mrs. Cameron's houses at Freshwater in the Isle of Wight. Evidently the visit was enjoyed by both parties, Darwin declaring that he preferred Mrs. Cameron's photographic portrait of him to any other. Until it was published as the frontispiece to Freeman's Charles Darwin: A Companion, this version of the portrait had never been reproduced. Exceptionally rare. 38849.

Paris: Delaunay, 1831. Bourgery, Jean-Baptiste Marc (1797-1849) & Nicolas Henri Jacob (1782-1871). Traité complet de l'anatomie de l'homme comprenant la médecine opératoire. Multi-vol. set. 8 vols. (text plus atlas) bound in 14 volumes. Frontispiece (bound in the first text volume) and 726 hand-colored lithographed plates by Jacob; lithographed titles in the atlas volumes. Paris: C. A. Delaunay, 1831-54. 426 x 318 mm. Publisher's quarter morocco, gilt-ruled spines ca. 1854, light wear, some inner hinges cracking. Occasional foxing and toning, but a fine set with plates in beautiful condition. Prospectus for the second edition tipped in opposite the title-leaf of the atlas to Vol. I. First Edition. With over 2000 pages of text and 726 hand-colored lithographed plates (incorporating 3604 individual figures), this encyclopedic work is the most comprehensive, and the most beautiful anatomical and surgical atlas of the 19th century. It is also rare when absolutely complete like this set. Published… Read More

1958. Franklin, Rosalind (1920-58); Raymond G. Gosling (1926-2015). (1) The structure of sodium thymonucleate fibres. I [-III]. Offprints from Acta Crystallographica 6 (1953) and 8 (1955). 673-677; 678-685; 151-156pp. 268 x 202 mm. Without wrappers as issued. Each offprint signed by Gosling on the first page. With: (2) (with R. G. Gosling). Evidence for 2-chain helix in crystalline structure of sodium deoxyribonucleate. Offprint from Nature 172 (1953). 5pp. Text illustrations. 212 x 141 mm. Without wrappers as issued. Signed by Gosling on the first page. With: (3) Structural resemblance between Schramm's repolymerised A-protein and tobacco mosaic virus. Offprint from Biochem. et Bioph. Acta 18 (1955). 2pp., on single unbound sheet. Text illustration. 245 x 166 mm. With: (4) (with Aaron Klug [1926-2018) and John T. Finch [1930-2017]). Structure of turnip yellow mosaic virus. Offprint from Nature 179 (1957). 3pp. 212 x 141 mm. Without wrappers as issued. With: (5) (with Kenneth C. Holmes… Read More

1851. Babbage, Charles (1791-1871). Oval portrait in color by Sir William John Newton (1785-1869), signed and dated on the obverse by Newton ("W J Newton 1851"; obscured by the mat), inscribed "Mr. Babbage" on the reverse. 162 x 140 mm. (visible portion). Set in rectangular morocco hinged case measuring 214 x 189 mm., with tooled inscription on the front cover: "Charles Babbage. 1851./by/Sir William John Newton./No. 192" (light edgewear). Fine. Excellent portrait of Babbage, and, to our knowledge, the only full-color image of him drawn from life. The portrait is by William John Newton, miniature-painter in ordinary to Queen Victoria and one of the most fashionable miniature-painters of his day. Newton was also a pioneer in photography, devising an improved method of producing calotype negatives and promoting soft-focus photography as a means of producing artistic images. Babbage is, of course, best known as one the first pioneers of computing: He invented a Difference Engine for automatically… Read More