Categories
Shopping cart (0 items € 0)
Embedded Image
Advanced search ▾

Science & Technology / Astronomy & Mathematics

How to determine the hour of the day astronomically: first description of the "horoscopion"

APIANUS, Petrus (= Peter APIAN, Peter BIENEWITZ). Horoscopion Apiani generale dignoscendis horis cuiuscumque.
Ingolstadt, [the author], 1533. Small folio (20 x 29 cm). Title printed in red and black with a large woodcut showing Apianus's scientific instrument described in this work, the "horoscopion", several tables and 25 woodcut illustrations in the text (1 nearly full-page). Modern brown sheepskin with new paste-downs, blind-tooled triple-fillet frame on each board, author's name in gold on spine, blue sprinkled edges. [39], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 6,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Famous sundial in the form of a poplar leaf, with beautiful woodcuts

APIANUS, Petrus. Folium populi.
(Colophon:) Ingolstadt, [Petrus Apianus], 22 October 1533. Folio (30 x 20.5 cm). With the text in Latin and German, title-page in red and black with a large woodcut by Hans Brosamer; a nearly full-page woodcut of the coat of arms of the dedicatee, J.G. of Loubenberg; a large woodcut diagram printed twice (in the Latin and in the German text); and 7 decorative initial letters. Without the folding plate included in a very small number of copies. Modern boards with the original fly-leaves preserved. [22] pp. Full description
€ 2,250
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Extensively illustrated classic of cosmography, geodesy, mensuration, perspective and optics

APIANUS (APIAN), Petrus and Gemma FRISIUS. Cosmographia.
Antwerp, Jan Verwithagen (colophon: printed by Verwithagen), 1574. 4to. With a large woodcut on the title-page (with a terrestrial globe and other instruments); 4 printed paper volvelles with moving parts and a woodcut sun dial with a string attached to its centre; a folding woodcut cordiform mappa mundi (block size 19×27.5 cm) with letterpress text in the margins; well over 100 further woodcut illustrations, diagrams, maps, etc., in the text. Recased in 17th-century(?) limp sheepskin parchment. [2], 64, [2] ll. plus folding woodcut. Full description
€ 12,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

A dissertation from Manilla's Jesuit University on practical mathematics for the military

ARAYA, Fernando de. Conclusiones mathematicas, practicas, y especulativas defendidas en el principio del segundo año ...
Manila, Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay, 1758. 4to. With engraved frontispiece equestrian portrait of Ferdinand VI, King of Spain and Emperor of the Indies. Contemporary salmon-coloured silk over flexible boards, preserved in modern portfolio. [4], 4 ll. Full description
€ 8,750
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Rare study describing a 622 AH (1225/26 CE) celestial globe with Cufic lettering, with 3 folding plates

ASSEMANI, Simone. Globus caelestis Cufico-Arabicus Veliterni Musei Borgiani ... illustratus. Praemissa ejusdem De Arabum astronomia dissertatione et adjectis duabus epistolis Cl. Josephi Toaldi.
Padua, Seminary printing office, 1790. Small folio (21.5 x 29.5 cm). With 3 large folding engraved plates. Contemporary green half calf, gold-tooled spine, marbled sides. [16], CCXIX, [9] pp. Full description
€ 28,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

A wonderfully illustrated rare Dutch compilation of Apian

[ASTRONOMY - APIAN and others]. S.D.V.B (compiler). Een nieu constich boeck inde geometrie en de astronomiae, voor desen noyt in druck gheweest, ende is in ses stucken afghedeylt ...
(Colophon:) Rees, Abraham Wijlicx, 1608. Folio (30 x 19.5 cm). With a half-page woodcut illustration and some decorations built up from typographic ornaments on the title-page, 74 woodcuts of various sizes in text, many (near) full- and half-page, with some woodcut decorated initials (various series), a headpiece built up from typographic ornaments and an ornamental woodcut tailpiece. Contemporary vellum, sewn on four supports laced through the joints. 111, [1] pp. Full description
€ 15,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Important history of ancient astronomy, with chapters on Egyptian, Chaldean and Persian astronomy

BAILLY, Jean-Sylvain. Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne, depuis son origine jusqu'a l'établissement de l'École d'Alexandrie.
Paris, Debure brothers, 1775. 4to. With 3 numbered folding engraved plates. Beautifully bound in contemporary gold-tooled red morocco, each board with coat of arms of Simon-Pierre Merard de Saint-Just in the centre, marbled endpapers. In modern slipcase covered with marbled paper. [2], XXII, 526 pp. Full description
€ 25,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Mathematical problems of fortification

BECKER (VON HERVORD), Peter. Nieuwe manier van vestingbou, hoe men alle regulare en irregulare vestingen met hare buytenwerken na haer behoorlijke proportie, sonder eenige rekeninge, door den gemeenen cirkel op een nieuwe en gansch lichte manier tekenen, afsteken en opbouwen sal. Van nieuws van den autheur selve, met het offensive en defensive vermeerdert, en door de tabulae sinuum uytgerekent, en met nodige demonstratien en figuren allen liefhebbers deser kunst verrijkt.
Amsterdam, Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge I, 1673. 8vo. With an engraved allegorical title-page, a letterpress title-page, 7 engraved plates (5 folding), 3 engraved illustrations in the text and 3 folding tables. Contemporary vellum. [16], 146 pp. Full description
€ 3,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

two controversial works by Balthasar Bekker">"Making an end" to the superstitious belief in the devil and the apocalyptical meaning of comets:
two controversial works by Balthasar Bekker

BEKKER, Balthasar. De betoverde weereld, zynde een grondig ondersoek van 't gemeen gevoelen aangaande de geesten, derselver aart en vermogen, bewind en bedryf: als ook 't gene de menschen door derselver kraght en gemeenschap doen. In vier boeken ondernomen.Amsterdam, Daniel van den Dalen, 1691-1693. With the woodcut printer's device of Daniel van den Dalen on the title-page of each book (part) and a full-page woodcut of the Oldenburg Horn.
With: (2) BEKKER, Balthasar. Ondersoek van de betekeninge der kometen, by gelegenheid van de gene die in de jaren 1680. 1681. en 1682. geschenen hebben.Including: Berigt aangaande 't uitvinden der lengte van Oost en West, voorgegeven van Liewe Willems Graaf.
Amsterdam, Jan ten Hoorn, 1692. 4to. 2 works in 1 volume, the first work in 4 parts. With a woodcut on the title-page, depicting a group of people doing astronomical research.2 works in 1 volume, the first work in 4 parts. 4to. Contemporary calf, blind-ruled frames on the boards. [18], 138, [2]; [8], 262, [2]; [8], 188, [4]; [6], 277, [3]; [8], 102, [18] pp. Full description
€ 2,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Geometry textbook

BEYEM VAN AERSSEN, Hippolytus. Eygenschappen der driehoecken met een half en anderhalf rechtenhoeck, waer onder verscheydene voorstellen sijn, die de rechthoeckige ende andere driehoecken betreffen. Met noch een tractaet handelende van vierkantinghe en deelinghe van verscheydene figuyren door circkelboghen besloten.
Leeuwarden, Eyvo Taeckes Wielsman (colophon: printed by Schelte Jochems), 1671. 4to. With a woodcut diagram on title-page, numerous woodcut diagrams in text. Contemporary vellum. [8], 102, [4], 103-117, [3] pp. Full description
€ 2,250
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Important work on the calculation of volumes

BEYER, Johann Hartmann. Ein newe und schöne Art der vollkommenen Visierkunst: derengleichen hiebevor niemaln in keiner Spraach gesehen worden ...
Frankfurt am Main, printed by Palthenius for Jonas Rosa, 1603. 4to. With numerous tables and several woodcut diagrams and figures in text. Modern overlapping vellum. [12], 68, 191 [1 blank], [38] pp. Full description
€ 7,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Important description of a new clockwork mechanism

BONHOMO, Gabriele. Automatum inaequale sive horologium antiquum automatis animatum. Opusculum sanè perutile, ac pro rei novitate jucundum, in quo multiplex datur. Hoc nondùm excogitatum automatum condendi methodus. ..
Palermo, Francisco Valenze, 1747. 4to. With numerous woodcut headpieces and tailpieces and decorated initials, some tables in the text and 15 numbered, folding engraved plates showing timepieces and clockwork mechanisms. Contemporary mottled calf, gold-tooled spine. [8], 122 pp. Full description
€ 1,850
Order Inquire Terms of sale

First edition of the most comprehensive work on integral calculus of its day, with 4 folding plates

CARRÉ, Louis. Methode pour la mesure des surfaces, la dimension des solides, leurs centres de pesanteur, de percussion et d'oscillation, par l'application du calcul intégral.
Paris, Jean Boudot, 1700. 4to. With a large woodcut vignette (by Bernard Picart) on the title-page, 4 folding numbered engraved plates containing 43 numbered diagrams, an engraved headpiece and initial at the opening of the main text. Contemporary sprinkled calf, gold-tooled spine. [12], 115, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 4,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Includes excellent logarithmic-trigonometric tables

CAVALIERI, Bonaventura Francesco. Trigonometria plana, et sphaerica, linearis, & logarithmica. Hoc est, tam per sinuum, tangentium, & secantium multiplicationem, ac divisionem iuxta veteres: quam per logarithmorum simplicem fere additionem iuxta recentiores; ad triangulorum dimetiendos angulos, & latera procedens.
Bologna, heirs of Victor Benati, 1643. 4to. With engraved frontispiece and 28 geometrical figures on a folding engraved plate. Contemporary vellum, with manuscript title on spine. [16], 71, [1 blank]; [4], 44, [4] ll. (tables) Full description
€ 2,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

First edition of an important mathematical treatise

CEULEN, Ludolf van. De arithmetische en geometrische fondamenten.
Leiden, Joost van Colster and Jacob Marcus (colophon: printed by Ulderick Cornelisz. Honthorst and Joris Abramsz.), 1615. Folio. With engraved portrait of Van Ceulen on the title-page, and numerous woodcut geometrical figures in the text. Contemporary vellum, remains of ties. [4], 271, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 6,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Important mathematical treatise by a fencing master, rare complete copy of the issue for the Dutch Republic

CEULEN, Ludolf van. Fundamemta[!] arithmetica et geometrica cum eorundem usu. In varii problematis, geometricis, partim solo linearum, ductu, partim per numeros irrationales, & tabulas sinuum, & algebram solutis.
Including: CEULEN, Ludolf van. Variorum problematum libri 4. ...
Leiden, Joost van Colster [printed at least in part by Joris Abrahamsz. van der Marsce], 1615. 4to. With numerous woodcut diagrams and other mathematical figures in text. Contemporary vellum. [4], "269" [= 271], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 5,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Expedition to observe the transit of Venus in Siberia

CHAPPE D'AUTEROCHE, Jean Baptiste. A journey into Siberia ... containing an account of the manners and customs of the Russians, the present state of their empire; with the natural history, and geographical descriptions of their country ...
London, T. Jeffreys, 1770. 4to. With folding map (26.5 x 51.5 cm), partly hand-coloured, and 9 etched plates (1 folding, 8 full-page). Modern sprinkled calf. XIII, [7], 395, [1] pp. Full description
€ 2,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Spanish handbook of chronography, with numerous woodcut illustrations

CHAVES, Jérôme de. Chronographia o reportorio de tiempos, el mas copioso y precisso, que hasta ahora ha salido a luz.
Sevilla, Fernando Diaz, Faustino de Magarino (colophon: printed by Fernando Diaz), 1584. 4to. With title printed in red and black with woodcut portrait of the author, Diaz's woodcut printer's device below the colophon on the last page, 2 full- or nearly full-page woodcuts, 19 half-page woodcuts, 7 half-page round woodcuts, and 43 small round woodcuts of phases of the moon. Many letterpress tables of the positions of the sun and moon, calendars, movable feasts, etc. Sheepskin parchment by Domingo V. Folch of the national bindery in Valencia (2nd half of 19th century), gold-tooled spine. 192, 201-"163" [= 263] ll. Full description
€ 12,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Rare 17th-century edition of standard arithmetic schoolbook: second copy located

COCK, David. De cyfer-konst, noyt voor desen den leerlingen grondiger, noch ook duydelijcker, voorgestelt. ... Den vijfde druck, van alle mis-druck gesuyvert, verbetert, ende merckelijck vermeerdert, door Dirck de Hollander...
Amsterdam, widow of Gysbert de Groot, 1696. Small 8vo (15 x 9.5 cm). 19th-century(?) sheepskin parchment. [8], 374 pp. Full description
€ 1,950
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Key work by one of the best cosmographers of his time,
also describing the famous pair of globes he made for Louis XIV

CORONELLI, Vincenzo, and Carlo MALAVISTA. Epitome cosmografica, o compendiosa introduttione all' astronomia, geografia, & idografia, per l'uso, dilucidatione, e fabbrica delle sfere, globi, planisferi, astrolabi e tavole geografiche.
Köln, for Andrea Poletti in Venice, MDCLXXXXIII [=1693]. 8vo. With an engraved allegorical frontispiece with the coat of arms of the Accademia Cosmografica degli Argonauti, several tables in the text and 37 engraved cosmographical and geographical plates: 31 double-page plates (including one with 2 movable volvelles, each with 3 moving parts) and 6 circular folding terrestrial and celestial charts. Later vellum, new endpapers and paste-downs, red edges. [1], [1 blank], [44], 420 pp. plus 37 plates. Full description
€ 17,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Highly decorative celestial chart, coloured by a contemporary hand

DOPPELMAYR, Johann Gabriel. Hemisphaerium coeli boreale in quo fixarum loca secundum eclipticae ductum ad an[n]um 1730 completum exhibentur.
[Nürnberg, Heirs of Homann, 1742]. Engraved celestial chart (50 x 59 cm), wholly coloured by a contemporary hand. With title at the head, circular chart in the centre flanked by positional tables and views of the astronomical observatories of Tycho Brahe at Hven, at Paris, of Hevelius at Danzig and of Eimmart at Nürnberg. Framed (69 x 77 cm). Full description
€ 1,750
Order Inquire Terms of sale

German translation of Euclid's "Elements"

EUCLID and Lucas BRUNN (translator). Elementa practica. Oder Ausszug aller Problematum und Handarbeiten auss den 15. Büchern Euclidis. Allen und jeden, des uhralten geometrischen nutzlichen Gebrauch, dess Cirkels Liebhabern ...
Nürnberg, Simon Halbmayer, [1625]. 4to. With the title set in an engraved border, and numerous woodcut mathematical figures in text. Contemporary limp vellum. [8], 92 pp. Full description
€ 3,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Classic of surveying & instrument-making

FABRI, Ottavio. L'uso della squadra mobile, con la quale per teorica, e pratica si misura geometricamente ogni distanza, altezza, e profondità; ... accresciuta in questa terza edizione di parecchie istruzioni, ..., ec. da Giovanni Vettori.
Trent, Stamparia Vescovile Paroniana [= Giambattista Parone, printer to the Diocese of Trent], 1753. 4to. With engraved architectural title-page, 1 unnumbered folding and 3 numbered illustration plates, 25 engraved illustrations in the text, engraved arms of the dedicatee, 1 engraved pictorial initial letter. Richly gold-tooled contemporary tanned sheepskin, silk ties, gilt edges. XII, 9-144 pp. Full description
€ 3,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Early bogus claim to have squared the circle, with the circle’s views on the matter

FALCO, Jacobus (Jaime Juan FALCÓ y SEGURA). Hanc circuli quadraturam invenit.
Antwerp, Petrus Bellerus (Peter Belaert), 1591. Small 4to (19.5 x 14 cm). With a woodcut of Euclid (or possibly Archimedes) with an enormous pair of dividers in his right hand and a book in his left, and between the two legs of the dividers a sceptre passing through a crown, and 29 woodcut diagrams. 20th-century half calf. 29, [1] pp. Full description
€ 2,950
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Engraved portrait of the important mathematician Johann Faulhaber

[FAULHABER, Johann]. Aigendtliche Bildnuß deß Ehrnvösten und weitberühmbten Herren Johannis Faulhabern, bestelten Mathematici inn Ulm seines Alters fünff und dreyssig Jar.
Augsburg, printed by David Francken for Steffan Müchelspacher, 1615. Folio (28.5 x 15 cm). Engraved portrait (plate size 12.5 x 10 cm), drawn from life and engraved by Lucas Kilian in Augsburg, with letterpress drop-title and a list of Faulhaber's printed works, within a frame built up of arabesque fleurons. Set in fraktur types with incidental schwabacher. [1] leaf. Full description
€ 1,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

"Few books had greater influence on the subsequent teaching of elementary mathematics"

FELICIANO, Francesco. Libro di arithmetica & geometria speculativa & praticale ... intitulato Scala Grimaldelli: novamente stampato
(Colophon: Venice, Francesco de Leno), 1563. 4to. With the title in a 5-piece woodcut border with an allusive woodcut illustration (ladder and key), and with numerous woodcut diagrams, geometric figures and other illustrations printed in the large fore-edge margin. Contemporary sheepskin parchment. [80] ll. Full description
€ 2,750
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Three articles on Jupiter's moons, their eclipses & a lunar eclipse, with an engraved astronomical calculating dial

FLAMSTEED, John. Observationes defectus lunaris Grenovici habitæ in observatorio regio februarii 11/21 1682. p.m.
[London, 1683]. From Philosophical Transactions, vol. 13, pp. 89-92.
With:
(2) FLAMSTEED, John. An abstract of a letter from Mr. J. Flamsteed, ... giving an account of the eclipses of [Jupiter]s satellits, anno 1686; and containing a table of the parallaxes of [Jupiter]s orb, and an ephemeris of [Jupiter]s geocentric places for the same year.
[London, 1685]. From Philosophical Transactions, vol. 15, pp. 1215-1230.
(3) FLAMSTEED, John. An abstract of a letter from Mr J. Flamsteed. ... giving the description & uses of an instrument for finding the distances of [Jupiter]s satellits from his Axis, with the help of the table of parallaxes and catalogue of eclipses; printed in the preceding Transactions.
[London, 1685]. From Philosophical Transactions, vol. 15, pp. 1262-1265. With an engraved astronomical instrument for calculating the positions of Jupiter's moons. 3 parts. 4to. Disbound. 89-92; 1215-1230; 1262-1265 pp. Full description
€ 1,850
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Fortification ca. 1645, including 16 fine drawings of barriers, tools and other equipment, with 3 other manuscripts on applied mathematics including many line diagrams and 2 sundials

[FORTIFICATION & APPLIED MATHEMATICS]. [4 manuscripts on fortification building, practical mathematics, navigation, the surveying of land and dikes, and sundials].
[The Netherlands, ca. 1645-ca. 1747]. 4 manuscripts. Folio (binding 38 x 22 cm; leaves 33 x 21 cm). 4 manuscripts (mostly in Dutch, but 1 in Latin and another partly in French) written in brown ink on laid paper in 4 different hands (plus a few later additions), the earliest with 16 skilfully executed illustrations of wooden barricades and tools and equipment for building fortifications, the others illustrated with line diagrams including 2 sundials. Loosely inserted in later limp sheepskin parchment (ca. 1794?). Full description
€ 2,250
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Rendering calculus unnecessary, with two rare supplements

[FRESENIUS, Johann Franz Theodor]. Neue sehr einfache Theorie krummlinichte Flächen zu quadriren, auf Summation unendlicher Reihen gegründet. Mit einem Kupferblatt.
With:
(2) [FRESENIUS, Johann Franz Theodor]. Fortsetzung der neuen Theorie, durch Summation uneindlicher Reihen ... zu quadriren. ... Mit einem Kupferblatt.
(3) [FRESENIUS, Johann Franz Theodor]. Zweyte Fortsetzung der neuen Theorie, ...
Frankfurt am Main, J. Ch. C. Diez, 1806-1809. 3 parts in 3 volumes. 8vo. With 5 figures on 2 engraved plates. In contemporary wrappers, parts 1-2 of uniform green paper, part 3 of brown paste paper. [2], 14; [4], 17-36; [2], 37-57 pp. Full description
€ 800
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Rare Swedish scientific dissertation on the making of nautical charts and their use

FRIBERG, Olavus and Olavus HERWECH. Q.B.V. Dissertatio academica, de constructione et usu mapparum hydrographicarum, quam consentiente ampliss. senatu philosoph. in regia academia Upsaliensi, publico eruditorum examini modeste submittunt auctor Olavus Friberg et respondens Olavus Herwech. ad. fil. Vermelandi, In auditorio Carolino Marjori die III. Maji Anno MDCCXLIV.
Uppsala, 1744. 4to. With 4 woodcut geometrical illustrations in the text, a large woodcut headpiece (with the words "constantia coronatur" in it) and one large woodcut decorated initial. Modern stiff (marbled?) paper boards with the title in gold on the spine. 16 pp. Full description
€ 750
Order Inquire Terms of sale

First and only edition of an important manual on the construction of telescopes and microscopes:
the first work by one of Eulers most important students, printed in St. Petersburg

FUSS, Nicolas. Instruction détaillée pour porter les lunettes de toutes les différentes especes au plus haut degré de perfection dont elles sont susceptibles tirée de la théorie dioptrique de Mr. Euler le pere et mise a la portée de tous les ouvriers en ce genre. Avec la description dún microscope qui peut passer pour le plus parfait dans son espèce et qui est propre à produire tous les grossissemens qu'on voudra.
St. Petersburg, Académie Imp. des Sciences, 1774. 4to. With 2 folding engraved plates. Contemporary Russian mottled calf, richly gold-tooled spine. Rebacked (ca. 1810?). [10], 83, [1 blank] pp. plus plates. Full description
€ 7,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Richly illustrated 16th-century atlas on celestial and terrestrial physics and their influence on medicine

GALLUCCI, Giovanni Paolo. Theatrum mundi, et temporis in quo non solum precipuae horum partes describuntur, & ratio metiendi eas traditur, sed accomodatissimis figuris sub oculos legentium facile ponuntur.
Venice, Giovanni Battista Somasco, 1588. 4to. With Somasco's Sagittarius device on the title-page, 144 full-page woodcuts (particularly circular diagrams, dials and figures of the constellations, but also hemispherical and terrestrial maps and other cosmographical and astronomical figures), 1 large folding table ("Canon sexagenarius"), several full-page or smaller tables in the text and woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. Lacking the moving volvelles. Contemporary overlapping vellum, manuscript title (faded) on spine. [16], 478, [2] pp. Full description
€ 6,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Well-illustrated encyclopaedia of astronomical and surveying instruments from the time of Galileo,
with a world map in two hemispheres, and 3 volvelles

GALLUCCI, Giovanni Paolo. Della fabrica et uso di diversi stromenti di astronomia, et cosmografia, ove si vede la somma della teorica, et pratica di queste due nobilissime scienze.
Venice, Roberto Meietti, 1598. 4to (22 x 16.5 cm). With engraved title-page, folding woodcut plate, 3 woodcut volvelles with moving parts, and numerous woodcut illustrations in text. Including a world map in two hemispheres (incl. America and a scattering of islands at the location of Australia) on two facing pages, they reappear with volvelle attachments on both sides of leaf 149 and leaf 153. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [8], 228 ll. Full description
€ 35,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Rare 16th-century treatise pointing out the interaction between astronomy and geography

GIRAULT, Simon. Globe du monde contenant un bref traité du ciel & de la terre.
Langres, Jean des Preyz, 1592. 4to. With a woodcut on the title-page showing an armillary sphere, 3 woodcut folding plates of the solar system, a celestial chart in two hemispheres and a (terrestrial) map of the world in two hemispheres, 4 woodcut maps in the text (including a map of Europe), many astronomical and cosmographical woodcut figures and tables in the text and woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials.18th-century half brown sheepskin, brown paper sides. 92 ll. Full description
€ 18,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Astronomical and geographical information on regions in China and India

GOUYE, Thomas. Observations physiques et mathematiques, pour servir a l'histoire naturelle & à la perfection de l'astronomie & de la geographie: envoyées des Indes et de la Chine à l'Académie Royale des Sciences à Paris, par les Peres Jesuites.
Paris, Imprimerie Royale (colophon: Jean Anisson), 1692. 4to. With woodcut coat of arms on title-page, 2 double-page engraved maps and 1 engraved plate. Contemporary calf, gold-tooled spine. [4], 114 pp. Full description
€ 12,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

A rare, very important work on the scientific side of nautical navigation, by a leading 17th-century Dutch mathematician

GRAAF, Abraham de. De seven boecken van de groote zeevaert, zijnde een volkomen klare, en konstige beschrijvinghe der navigatie.
Amsterdam, Pieter Goos, 1658. 7 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With a half-page engraving on the half-title, a woodcut vignette on the title-page, 6 folding engraved tables and numerous woodcut mathematical diagrams, figures, tables and other illustrations in the text. With woodcut tailpieces and woodcut decorated initials. Contemporary vellum with a manuscript title on the spine. [1], [1 blank], [8], 39, [1 blank]; [2], 4, [45], [1 blank], [90], 5-91, [1 blank]; 96; 86, [2 blank]; 39, [1 blank]; 60, 18, [2 blank]; 96, [7], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 8,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Introducing the Dutch standard method of calculating latitude in the 19th century

HAZEWINKEL, Abraham Cornelis. Handleiding om op verschillende wijzen de breedte buiten den middag of meridiaan te vinden, door waarnemingen aan de zon of starren.
Groningen, R.J. Schierbeek, 1827. 8vo. With a lithographed folding plate and numerous letterpress tables (numbered I-VI, but some spread over several pages). Contemporary boards, covered with red sprinkled paper, rebacked with brown paper tape. 10, [2], [42], 66 pp., 3, [1] ll. Full description
€ 850
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Guide to the Dutch standard method of calculating latitude in the 19th century

HAZEWINKEL, Abraham Cornelis. Handleiding om op verschillende wijzen de breedte buiten den middag of meridiaan te vinden, door waarnemingen aan de zon of sterren; ... Tweede druk.
Amsterdam, widow of Gerard Hulst van Keulen, 1839. 8vo. With a lithographed plate and several letterpress tables. Contemporary boards. [4], 53, [3 blank], 31, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 750
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Best and only folio edition of an encyclopedic work of eccentric genius on magnetism

KIRCHER, Athanasius. Magnes sive de arte magnetica opus tripartitum quo universa magnetis natura, eiusque in omnibus scientiis & artibus usus, nova methodo explicatur: ...
Rome, Biagio Diversin and Zanobio Masotti (printed by Vitale Mascardi), 1654. Folio. With engraved frontispiece by F. Valentius, letterpress title-page printed in red and black with engraved double publisher's device, full-page engraved plate with the portrait of Emperor Ferdinand IV, 34 mostly full-page engraved illustrations, 215 woodcut illustrations and about 50 letterpress tables. Contemporary overlapping vellum. [32], 618, [28] pp. Full description
€ 17,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

How to construct sundials, with 21 engraved plates

KNOOP, Johann Hermann. Verhandeling van de sphaerische of klootsche zonne-wysers; namelyk, hoe men op een sphaera convexa, of ronde kloot, allerley zonnewysers meetkonstig beschryven kan.
Leeuwarden, Jacques Alexandre de Chalmot, 1761. 8vo. With 50 figures on 21 folding engraved plates by Jan Caspar Philips. Later half vellum, made from early materials. [10], 244, [8] pp. Full description
€ 1,250
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Popular school book on astronomy

LACAILLE (LA CAILLE), Nicolas Louis de. Lectiones elementares astronomiae, geometriae, et physicae, ex editione Parisina anni 1755 in Latinum traductae a C.S(chefer) e S.J. Including: Appendix, complectens Praecipuas Mutationes, quas Auctor in Ultima Editione Parisina anno 1761 fecit, et in Latinum convertit C.S(chefer) e S.J.
Vienna, Prague, Johann Thomas Trattner, 1757-1762. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With woodcut vignette on 2 title-pages, 10 folding engraved plates in text. Contemporary vellum. [10], 280, [6]; 75, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 1,950
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Well-illustrated treatise on sundials, by a Dutch defender of Copernicus

LANSBERGE, Philip van. Horologiographia plana: in qua omne genus sciotericorum horologiorum, quae plano cuilibet inscribi possunt, certis evidentibusq[ue]; . . .
Middelburg, Zacharias Roman, 1663. Small folio (28.5×17.5 cm). With 61 woodcuts in the text (1 repeated on the title-page, illustrating a sundial), many more than half-page, including both sundials and diagrams illustrating how they work. With extensive 19th-century manuscript notes on the back of the title-page. Lacking 2 leaves containing Roman's dedication. Modern paper-covered boards. [2], 53 pp. Full description
€ 3,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

On arithmetics and clocks

LECHNER, Johann Baptista. Facillima artis arithmeticae methodus, das ist: sehr leichter Unterricht und Lehr-Art, der höchst-nothwendigen und nutzbaristen Rechen-Kunst ... zum neunten mal in den Druck gegeben.
Augsburg and Innsbruck, Joseph Wolff, 1752. 8vo. Contemporary calf. 347, [3, 1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Astronomical, atmospheric and riverine physics by King Louis XV’s favourite astronomer

LE MONNIER, Pierre-Charles. Mémoires concernant diverses questions d'astronomie et de physique. Lûs & communiqués à l'Académie Royale des Sciences, &c.
Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1781. 4to. With woodcut vignette on title-page (with an armillary sphere and other instruments), and an engraved folding plate with 3 illustrations of eclipses engraved by Y. le Gouaz. Near contemporary half mottled calf. VIII, XXIV, 34 pp. Full description
€ 5,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Mid-18th century scientific correspondence

[LIGNAC, Joseph Adrien Le Large de]. Lettres à un Amériquain sur l'histoire naturelle, générale et particuliere de monsieur de Buffon.
"Hambourg" [Paris?], 1751-1756. 9 volumes. 12mo. With woodcut initials, ornaments and decorative lettering. Contemporary uniform mottled calf, gold-tooled spines. [2], 127, [1], 50; [2], 66, [2], 66, [2]; [2], 31, [1], 96, 69, [1]; [2], 78, [2], 92; [2], 185, [1]; 238, [2]; [2], 238, [2]; [2], 258, [2]; [2], 276, [2] pp. Full description
€ 1,750
Order Inquire Terms of sale

17th-century engraved book on mathematics & fortification

LUDERS, Theodoric. Traicté mathematique contenant les principales definitions, problemes et theoremes d'Euclide. l'Arithmetique decimale. . . . La fortification Hollandoise. Francoise. Italienne. Et Espagnolle.
Paris, [Jean Jombert], 1680. With engraved title-page, engraved table, and 34 numbered engraved plates (11 double-page).
With: (2) LUDERS, Theodoric. Traité d'arithmetique contenant les reigles necessaires aux marchands, banquiers, changeurs, &. financiers: . . .
Paris, [Jean Jombert], 1680. 2 works in 1 volume. Large folio (50×34.5 cm). Contemporary mottled calf, richly gold-tooled spine (rebacked with original backstrip laid down). Full description
€ 9,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Extensively illustrated do-it-yourself guide to plane and solid geometry

MALCONETI, Jacobi. Selbst-lehrende Geometrie, oder neue und kurtze institutiones mechanicae, stereometriae, et geodaesiae.
Frankfurt am Main, Johan Adolph & Philipp Wilhelm Stock, 1700. 4to. With engraved frontispiece by Joseph a Montalegre, title-page in red and black with woodcut publisher's device, with 1 engraved illustration plate, 24 woodcut plates containing 26 illustrations (on folding leaves, full-page leaves and smaller slips) and about 275 woodcut illustrations in the text. Contemporary sheepskin parchment. [4], 490, [2] pp. Full description
€ 2,750
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Manuscript astronomical manual on the motions of the heavens

[MANUSCRIPT - ASTRONOMY]. Plain astronomy. Manuscript volume of notes on practical astronomy and mathematics.
[England?, ca. 1777/1781?]. 4to. Manuscript volume of notes on practical astronomy and mathematics in English, written in ink on Dutch paper with a Maid of Dordrecht watermark without countermark. The leaves are numbered from the front, 101 and 26 leaves of text and diagrams, 39 blank leaves in the middle, last 26 leaves in reverse order, illustrated with several astronomical and mathematical diagrams, including one of a solar system. Late 18th-century half calf, marbled sides. 101, 26, [39 blank], 26 ll. Full description
€ 4,750
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Tuscan cosmography in a local binding, with Augsburg gold-brocade cover papers

MARCHETTI, Angelo. Introduzione alla Cosmografia ... edizione seconda si aggiunge in fine un Succinto Trattato di Navigazione dell' istesso Autore.
Pistoia, Atto Bracali, 1738. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With 3 folding half-page plates and 1 folding letterpress table, 2 full-page plates, and 17 additional woodcut diagrams in the text. Contemporary boards, covered with gold-brocade paper. [4], 137, [1 blank]; 33 pp. Full description
€ 4,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Astrology, alchemy and mineralogy on the threshold of modern science

MAZZOTTA, Benedetto. De triplici philosophia naturali, astrologica, et minerali. In quibus differit cohaerenter de elementis, & variis mixtorum proprietatibus. ... Opus theol. philos. medicis, chymicis, & astrologis jucundum, ac simul utile.
Bologna, Giovanni Bapttista Ferroni, 1653. 4to. With an engraved heraldic and allegorical frontispiece drawn and engraved by Bartolomeo Coriolano with the arms of the dedicatee Hipolyto Cattaneo, a full-page engraving (with 7 figures) on an integral leaf, and 2 engraved illustrations and 2 woodcut diagrams in the text. Contemporary boards covered with a vellum leaf from a 16th-century(?) plain-chant manuscript antiphonary. Frontispiece plus [10], [2 blank], 148, “252” [= 272] pp. Full description
€ 19,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

First edition of a very rare manual on the construction and use of the widely used "astrolabium catholicum"

METIUS, Adriaan Adriaansz. Adriani Metii Alcmar. D.M. & professoris mathematici. Astrolabium, hoc est astrolabii utriusque accurata descriptio, eorundem fabricam, usumque in astronomia et geographia multiplicem complectens, ...
Franeker, Ulderick Balck [for Hendrick Laurensz, Amsterdam], 1626. 8vo. With many woodcut geometrical and astronomical illustrations and figures in the text, a woodcut title vignette and woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces. Contemporary vellum with remnants of ties. [16], 391, [1] pp. Full description
€ 5,850
Order Inquire Terms of sale

If all the gunpowder in the world were put in a globe of glass or paper
and set on fire all at once, what would happen?

MYDORGE, Claude. Examen du livre des recreations mathematiques.
Rouen, Charles Osmont, 1643, 8vo. With numerous woodcut illustrations illustrating the problems. Contemporary limp vellum. [1], [1 blank], [5], [1 blank], [7], [1 blank], 280, 63, [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], [2], 67-106, [43], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 1,400
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Learn how to count with the bible

NEEFF, Adriaan de. Cijffer-boeck der heylige schrift. Over de gelden, gewigten, ende maten der Hebreen arithmetisch gereduceerd op gelden, gewigten ende maten onsen lande en tijdt gebruykelijck.
Middelburgh, Gijsbertus Noorman, 1682. Small 8vo. 2 parts in 1 volume. With woodcut vignette on 2 titles, and at the end of the second work, showing identical blank escutcheons. Contemporary vellum. [14], 63, [1 blank]; [4], 75, [5] pp. Full description
€ 1,700
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Horblit-copy of an important early description of the nocturnal astronomical instrument and its use, with the extremely rare woodblock-printed dials and pointers to construct the nocturnal and sundial-lunar dial

PADOVANI, Giovanni. Opera nuova ... tradotta di Latino in volgare, laqual dichiara luso del maraviglio so istrumento astronomico da lui intitulato horoscopio. ...
Verona, Paolo Ravagnano, 1560. 4to. With Ravagnanos woodcut emblematic device on the title-page (a hand emerging from a cloud and holding a stalk with three lilies, the whole in an oval in a rectangular scrollwork cartouche, with the motto, "candidio animus"), a folding plate (oblong long folio: 15.5 x 41.5 cm) containing 2 woodcuts (12.5 x 22 cm & 12 cm diameter with the 4.5 cm gnomen making it 14 x 13 cm) designed to be cut up to make the authors "horoscopio" in the form of a volvelle and the sundial-lunar dial, 3 decorated woodcut initials (pictorial), planetary and zodiac signs, and numerous tables of numerical data. 19th-century(?) boards, covered with block-printed decorated paper (black on white). [46], [2 blank] pp. Full description
€ 12,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Richly illustrated work on astronomy and the modernization of the Islamic calculation of time, together with a very rare appendix

PASHA, Ahmed Muhtar Riyaz ül-muhtar, mirat ül-mikat ve 'l-edvar.
Cairo, Bulaq Matbaasi, 1303-1313 AH [= 1885-1896 CE]. 3 volumes bound as 1 (plates, text, and appendix). Large 4to (29.5 x 21 cm). Text in Ottoman Turkish, set in a naskh Arabic type, most pages in a thin-thick-thin-rule frame. With a separate title-page and 36 full-page, numbered plates (including 1 double-page) on 36 leaves at the beginning of the book and 1 folding plate at the end. Later elaborately gold- and blind-tooled brown calf, each board with a blind ornamental frame with corner pieces and a gold centre piece. Spine with the title in gold Arabic lettering in the 2nd of 6 compartments, the other 5 with blind ornaments and gold fillets on the 5 raised bands, marbled endpapers, red ribbon marker. [10], 378, [1 blank]; 58 pp. Full description
€ 8,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Richly illustrated monograph on surveying

PENTHER, Johann Friedrich. raxis Geometriae, worinnen nicht nur alle bey dem Feld-Messen vorkommende Fälle, mit Stäben, dem Astrolabio, der Boussole, und der Mensul, in Ausmessung eintzeler Linien, Flächen und gantzer Revier, welche ... eine Land-Carte ausmachen, auf ebenen Boden und Gebürgen, die Abnehmung derer Höhen und Wasser-Fälle, nebst beygefügten practische Hand-Griffen, deutlich erörtert... Neunte Edition.
With: (2) PENTHER, Johann Friedrich. Zugabe zur Praxi Geometriae, worinn noch verschiedene zur ausübenden Geometria nützliche Stücke, dabey auch zweyerley Arten architectonische Schnecken ... zu zeichnen angeweisen werden, und endlich eine Zusammensetzung einer guten Wasser Waage, wie auch derselben Gebrauch mitgetheilet wird.
Augsburg, J.M. Probst, 1788-1790. 2 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With 2 engraved frontispieces, second title-page with half-page engraved town view, and 39 folding engraved plates. Contemporary half calf. [6], 97, [5]; 55 pp. Full description
€ 500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

2 mathematical essays by Giovanni Plana, presentation copy

PLANA, Giovanni Antonio A. [Drop title]: Équation de la courbe formée par une lame élastique, quelles que soient les forces qui agissent sur la lame.
Including: Mémoire sur l'intégration des équations linéaires aux differences partielles du second et du troisième ordre.
[Turin, Félix Galetti, 1811?]. 4to. With folding engraved plate by Amati & Tela. Contemporary wrappers. 56 pp. Full description
€ 3,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Pliny's Natural history, annotated by the Italian scholar Hermolaus Barberus

PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius. Opus divinum, cui titulus historiae naturalis, multoqua[m] antehac unqua[m] prodiit in luce[m] castigatius, una cu[m] annotationibus Hermanolai Barbari ...
Paris, Jean Petit (colophon: Nicolaus Sauetier), 1526. 2 parts in 1 volume (bound in reverse order). Folio. With title-page to the main work (bound second) printed in red and black and title-page to the index (bound first), each in a four-piece woodcut border. Contemporary or near contemporary calf, with the boards richly blind-tooled in a panel design; rebacked with part of the original backstrip laid down. [188], [34], "CCCCCXXXVI" [= CCCCCXXXVIII] pp. Full description
€ 18,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Practical and theoretical manual of Euclidean geometry with visual instructions in 51 plates

POMODORO, Giovanni & Giovanni SCALA. La geometria prattica. Cavata da gl'elementi d'Euclide e d'altri famosi autori, con l'esposizione di Giovanni Scala famoso matematico ridotta in cinquanta tavole scolpite in rame dalle quali con facilita si possono apprendere tutte le cose, che al buon geometra appartengono.
Rome, (colophon: printed by Andrea Fei, 1623, for) Gio. Angelo Ruffinelli, 1624. Folio. With title within engraved architectural border and 51 full-page engraved illustrations, the first 44 (number 1-44) after designs by Pomodoro and the last 7 plates (numbered 1-7) by Scala, colophon with large woodcut printer's device of Andrea Fei. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [57], [1 blank] ll. Full description
€ 4,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Extensively illustrated manuscript course of practical geometry with more than 350 figures, including perspective, projections, architecture, cartography & sundials

[MANUSCRIPT]. PRÉVOST, M. Cours de géométrie pratique professé par M. Prevost et suivi par C.F. Frenet. Comprenant 1o. La géométrie élémentaire avec ses applications au toisé, au cubage, géodésie, etc. 2o. La géométrie descriptive avec ses applications à la perspective, à la coupe des pierres etc.
[Lyon?, ca. 1825?]. Oblong folio (35 x 45 cm). With a flourished calligraphic title-page signed "[Charles] Esclozas scripsit", and 140 leaves with more than 350 figures in black ink and sometimes pencil, red ink or coloured washes (blue, yellow, red, green and grey), illustrating plain and solid geometry, projections, perspective, architecture, bridges, cartography, globes, sundials, etc., and with text and illustrations in black thick-thin borders. Contemporary green half morocco, spine richly gold-tooled. [1], [1 blank], [97], [1 blank] pp. plus 140 illustration ll. partly numbered in 13 series. Full description
€ 25,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Dutch scientific journal for craftsmen, with folding plates, 20 years before Diderot & d’Alambert

RANOUW, Willem van. Kabinet der natuurlyke historien, wetenschappen, konsten en handwerken, geopent met de maanden January en February 1719. Verciert en opgeheldert met kopere plaaten.
Including: MEERSCH, Pieter van der. Register tot alle de deelen van het kabinet ... van W. v. Ranouw.
Amsterdam, Hendrik Strik; Zacharia Moelé and Johannes de Ruiter; Balthasar Lakeman, 1730; 1719-1727; 1732. 21 parts in 9 volumes. 8vo. With an identical engraved allegorical frontispiece in volumes 1-8, different woodcut vignettes on the title-pages and 49 numbered engraved maps and plates, all but one folding. Contemporary vellum, manuscript title on the spines. [16], 176, [2], 552, [8]; [4], 564, [8]; [8], 562, [6]; 570, [6]; 570; [9]; [8], 176, [2], 191-380, [2], 563, [6]; [8], 183, [1], 1-192, 1-192, [8]; [16], 176, 1-191, [1], [20], 1-151, [1]; [12], 690 pp. Full description
€ 3,950
Order Inquire Terms of sale

The comet of 1664

RICHTERN, Christophorus. Berichtendes Send-Schreiben vom Cometen, so in Christmonat des 1664. Christen-Jahres ist erschienen: darinnen derselbige Astronomicè, Physicè, Astrologicè, Theologicè, betrachtet und erkläret wirt.
Leipzig, Ritzsch, 1665. 4to. With a woodcut of a comet on the title-page. Modern boards. (12) ll. Full description
€ 1,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Influential book on optics by a noted protégé and collegue of Peter Ramus,
based on the work of Ibn al-Haytham (AlHazen)

RISNER, Friedrich. Opticae libri quatuor ex voto Petri Rami novissimo Fridericum Risnerum per ejusdem in mathematicis adjutorem olim conscripti, ...
Kassel, Wilhelm Wessel (sold by Johann Berner in Frankfurt), 1615. 4to. With numerous optical, astronomical and mathematical woodcut diagrams in text, woodcut headpieces, tailpieces and initials, and headpieces built up from cast fleurons. 18th-century tan calf, gold-tooled double fillets, re-backed in sheepskin. [20], 259, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 19,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

First edition of an Italian work on physics in the wake of Galileo's trial

ROSSETTI, Donato. Antignome fisico-matematiche con il nuovo orbe, e sistema terrestre.
Livorno, Giovanni Vincenzo Bonfigli, 1667. 4to. With 66 woodcut diagrams and other illustrations in text. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment, with 2 fastenings made from loops of braided cord on the front cover but only traces of thongs on the back. XII, 179, [1] pp. Full description
€ 7,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Celestial atlas containing an introduction on astronomy,
with 38 contemporary hand-coloured plates showing celestial maps, spheres, constellations etc.

MEIJLAN, Johann Leonard. Atlas portatilis coelestis. Oder Compendiöse Vorstellung des gantzen Welt-Gebäudes in den Anfangs-Gründen des wahren Astronomie...; sondern auch zugleich daraus, sich einen bessern Begriff von dem wahren Fundament sowol der Geographie als Schiffahrt zueignen kan.
Nürnberg, Johann Christoph Weigel, printed by Johann Ernst Adelbulner, 1723. Large 8vo. With a double-page title-page printed in red and black and XXVIII (38) engraved plates (1 double-page) with celestial maps, globes, armillary spheres and astronomical diagrams and constellations, coloured by a contemporary hand and tipped onto the fore-edge, folding out so that they can be viewed while reading the book. Contemporary calf. [16], 362, [22] pp. Full description
€ 3,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Treatise on the equinox by the "Light of Leiden University"

SCALIGER, Josephus Justus. De aequinoctiorum anticipatione diatriba. Nunc primum edita.
Paris, Jérôme Drouart, 1613. 4to. With 5 woodcuts with astronomical diagrams in the text, a woodcut headpiece (pus 1 repeat) and 2 woodcut decorated initials (2 different series, the larger containing a portrait of an astronomer). Contemporary flexible sheepskin parchment, [8], 96 pp. Full description
€ 2,750
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Rare edition of Schooten's sinus tables.

SCHOOTEN the elder, Frans van. Table des sinus des tangentes et secantes pour le rayon 10000000.
Rouen, David Berthelin et Jacques Lucas, 1672. 12mo. With a woodcut frontispiece, numerous tables and geometrical figures in the text. Contemporary calf, red title shield, red sprinkled edges. [240] pp. Full description
€ 1,250
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Finely executed Royal Naval Academy exercises by the teenage future Admiral,
Charles Sotheby 493 pages including nautical charts, fortification plans,
astronomical diagrams, topographic views, etc.:

SOTHEBY, Charles. [engraved title-page:] A plan of mathematical learning taught in the Royal Academy Portsmouth performed by [in pencil: Charles Sotheby] a student there.
[Portsmouth], "177 " [recté 1795-1798]. 2 volumes. Imperial 4to (37.5 x 27 cm). Manuscript school exercises with a pre-printed engraved title-page with a blank space for the student to add his name, with 4 full-page and 1 larger folding nautical charts (some partly in colour), 7 full-page fortification plans (in black ink with 1 to 3 colours), 4 full-page astronomical diagrams (2 also with yellow), a full-page compass rose, 23 pen and ink wash views in the text (9 x 15 cm to 12.5 x 22 cm, 1 also with blue washes), and numerous other diagrams (including maps in the surveying section) and some illustrations in the text. Near contemporary (ca. 1803) blind- and gold-tooled half calf, blue sprinkled edges. engraved title-page + “229” [= 228]; 230-493, [2 blank] pp., with pp. 229 and 493 blank excepting the page numbers. Full description
€ 25,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Measuring spherical triangles

STEENSTRA, Pybo. Verhandeling over de klootsche driehoeks-meeting. Bevattende alle de regelen, die men nodig heeft, om, op de kortste en gemakkelykste wyze, allerlei soort
Amsterdam, J.W. Yntema & Comp., 1801. 8vo. With numerous woodcut geometrical illustrations in text. Contemporary blue paper wrappers. XVI, 207, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 475
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Second and best edition of André Tacquet’s collected works on applied mathematics

TACQUET, André. Opera mathematica, quorum elenchus in fine praefationis typographia ad lectorem exhibetur. Opera sane aurea in lucem publicam & usum erudita posteritatis gratulantibus litteratorum geniis edita.
Antwerp, Henricus & Cornelius Verdussen, 1707. Folio. With a richly engraved allegorical frontispiece illustrating light refraction through lenses and the teaching of drawing with compasses, large engraved publisher's device on title-page, title in red and black, and numerous illustrations and figures on 87 folding engraved plates. Contemporary richly blind- and gold-tooled vellum over wooden boards, on the front board, the coat-of-arms of the Cartusiae Maurbacensis as centrepiece on the back board, red edges, two metal clasps. [32], 553, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 6,950
Order Inquire Terms of sale

First edition in the original Greek of the oldest treatise on spherical geometry

THEODOSIUS. Sphaericorum libri tres, nunquam antehac graece excusi.
Paris, André Wechel, 1558. Small 4to (21 x 14 cm). With woodcut publisher's Pegasus device on title-page (repeated on last page), numerous woodcut mathematical diagrams in text, woodcut headpieces and decorated initials. 18th-century tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine and board edges. [8], 54, [2], 70, [2] pp. Full description
€ 9,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Three important first editions on analytical geometry, differential calculus and infinitesimals

TORELLI, Guiseppe. De nihilo geometrico, libri II.
Verona, Augostino Carattoni, 1758. With a woodcut vignette on the title-page (with a globe, book and instruments), and many fine-line diagrams in text.
With:
(2) SALADINI, Girolamo. Elementa geometriae infinitesimorum. Libri tres.
Bologna, Tommaso d'Aquino, 1760. Title-page with an engraved vignette of a putto with drafting instruments and an armillary sphere, and with numerous diagrams on 9 folding engraved plates.
(3) CARNOT, Lazare. Oeuvres mathématiques.
Basel, J. Decker, 1797. With a stipple-engraved (and aquatint) frontispiece portrait of Carnot by Jean Jacques de Mechel, and 6 diagrams on a folding engraved plate. 3 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Contemporary half tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. 117, [3 blank]; XIV, [2], 139, [2], [1 blank]; XVI, 208 pp. Full description
€ 9,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

A scarce, incredibly important work on Hindu astronomy in both Tamil and English

ULLAMUDEIAN (translator), Visvanatha SASTRIYAR (compiler) and Henry Richard HOISINGTON (editor and translator). [Sothi Sastra]. The Oriental astronomer: being a complete system of Hindu astronomy, accompanied with a translation and numerous explanatory notes. With an appendix.
Jaffna, Ceylon [= now Sri Lanka], American Mission Press, 1848. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Printed in both Tamil and English, with numerous scientific, astronomical tables in the text. Including: [IDEM]. A complete system of Hindu astronomy, being a translation of the foregoing work.
Jaffna, American Mission Press, 1848.
Contemporary half red morocco and marbled paper sides, with a gold-lettered black morocco title label on the spine and blue sprinkled edges. [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], 177, [3 blank]; [1], [1 blank], 145, [1 blank], [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 5,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Beautifully illustrated astronomy and more by “the most important Italian thinker of his times”

VENETUS, Paolo Nicoletti [and Restoro d'AREZZO]. Summa philosophie naturalis ... una cu[m] libro de co[m]positione mundi qui astronomie ianua nuncupari potest ... [at the head of the page:] Primus liber incipit De co[m]positione mu[n]di.
Paris, Jean Lambert (colophon: printed by Thomas Kees, 14 November 1513). Small 4to (28 x 20.5 cm). With 55 woodcut illustrations in the text, including 12 northern and 12 southern pictorial constellations with stars. Flexible wrap-around paperboards (ca. 1750?), sewn on 3 tanned leather supports. [35], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 18,000
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Very rare first edition of a standard illustrated handbook for ships' pilots

VRIES, Klaas de. Schat-kamer ofte konst der stier-lieden, ...
Amsterdam, Joannes Loots, 1702. With woodcut illustration of a ship's pilot with a plumb line and navigational instruments by Adriaan Le Duc (1693-1729) on title-page, 4 engraved plates (3 folding and 1 full-page). Further with many woodcut illustrations (mostly diagrams), and letterpress tables of tides and solar and lunar positions.
Including: (2) VLACQ, Adriaen. De Tafelen der sinuum, tangentium en secantium, ofte der hoekmaten, raaklynen en snylynen.
Amsterdam, Joannes Loots, 1702. Primarily with letterpress tables of logarithms and trigonometric functions, the present copy lacking those for logarithms. 2 parts in 1 volume. 8vo. Contemporary vellum. [12], 30, [12], [1], 32-272, 271-334, [1], [1 blank]; [3], 44, [1], [12], [90 lacking], [2], [101], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 8,500
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Rare second edition of a standard guide for ships' pilots, using the copperplates and woodblocks of the first edition

VRIES, Klaas de. Schat-kamer ofte konst der stuur-lieden; ... tweeden druk verbetert ... en vermeerdert ...
Amsterdam, Joannes Loots, "171 " (changed to "1707" by stamping with printing types). With woodcut illustration of a ship's pilot with a plumb line and navigational instruments by Adriaan Le Duc (1693-1729) on title-page, 4 engraved plates (3 folding and 1 full-page). Further with many woodcut illustrations (mostly diagrams), and letterpress tables of tides and solar and lunar positions.
Including: (2) SCHOOTEN, Frans van, and Adriaen VLACQ. De tafelen der sinuum, tangentium, en secantium, ofte der hoekmaten, raaklynen en snylynen, ... achter de selve de logarithmi ...
Amsterdam, Joannes Loots, 1707. With letterpress tables of logarithms and trigonometric functions. 2 parts in 1 volume. 8vo. Modern brown goatskin morocco. [16], 384, [1], [1 blank]; [256] pp. Full description
€ 4,750
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Rare tenth edition of a practical and mathematical manual on the art of navigation

VRIES, Klaas de; Evert FLORYN (ed.); S. HOLLANDER (rev.). Schat-kamer of kunst der stuurlieden, inhoudende: een duidelyke onderwysinge in de navigatie, aangaande het gene de stuurlieden noodwendig behooren te weten.Amsterdam, widow of Gerard Hulst van Keulen, 1812. With 4 folding plates (1 of a compass and the other 3 on drawing "flat" maps and maps with an enlarged latitude), many mathematical and geographical woodcuts in the text, some tables in the text.
With: (2) FLORYN, Evert. Tafelen, bevattende de sinussen, tangenten en secanten, van minuut tot minuut voor ieder boog van het quadrant, in hunne natuurlyke getallen, op een' radius van 10.000.000, ... als mede de logarithmen der gewoone getallen, in hunne natuurlyke orde van opvolging, van 1 tot 10.000.
Amsterdam, widow of Gerard Hulst van Keulen, 1815. The whole work consisting of tables and with some woodcut tailpieces.With: (3) Geographische tafel behelzende de graden der breedte op poolshoogte en lengte of middag-cirkel van de meest bekende steden, rivieren, kapen, baayen. ...
Amsterdam, widow of Gerard Hulst van Keulen, 1812.
3 works in 1 volume, the first in 2 parts. Large 8vo. Contemporary goatskin parchment over stiff boards, blue sprinkled edges. [6], XVI, 296; 220; [239], [1 blank]; 41, [3 blank] pp. Full description
€ 2,950
Order Inquire Terms of sale

First edition of an important Dutch manual for the use of the sector or proportional compass

WARIUS, Pieter. Nieuwe verklaring over de proportionaal passer, waar in aangewesen word, hoe dezelve is te tekenen, en hoe tafeltjes daar toe dienende konnen werden berekent, vervolgens der zelver veelvuldig en nuttig gebruyk, zoo in de tel- als meetkonst; ...
Amsterdam, Joannes Loots, 1708. 4to. With a large folding engraved plate illustrating the scales on the sector and 12 smaller folding engraved plates showcasing several of the calculations. Contemporary calf, gold-tooled spine. [4], 72 pp. Full description
€ 2,950
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Rare mathematical study of the construction of sundials

WELPER, Eberhard the elder. Gnomonica, oder gründlicher Unterricht und Beschreibung, Wie man allerhand Sonnen-Uhren auf ebenen Orten künstlich aufreissen und leichlich verfertigen soll &c. Zum andermal aufgeleget und mit nutzlichen Anmerkungen, wie auch dem andern Theil, vermehret, durch einen Liebhaber der Mathematischen Wissenschaften [= Johann Christoph Sturm].
Nuremberg, Paulus Fürstens, printed by Christoph Gerhard, 1672. 2 volumes bound as 1. 4to. With a finely engraved frontispiece (an architectural gate with a wide variety of sundials and other astronomical instruments), 16 engraved plates (1 folding) in the first part (that for p. 48 repeated - at the end of vol. 2 - in accordance with the instructions to the binder), and numerous mathematical illustrations and figures on 13 folding engraved plates lettered A-N in the second part. Contemporary parchment. [12], 88; 74, [2] pp. Full description
€ 4,250
Order Inquire Terms of sale

Dutch mathematician Nicolaas Ypey on conic sections, with 50 mathematical figures

YPEY, Nicolaas. Grondbeginzelen der kegelsneeden, bevattende de eerste en voornaamste eigenschappen van de parabola, ellips en hyperbola. Ten dienste der leerlingen opgesteld.
Amsterdam, Yntema and Tieboel, 1769. 8vo. With 7 engraved folding plates, head- and tailpieces built up from cast typographic ornaments. Contemporary half calf, sprinkled-paper sides. XXVIII, 68 pp. Full description
€ 1,250
Order Inquire Terms of sale
96 books books found / Show pages