An Account of a Female of the White Race of Mankind, Part of Whose Skin Resembles that of a Negro; With some Observations on the Causes of the Differences in Colour and Form Between the White and Negro Races of Men

Edinburgh: Constable and Co., 1818

FIRST EDITION.

"The first statement of the theory of natural selection and an almost complete anticipation of Darwin's theory" – Garrison Morton

"[What was done for animals artificially] seems to be done with equal efficiency, though more slowly, by nature, in the formation of varieties of mankind, fitted for the country which they inhabit. Of the accidental varieties of man, which would occur among the first scattered inhabitants, some one would be better fitted than the others to bear the dis- eases of the country. This race would multiply while the others would decrease, and as the darkest would be the best fitted for the [African] climate, at length [they would] be- come the most prevalent, if not the only race."

Wells presented “An Account of a Female of the White Race...” to the Royal Society in 1813 but the work was not published until 1818, after his death, as a paper in the volume entitled Two Essays. In this paper, Wells describeshow the natural selection process applies to skin color in humans.

Octavo.

$1,200

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Nova Stereometria doliorum vinariorum

SCARCE FIRST EDITION of one of the most significant works in the prehistory of calculus. With the rare errata leaf present in two variant states."The task of writing a complete treatise on volumetric determination seems to have been suggested to Kepler by the prosaic problem of determining the best proportions for a wine cask. The result was the Nova stereometria, which appeared in 1615. This contains three parts, of which the ﬁrst is on Archimedean stereometry, together with a supplement containing some ninety-two solids not treated by Archimedes. The second part is on the measurement of Austrian wine barrels, and the third on applications of the whole" (Boyer, The History of the Calculus).Kepler's basic method was to regard the circle as a polygon with an inﬁnite number of sides and its area as being composed of an inﬁnite number of inﬁnitesimal triangles with vertex at the centre of the circle and base one of the sides of the polygon. Similarly, the volume of a sphere was made up of an inﬁnite number of pyramids, the cone and cylinder of inﬁnitely thin circular discs or of inﬁnitesimal wedge-shaped segments radiating from the axis. "Kepler then extended his work to solids not considered by the ancients. The areas of the segments cut from a circle by a chord he rotated about this chord, obtaining solids which he designated characteristically as apple or citron-shaped, according as the generating segment was greater or less than a semi-circle... Kepler's Doliometha... exerted such a strong inﬂuence in the inﬁnitesimal considerations which followed its appearance, and which culminated a half century later in the work of Newton, that it has been called [by Moritz Cantor] the source of inspiration for all later cubatures" (Boyer).Kepler's book on integration methods also contains the germ of the differential calculus. "The subject of the measurement of wine casks had led Kepler to the problem of determining the best proportions for these. This brought him to the consideration of a number of problems on maxima and minima ... he showed, among other things, that of all right parallelepipeds inscribed in a sphere and having square bases, the cube is the largest, and that of all right circular cylinders having the same diagonal, that one is greatest which has the diameter and altitude in the ratio of [square root of 2]:1. These results were obtained by making up tables in which were listed the volumes for given sets of values of the dimension ... He remarked that as the maximum volume was approached, the change in volume for a given change in the dimensions became smaller" (Boyer). Kepler had noted, in modern terms, that when a maximum occurs the rate of change becomes zero, a basic principle of the differential calculus that is usually credited to Fermat later in the century.Nova Stereometria doliorum vinariorum, in primis Austriaci, ﬁgurae omnium aptissimae; et usus in eo virgae cubicae compendiosossimus & plane singularis. Accessit Stereometriae Archimedae Supplememtum. Folio, contemporary calf sympathetically rebacked. With two errata leaves, woodcut on H3v shaved at foot as usual, ocassional foxing, small closed tears to final leaf; a very good crisp copy. RARE.

$45,500

On a New Series of Organic Bodies Containing Metals

"From novel and highly obscure compounds he had discovered one of the great principles of all chemistry, which came to be known as valency. Although others, particularly August Kekulé, claimed priority for this discovery, Frankland was certainly the first to articulate the concept of what he called ‘combining power’. The results he later communicated to the Royal Society, and they were read to the society's meeting on 10 May 1852. This important paper was subsequently published as ‘On a new series of organic bodies containing metal’ (PTRS, 142, 1852, 417–44)" (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). Frankland's research on "combining power" revolutionized modern structural chemistry and established his reputation as one of the most important theoretical chemists in the world.IN: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 142 pp. 417-444, 1852. First edition. Fine extract bound beautifully in aged leather and boards.

$500

Ondes et Mouvements [Waves and Motions]

FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of de Broglie’s presentation of his revolutionary theory of the wave-particle duality of matter. PMM 417.De Broglie’s work “served as the basis for developing the general theory nowadays known by the name of wave mechanics, a theory which has utterly transformed our knowledge of physical phenomena on the atomic scale.”Octavo, original printed wrappers; custom cloth box. Modest bookplate on inside front wrapper; tape repair to initial blank. Minor discoloration to wrapper edges; an excellent copy.

$2,500

Instauratio magna [Novum organum]

FIRST EDITION of Bacon’s argument for and development of the scientific method. PMM 119.Bacon “insisted on experiment in determining truth in nature and the above book is a proposed method for the assessment of all knowledge. The accumulation of observation and fact must be the basis of a new philosophy and not the authority of Aristotle or anyone else... Bacon’s inspiration led directly to the formation of the Royal Society. The famous engraved title-page showing a ship boldly sailing beyond the Pillars of Hercules (the limits of the old world) is interpreted to represent the bold spirit of adventure and research of the new age of science” (Dibner 80). “Bacon conceived a massive plan for the reorganization of scientific method an gave purposeful thought to the relation of science to public and social life. His pronouncement ‘I have taken all knowledge to be my province’ it he motto of his work... The frontispiece to his magnum opus shows a ship in full sail passing through the Pillars of Hercules from the old to the new world. It symbolizes the vision of its author whose ambitious proposal was: ‘a total reconstruction of sciences, arts and all human knowledge... to extend the power and dominion of the human race... over the universe’” (PMM 119). Second issue (as usual) with “Billium” only (omitting Bill Norton) in colophon and added errata. With engraved title by Simon van de Passe. Folio, contemporary full calf rebacked with original spine laid-down; custom box. Some soiling to binding and repairs to corners. Title page with early signature and notation in top margin, a few scattered rust spots, tiny tear to corner of B2. Overall, text extremely clean and crisp with wide margins.

$40,500

Experimenta circa effectum conflictus electrici in acum magneticam

FIRST PUBLISHED EDITION of one of the rarest and most important papers of modern science: Oersted's discovery of the connection between electricity and magnetism. Preceded only by the legendarily rare privately-printed pamphlet (of which only a few copies are known to exist, only one in private hands), the first journal printing is exceedingly scarce. Text in the original Latin."The 'Experimenta...' opened a new epoch in the history of physics. From it followed the creation of electrodynamics by Ampere and Faraday's 'Experimental Researches in Electricity" (DSB)."It was after lecturing to students in his own rooms in the Noerragade, Copenhagen, in 1819 or 1820 that [Oersted] invited a few of them to stay on to witness an experiment- the possible deflection of a compass -needle by an adjacent electric current. The experiment was successful; but only just; and Oersted repeated it many times before venturing on 21 July to proclaim the identity of magnetism and electricity in this four-page paper entitled 'Experiments relative to"The 'Experimenta...' opened a new epoch in the history of physics. From it followed the creation of electrodynamics by Ampere and Faraday's 'Experimental Researches in Electricity" (DSB). the Effect of the Contiguity of Electricity to a Magnetic Needle'."The results were as important as they were widespread. Oersted's paper was within the year reprinted in England, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark. In 1823 Ronalds and in 1833 Gauss and Weber constructed the first practical electric telegraphs. Faraday's momentous experiments with the sequels by Clerk Maxwell, Hertz and others bore further witness to its significance" (Printing and the Mind of Man, 282).Printed in the July, 1820 issue of Schweigger's Journal für Chemie und Physik. Less than a year later, "in 1821, volume 31 of the prestigious Journal für Chemie und Physik opened with an editorial announcing a change in format 'in part because a new epoch in chemistry and physics appears to have begun with Ørsted's important discoveries on the connection between magnetism and electricity.' A contributor wrote: 'Orsted's experiments regarding magnetism are the most interesting ones performed in more than a thousand years'" (Physics in Denmark, nobelprize.org).WITH: Neuere electro-magnetische Versuche, Oersted's succeeding paper on the interactions between an electric current and a magnetic field. In: Journal für Chemie und Physik. Hrsg. v. Schweigger u. Meinecke, Vol. 29, pp. 275-281 (Oersted in July issue); Neuere electro-magnetische Versuche, pp. 364-369. Nuremberg: Schrag, 1820. The whole volume offered. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter green morocco, marbled boards. Some wear to edges of binding, text clean. Provenance: with library and de-accession stamps on series title from the prestigious Gmelin Institute (after 1996, part of the Max Planck Institute). SCARCE.

$23,500

Opere di Galileo Galilei Nobile Fiorentino Accademico Linceo

Second edition of Galileo's collected works; an important edition containing a wealth of material (nearly all of volume 3) not included in the 1655-56 first collected edition. The first two volumes are essentially a reprint of the 1655-56 Bologna edition, while the third volume contains previously unpublished material. Sometimes referred to as the "first complete edition", although this edition does not include the Dialogo nor the Letter to the Grand Duchess Cristina, both of which were still on the Index Prohibitorum. Edited by Tommaso Buonaventuri.Quarto, contemporary full vellum with leather labels; edges speckled red. Three volumes. With engraved frontispiece portrait of Galileo, engraved vignette with view of Florence on first title page with title page printed in red and black, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, woodcut diagrams, folding engraved plate. A few cosmetic cracks to vellum at joints. Faint evidence of stamp removal on title pages, two small spots of dampstaining on top margin of first few leaves of vol 1; tiny worming on first few leaves of vol 3. Text extremely clean with wide margins. A beautiful set.

$5,900

“Space-Time Approach to Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics“ (Reviews of Modern Physics 20 pp. 367-387, 1948)

Feynman's path integral formulation of quantum mechanics. Also contains "A Generalized Theory of Gravitation" by Albert Einstein (pp. 35-39).Volume beautifully bound in cloth and boards in pristine condition inside and out.

$900

Horologium Oscillatorium

FIRST EDITION of Huygens's masterpiece; an outstanding copy with noted provenance."A work of the highest genius which has influenced every science through its mastery of the principles of dynamics. It is second in scientific importance perhaps only to Newton's Principia, which is in some respects based on it" (Singer, A Short History of Science to the Nineteenth Century)."Important as Huygens's clock was from both a practical and a scientific point of view (it could be used by astronomers), the Horologium ('The Oscillating Clock') is a general work on dynamics and especially a mathematical analysis of pendulum motion. It was the most original work of this kind since Galileo's Discorsi" (PMM 154)."Although others had suggested the pendulum as part of a timing mechanism, it remained for Huygens to apply his keen mathematical sense to the problems of the clock. In this work, of which the first and fifth books are devoted to the pendulum, he treated many problems of dynamics of bodies in motion. He determined the tautochronous character of the cycloid and applied it to invent an isochronous pendulum clock. To the theory of curves he added the theory of evolutes, the fall of bodies along curves, and determined the first value of the force of gravity by using a compound pendulum. At the end are listed 13 theorems that relate to the theory of centrifugal force in circular motion, a theory that aided Newton in determining universal gravitation" (Dibner 145). Provenance: Eprit Flechier (1632-1710), Bishop of Nimes from 1687 to 1710, and well-known for his published sermons and histories. Indentified by The Catholic Encyclopedia as "one of the greatest sacred orators of his century". His library was sold in London on January 25, 1726.Horologium Oscillatorium. Sive de Motu Pendulorum ad Horologia aptato Demonstrationes Geometricae. Paris: F. Muguet, 1673. Folio, contemporary full speckled calf , elaborately gilt-decorated spine, gilt arms on boards of Eprit Flechier, Bishop of Nimes. With full page woodcut and numerous in-text woodcuts and tables. Repairs to spine and corners, text with occasional light browning. A beautiful, fine copy with wide margins.

Price On Request

A Discourse of the Rule of the Decrease of the Height of the Mercury in the Barometer

FIRST EDITION of Halley's important paper detailing his unprecedented mathematical description of the relationship between barometric pressure and altitude above sea level. In addition, Halley may have been the one to coin the term "barometer" in this paper. This issue of Philosophical Transactions also includes Cassini's discovery of two new Saturnian satellites. While much of Aristotelian theory had been firmly discarded by the 17th century, Aristotle's idea that meteors were an atmospheric phenomenon perservered. "The first serious challenge to Aristotle's meteor hypothesis was proposed by Edmund Halley, Astronomer Royal. Unlike Aristotle, Halley continually tried to measure quantities. The height of the Earth's atmosphere is a typical example… In [his Discourse] he calculated that the atmosphere only extended to a height of some 40 to 45 miles. So if meteors were ignited exhalations, they had to occur below this height" (Physicists Look Back: Studies in the History of Physics, ed. John Roche). IN: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Issue No. 181 pp. 104-116. London: Royal Society of London, 1686. The complete issue, no. 181, pp. 77-123. Small quarto, sympathetically rebound in modern three quarter calf over marbled boards. A few spots to text, generally fine condition.

$450

New Theory of the Earth

FIRST EDITION of Whiston's famous description of the earth's creation and great flood. Beautifully rebound in period style full leather. A fine copy.

$1,500

[Theory of Continental Drift: Five Landmark First Editions]

FIVE FIRST EDITIONS DOCUMENTING THE INTRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF WEGENER'S THEORY OF CONTINENTAL DRIFTIf we are to believe in Wegener’s hypothesis we must forget everything which has been learned in the last 70 years and start all over again –Alexander du Toit, Our Wandering Continents (1937).From the mid-1920s to the mid-1960s most geologists worked within Permanentist or Contractionist frameworks. Few adhered to Drift. From the mid-1950s, two developments took place. First, some groups of geologists concentrated on new phenomena and geophysical data which had come to light since Wegener. Second, new versions of Drift were put forward... By the early 1970s the ‘modern revolution’ in geology was complete: the plate tectonics version of Drift, in which the surface of the earth was composed of slowly-moving slabs of crust, was firmly entrenched as the new orthodoxy. –Homer Eugene LeGrand, Drifting Continents and Shifting Theories Wegener, Alfred. "Die Entstehung der Kontinente" (Mitteilung aus Justus Perthes’ geographischer Anstalt 58 pp. 185–195, 253–256, 305–309, 1912)WITH: "History of Ocean Basins" by Harry H. Hess (Petologic studies: a volume in honor of A. F. Buddington. Geologic Society of America pp. 599-620, 1962)WITH: "Evidence from Islands on the Spreading of Ocean Floors" by J. Tuzo Wilson (Nature 197 no. 4867 pp. 536–538, 9 February 1963) WITH: "A new Class of Faults and their Bearing on Continental Drift" by J. Tuzo Wilson (Nature 207 no. 4995 pp. 343–347,24 July 1965)WITH: "Did the Atlantic close and then re-open?" by J. Tuzo Wilson (Nature 211 no. 5050 pp. 676–68, August 13, 1966); and "Seismology and the New Global Tectonics" by Jack Oliver et al. (Journal of Geophysical Research 73 No. 18 pp. 5855-5899, 1968).

$5,000

Conicorum Lib. V, VI, VII

RARE FIRST EDITION of books V-VII of Apollonius’s hugely influential Conics, containing his most original work. Apollonius was “known by his contemporaries as ‘the Great Geometer,’ whose treatise Conics is one of the greatest scientific works from the ancient world. Most of his other treatises are now lost, although their titles and a general indication of their contents were passed on by later writers, especially Pappus of Alexandria (fl. c. AD 320). Apollonius's work inspired much of the advancement of geometry in the Islamic world in medieval times, and the rediscovery of his Conics in Renaissance Europe formed a good part of the mathematical basis for the scientific revolution.“The first four books of the Conics survive in the original Greek, the next three only from a 9th-century Arabic translation, and an eighth book is now lost. Books I–IV contain a systematic account of the essential principles of conics and introduce the terms ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola, by which they became known. Although most of Books I–II are based on previous works, a number of theorems in Book III and the greater part of Book IV are new. It is with Books V–VII, however, that Apollonius demonstrates his originality. His genius is most evident in Book V, in which he considers the shortest and the longest straight lines that can be drawn from a given point to points on the curve. (Such considerations, with the introduction of a coordinate system, lead immediately to a complete characterization of the curvature properties of the conics.)” (Britannica). With: Archimedes’s Liber Assumptorum following the Apollonius. Complete with half-title. Folio, contemporary full calf rebacked with original gilt-decorated spine laid down. Some scuffing to binding. Text clean with wide margins.

$12,000

WELLS, WILLIAM CHARLES