• Peregrinus, Petrus (Pierre de Maricourt), Tractatus de magnete. [In a compendium of scientific texts, together with works by Arnaldus de Villanova, Philo of Byzantium, Johannes de Rupescissa, and Theodoric Borgognoni], Italy, ca. 1380-1400.
    Peregrinus, Petrus (Pierre de Maricourt)
    Tractatus de magnete. [In a compendium of scientific texts, together with works by Arnaldus de Villanova, Philo of Byzantium, Johannes de Rupescissa, and Theodoric Borgognoni], Italy, ca. 1380-1400.
    Magnets, hydraulics, alcohol, perpetual motion machines: a beautiful, unrecorded 14th century scientific manuscript

    A truly outstanding late medieval manuscript comprising six self-contained works on chemistry, medicine, mechanics, engineering, and applied physics, including "one of the most impressive scientific treatises of the Middle Ages" (DSB X, 537): Peregrinus's "Tractatus de magnete", "the first extant treatise on the properties and applications of magnets" (532), which is "considered the earliest known European work of experimental science, and the foundation of the study of electricity and magnetism" (Norman).
  • Flori, Ludovico, Trattato del modo di tenere il libro doppio domestico, Palermo: Decio Cirillo, 1636.
    Flori, Ludovico
    Trattato del modo di tenere il libro doppio domestico, Palermo: Decio Cirillo, 1636.
    Fundamental work on bookkeeping, the “first time that an author mentions the placing of transactions in their proper fiscal periods” (Peragallo)

    First edition, exceptionally rare, of Flori’s main work dedicated to the examination of double entry bookkeeping, the highest expression of early bookkeeping, “One has to reach the nineteenth century to find another author of Flori’s calibre” (Peragallo); of which the last copy recorded at auction was in 1989.
  • Gaubil, Antoine, Catalogue Chinois des Étoiles, Autograph manuscript, [Beijing, 1734].
    Gaubil, Antoine
    Catalogue Chinois des Étoiles, Autograph manuscript, [Beijing, 1734].
    Unrecorded celestial atlas, made by a Jesuit missionary in China.

    An unrecorded manuscript celestial atlas from the Sui dynasty, edited with an extensive commentary by the early 18th century Jesuit astronomer Antoine Gaubil, hailed by Joseph Needham as the “the interpreter general and father superior of Chinese astronomy”, of which this manuscript gives impressive evidence. The manuscript contains an unpublished translation of the “Bu Tian Ge” (a.k.a. “Songs of pacing the heavens” or “The song of the marches of the heavens”), a Sui dynasty (581-618 CE) star catalogue in verse by the Taoist hermit Dan Yuanzi, also known as Wang Ximing. Beyond the text of the star catalogue, Gaubil provides his ink- drawn copies of 31-star charts, including a fold-out celestial map of the north polar region. Gaubil provides an extensive commentary on the text, and a tabular catalogue of Chinese stars that allows us to determine the corresponding European stars based on their distance from the North Pole.

  • Jacobus Publicius, Ars oratoria. Ars epistolandi. Ars memorativa, 30 November 1482. Venice. Erhard Ratdolt.
    Jacobus Publicius
    Ars oratoria. Ars epistolandi. Ars memorativa, 30 November 1482. Venice. Erhard Ratdolt.
    The first book with a printed visual alphabet and the first illustration of a chess board

    First edition and first issue of this illustrated epitome of the rhetorical arts, representing the first memory treatise to appear in print, the first book containing a printed visual alphabet and the first work to show a printed illustration of a chess board: this woodcut identifies this copy as the extremely rare first issue of the edition, being printed on l. d8r – blank in the second issue, as in most other surviving copies.

  • Darwin, Charles, Origen de las especies. Por medio de la seleccion natural ò la conservacion de las razas. Favorecidas en la lucha por la existencia. Traducida con autorizacion del autor de la sexta y última edicion inglesa por Enrique Godinez., [1877]. Madrid. Perojo.
    Darwin, Charles
    Origen de las especies. Por medio de la seleccion natural ò la conservacion de las razas. Favorecidas en la lucha por la existencia. Traducida con autorizacion del autor de la sexta y última edicion inglesa por Enrique Godinez., [1877]. Madrid. Perojo.
    First Spanish translation of the Origin of Species, extremely rare, first edition to include two letters by Darwin

    Rare first Spanish edition -and first translation into Spanish- of one of the most significant and meaningful works of science ever published, the Origin of Species; this translation with two letters by Darwin not published anywhere else: “the most important single work in science” (Dibner); “a turning point, not only in the history of science, but in the history of ideas in general” (DSB). Published in 1877, almost 20 years after the first saw light in London, the reason for the delay was -most likely- the strong influence the. Church had still in most Spanish-speaking countries, in direct relation with the contradiction between Darwin’s theory and Church teachings (evolution from an animal as opposed to creationism).


  • Euclid, The Elements of Geometrie of the most auncient Philosopher Euclide of Megara. Faithfully (now first) translated into the Englishe young, by H. Billingsley... With a very fruitful Preface made by M.I. Dee, specifying chief Mathematical Sciences., 1570. London. John Day.
    Euclid
    The Elements of Geometrie of the most auncient Philosopher Euclide of Megara. Faithfully (now first) translated into the Englishe young, by H. Billingsley... With a very fruitful Preface made by M.I. Dee, specifying chief Mathematical Sciences., 1570. London. John Day.
    First English edition of the first major science book printed in English.

    First English edition of the “oldest mathematical textbook in the world still in common use today... the first substantial book to be printed with geometrical figures.” (PMM) and the first major science book printed in English; an influential translation, containing contributions by John Dee, and his famous Preface, widely regarded as his most important work. An unusually fine copy, preserving the large folding plate and the 37 diagrams with one or more overslips, the maximum possible count.
  • Suarez, Buenaventura, Lunario de un siglo, Que comenzava en su original por Enero del año de 1740, y acaba en Diciembre del año de 1841. En que se compreheden ciento y un año cumplidos. Contiene los aspectos principales de Sol, y Luna, esto es las Conjunciones, Oposiciones, y , N.d. [1752]. Barcelona. Pablo Nadal.
    Suarez, Buenaventura
    Lunario de un siglo, Que comenzava en su original por Enero del año de 1740, y acaba en Diciembre del año de 1841. En que se compreheden ciento y un año cumplidos. Contiene los aspectos principales de Sol, y Luna, esto es las Conjunciones, Oposiciones, y , N.d. [1752]. Barcelona. Pablo Nadal.
    An entirely Paraguayan scientific production of the 18th century; exceedingly rare Lunario, the only made on the Jesuit Missions of Paraguay

    Rare second edition, an important and the first scientific production of the Jesuit Missions of Paraguay, written by an Argentinian Jesuit missionary and astronomer. This “Lunario” or astronomical calendar, is the sole work of its kind to have been entirely created in the missions of Paraguay; furthermore, Suarez himself crafted many of the instruments necessary for its confection. It contains the movements of the Sun and the Moon, as they will be seen in the Jesuit Missions of Paraguay, from 1740 until 1841.
  • Beschi, Joseph; Horst, Christoph Heinrich (transl), A Grammar of the Common Dialect of the Tamulian Language, 1806. Vepery (Chennai), [Vepery Mission Press].
    Beschi, Joseph; Horst, Christoph Heinrich (transl)
    A Grammar of the Common Dialect of the Tamulian Language, 1806. Vepery (Chennai), [Vepery Mission Press].
    The first English grammar of 'low' Tamil

    First English edition of Beschi's grammar of colloquial (or "low") Tamil, first published in Latin by the Danish Missionary Press in 1738. This English translation by the German soldier and educator Christoph Horst (1761-1810) formed the subsequent basis for all following English-language attempts at a Tamil grammar.
  • Brahe, Tycho, Astronomiae instauratae mechanica, 1602. Nuremberg. Levinus Hulsius.
    Brahe, Tycho
    Astronomiae instauratae mechanica, 1602. Nuremberg. Levinus Hulsius.
    Brahe´s most important astronomical work

    First trade edition, which is virtually impossible to find, of Tycho Brahe´s most important astronomical work, which provides a description of his astronomical instruments at Hven; the work was first printed in 1598 at his own press at Heinrich Rantz's castle in Wandbeck in a run of 40 copies which were distributed privately, which are virtually impossible to find today.
  • [Malay] Loder, Andries Lambert (ed.), Maleische Woord-Boek-Sameling. Collectanea Malaica Vocabularia, 1706-1708. Batavia. Andries Lambert Loder.
    [Malay] Loder, Andries Lambert (ed.)
    Maleische Woord-Boek-Sameling. Collectanea Malaica Vocabularia, 1706-1708. Batavia. Andries Lambert Loder.
    The Malay Vocabularies collected and published in Batavia

    Collected edition of five early Malay vocabularies, published in Batavia for the Dutch East India company by Andries Lambert Loder, the company's chief printer.
  • Callaway, John, A School Dictionary. Part First: Cingalese and English [...]. Part Second: English & Cingalese [...], Colombo, Wesleyan Mission Press, 1821.
    Callaway, John
    A School Dictionary. Part First: Cingalese and English [...]. Part Second: English & Cingalese [...], Colombo, Wesleyan Mission Press, 1821.
    The introduction of English in Colombo (Sri Lanka) in the 19th century, educating children in Colombo, including a vocabulary of the Cingalese

    A collection of three early imprints from the Colombo mission press: a Sinhalese-English dictionary for schools by the missionary John Callaway, together with New Testament extracts in Sinhalese, and the Vocabulary in Cingalese, also by Callaway, all in a contemporary local calf binding. Callaway was appointed Superintendent of the Wesleyan Mission Press in 1818, so he would have been involved in the production of these books, not just as the author. All first editions except for the Vocabulary, which is a second edition.
  • Totanes, Sebastián de, Arte de la lengua Tacala y manual Tagalog [bound with, as issued] Manual Tagalog, 1796. Sampaloc, Manila. Imprenta de Nuestra Senora de Loreto, por Pedro Arguelles de la Concepcion.
    Totanes, Sebastián de
    Arte de la lengua Tacala y manual Tagalog [bound with, as issued] Manual Tagalog, 1796. Sampaloc, Manila. Imprenta de Nuestra Senora de Loreto, por Pedro Arguelles de la Concepcion.
    Printed in Manila on rice paper, a cornerstone Tagalog language manual

    A fine copy, in its absolutely genuine condition, of the second edition of this guide to Tagalog, to-date a national language of the Philippines.
  • Chater, James, A Grammar of the Cingalese language, 1815. Colombo. Nicholas Bergman at the Government Press.
    Chater, James
    A Grammar of the Cingalese language, 1815. Colombo. Nicholas Bergman at the Government Press.
    The first English grammar of Sinhala

    First edition, Chater's book is the first English grammar of Sinhala, the major language of Sri Lanka, and the first major book to be published in Sri Lanka under British rule; very rare, no copy appears to exist in any institutions in the United States.
  • Gravius, Daniel, Patar ki tna-msing-an ki Christang, ka tauki-papatar-en-ato tmæu'ug tou sou, ka makka Si-deia. Ofte, 't formulier des Christendoms, met de verklaringen van dien, inde Sideis-Formosaansche tale, 1662. Amsterdam. Michiel Hartogh.
    Gravius, Daniel
    Patar ki tna-msing-an ki Christang, ka tauki-papatar-en-ato tmæu'ug tou sou, ka makka Si-deia. Ofte, 't formulier des Christendoms, met de verklaringen van dien, inde Sideis-Formosaansche tale, 1662. Amsterdam. Michiel Hartogh.
    Indigenous languages of Taiwan, from the Macclesfield Library

    Very rare first, and only early, edition of one of the earliest, best and most extensive sources for the East Formosan Siraya language, a member of the Austronesian family native to Taiwan, now largely extinct. It appears here in the form of a bilingual, Siraya and Dutch, catechism, with the Siraya transcribed in the Latin alphabet. A distinguished copy, from the library of the Earls of Macclesfield.