•  American Imprints 46-3993; NSTC 2L4514. Recent black moiré silk, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels. Vol. II half-title and title-page with faint spots of waterstaining, pages otherwise clean. A very nice example of one of the best-selling scientific works of its time. (30342)

Diego Bringas de Manzaneda y Encinas was a Franciscan and his epitome of Abad's work is written in “octava rima”: as such it holds an important place in Mexican colonial-era poetry, especially in the subgenre of Christian poetry.

The work's chief themes are the Immaculate Conception and the attributes of God, but it also delves into the relation of science and our understanding of the cosmos: Newton and Huygens are specifically mentioned in the section on knowledge.

•  Palau 258 & 35854; DeBacker-Sommervogel, I, 3; Medina, Mexico, 7400.   Contemporary vellum over light boards. All edges green. A very nice copy of a significant work of early Mexican poetry, religion, and, at points, science.  (29433)

NUC Pre-1956, WorldCat, and COPAC combine to locate only one copy of this edition in the U.S. and none in the U.K.

•  Contemporary textured sheep, modest gilt rules and gilt “Aristotle” to spine; very light abrasion to binding and very light waterstaining in first 40 pages of text.A good, solid, decent copy.  (28542)

This offers evidence of early readership in form of underlining in ink and occasional marginal notations, confined to early portion of the tome.

•  Gibson, Bacon, 243a. On Bacon, see: Oxford Companion to English Literature, 56–57. Contemporary vellum, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum showing minor scuffing and spots of discoloration. Front pastedown with a 19th-century bookplate; front free endpaper with edge nicks and short edge tears. Lacking half-title. Early inked marginalia and underlining, as above; leaves age-toned with intermittent light offsetting and foxing. One leaf with short tear from upper margin, not extending into text.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of Alexander Oswald Brodie (not, please note, the American officer and governor of Arizona Territory); title-page with Brodie's inked inscription, dated 1839, Dresden.

•  Brunet, I, 604; Gibson, Bacon, 185b; Willems 1058. On Bacon, see: Dictionary of National Biography.   Contemporary vellum with yapp edges, spine with early inked title; spine lettering rubbed, back cover darkened. Both pastedowns lifted, front pastedown with bookplate beneath; free endpapers lacking. Title-page with inscription as above; pages with a very few small scattered spots, almost entirely clean. A handsome copy.  (30360)

A folded map of the top of the world as seen from the North Pole opens the volume; the title-page bears a wood-engraved vignette of armed explorers on an ice floe confronting a rather awkwardly depicted polar bear, signed byAlexander Anderson.

Provenance:  Front fly-leaf with inked ownership inscription of John M. Fenton, dated 1825.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 43240; Pomeroy, Alexander Anderson, 570.   Publisher's quarter tan paper and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label; binding mildly soiled, spine paper and label chipped, the whole nicely refurbished with losses to spine filled with appropriately toned paper, detached sewing support secured, joints reinforced, and worn extremities subtly repaired. Front fly-leaf with inscription as above. Map with some moderate foxing, and small chip out of upper margin (not touching image). Page edges untrimmed, a few signatures unopened; moderate to heavy foxing throughout but paper strong and good.  (29221)

The work was absolutely essential for all merchants and other business people, and for government workers in the treasury department — for milled coins were the exception in Mexican commerce, cob pieces the norm, and raw gold and silver, including dust, were extremely common.

The volume ends with the “Reglas varias, para sacar juntos, o separados en pasta, o en moneda los reales derechos, que se pagan a S. Mag. De el oro y de la plata, y para reducir a toda su ley estos metales.”

An uncommon economic work: We trace fewer than nine copies in the U.S.

This was printed by Doña Maria de Rivera with a red and black title-page, and with woodcut arms on first dedication page. The charming cut of a herald cherub appears after the decima dedicated to the author at the end of the preliminaries.

•  Medina, Mexico, 4073.   Contemporary full Mexican calf, modestly tooled in gilt and with all edges red; recased, new endpapers. Final two leaves little ragged at edges costing a few letters and with small hole at center and short tears at inner margin; old staining and age-toning/browning throughout. There is every indication that this well-produced little volume saw time “in the field”!  (26850)

Posthumous second edition in English, “translated from the French, with notes and engravings, illustrative and supplementary, by Andrew Ure.”

Uncut, partially unopened copy.

•  Uncut, partially unopened copy. Publisher's quarter cloth with paper covered boards; some discoloration to cloth, light chipping to board edges. Ex–social club library: paper label at top of spine, 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. A clean copy with the plates good and crisp; as noted above, an uncut, partially unopened copy.  (27388)

One of the “Collector's Series in Science” publications.

•  Publisher's quarter cloth. In original slipcase, which is sunned (and pictured above). Very Good condition.  (22449)

Provenance & Evidence of Readership: Front pastedown with bookplate of Sir John Dashwood-King. This copy was fairly extensively annotated in ink and pencil by an early hand, with both marginalia and marks of emphasis.

•  ESTC R206906; Wing (rev. ed.) B3195. On Blith, see: Dictionary of National Biography online; his designation as “a lover of Ingenuity,” in our caption, is from the engraved title-page.   Contemporary mottled calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, nicely rebacked with calf, spine with gilt-stamped title in exceptionally good period style; sides with minor abrasions, now toned. Pastedowns and free endpapers lacking. Engraved title-page with early inked annotations and pencilled doodle on recto, outer edge slightly ragged affecting image at upper corner; secondary title-page with early inked ownership inscription and a few tiny ink spatters. Pages age-toned and some browned, with early inked and pencilled annotations as above. A significant work, here intriguingly engaged with by a contemporary reader.  (30320)

Printed in Fraktur with occasional roman for foreign words, this bears large handsome woodcut initials and an engraved plate that shows Adam standing in Heaven and Earth, as explained on the following leaf (in our copy, ff. 2–3, although others have the illustration and explanation preceding the title-page).

•  VD17 online 12:101402A; Buddecke, I, p. 10; Dünnhaupt, p. 678, no. 3; Bruckner, 513; for the first edition (1677), see: Faber du Faur, 113.   Modern beige paper over boards, with the title, author, and date printed in gothic on the spine. Very mild foxing just visible on some leaves.  (29923)

Click the images for enlargements.

Vol. I is illustrated with one wood-engraved plate depicting a Saxon almanac, and seven in-text engravings depicting Odin, Frigga, Thor, and the other deities with days named in their honor.

Provenance: Signature on title-pages of George Buckton, vol. I dated 1812 and vol. II dated 1813.

•  Allibone 237 (listing 1813 & 1814 eds. only); NSTC B4120.   Contemporary treed calf, rebacked preserving original spines with gilt-stamped titles, gilt-ruled and -dotted compartment bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; original spine leather chipped, cracked, and darkened as by fire. Covers with corners and edges unobtrusively rubbed; portions nearest spines showing evidence of heat exposure; hinges (inside) reinforced. Front pastedowns each with institutional bookplate, vol. I front pastedown with bookseller's ticket and affixed early cataloguing slip, vol. I back pastedown and vol. II front pastedown with inked library inscription. Title-pages with inked ownership inscriptions as above. Offsetting from plate and to endpapers from binding, pages otherwise clean though with all edges (i.e., of closed book) darkened. A particularly handsome exemplar of popular scholarship of the day.  (25436)

•  Publisher's green cloth. As new.  (29580)

•  Shoemaker 8196; NSTC 2B53063.   Period-style quarter light grey cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spines with printed paper labels. One leaf with short tear from outer edge, not touching text. Pages age-toned with a scant handful of scattered small spots, otherwiseremarkably clean.  (30339)