
SCIENCE
See also: Astronomy,
Inventions, Medicine, Natural History . . .
A-B C-L M-S T-Z
Liberal Arts Summarized for
French Students
Tardieu-Denesle, Mme. Henri. Encyclopédie de la jeunesse, ou novel abrégé élémentaire des sciences et des arts. Paris: Henri Tardieu, X [i.e., 1802]. 12mo (17.6 cm, 7"). 2 vols. I: vi, 216 pp. II: [4], 202, [4] pp.; 2 fold. maps, 2 fold. plts.
$225.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Third, corrected and enlarged edition, following the first of 1799: Elementary overviews of mathematics, geography, music, painting, French history, chemistry, rhetoric, and an array of other topics.
The oversized, folding maps of France and the world feature
hand-colored provincial and continental borders; two additional oversized, steel-engraved plates depict the gods atop Mt. Olympus and the seven wonders of the world.
Early editions of this work are uncommon.
Quérard, La France littéraire, 341. Contemporary marbled paper–covered boards, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; bindings faded and with some soiling/rubbing (most notably to spines). rubbed. Half-title of vol. I, pp. vii/viii of preface, and printed volume labels all bound in at back of vol. II; some signatures of vol. I unopened. Title-pages with traces of mostly effaced inscriptions; first and last few leaves of both volumes very lightly waterstained. One plate with two short tears from lower edge, not touching image. Solid and interesting. (27048)

All the News that Fits in
Four or Six Pages
Valdes, Manuel Antonio (ed.). Gazetas de México, compendio de noticias de Nueva España de los años de 1788, y 1789. Mexico: Mariano de Zúñiga y Ontíveros, [1789]. Small 4to. [4] ff., 448 pp., pp. 445–48, [4] ff.; 2 plts.
$2500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The Gazetas de México began on 14 January 1784 as a semiweekly newspaper and when it ceased publishing (30 December 1809) it extended to 16 volumes — having along the way switched to being a biweekly.
The present volume covers 8 January 1788 through 22 December 1789. The news includes ship arrivals, cargoes unloaded, notices from the provinces, books published, personalities, contest results, royal decrees, notices from Europe, and an occasional article of a scientific nature (e.g., Aurora Borealis). The issue of 23 December 1788 describes a new and rather cumbersome device involving horse power to remove water from mines, and supplies a plate showing the machinery; that of 24 February 1789 reports on the birth of a “niño monstruo,” i.e., conjoined twins having one head, two arms, and four legs. The child was born to Otomí Indians, and there is a plate leaf bound in giving front and back views of him.
Provenance: In calligraphy on the verso of the title: “Pertenece al Señor Mariscal de Castilla Marques de Ciria [i.e., Francisco de Paula Luna Gorraez y Malo]” with a flower below. Later in the collection of Alberto Parreño (20th century) and with his bookplate on the front pastedown.
Sabin 48484. Contemporary Mexican mottled sheep with gilt spine extra; leather lightly worn at edges and with some scuffing. First and last few leaves with soiling/staining, and a few leaves browned due to the nature of their paper; else, clean with only the odd spot or smudge. (27521)
(ZEALOTRY, of Its Own Sort).
Woolley, Milton. The career of Jesus Christ: Being a supplement to
the author’s Science of the Bible. Streator, IL: Free Press Publishing House,
1877. 8vo (20.7 cm, 8.2"). Frontis. (incl. in pagination), 52, [2] pp.; [60 (20
blank)] ff.
$600.00
Uncommon sole edition of this Freethinker interpretation of the
New Testament, focusing on an astrological/astronomical analysis in which Jesus
personifies “the annual Sun” and the events of the Gospels overall
serve as a representation of the phenomena of the seasons. Wooley uses these
“discoveries” to claim that Christianity as a religion is “a
fraud of the blackest dye” (p. 51), adding that the working classes (former
slaves explicitly included) are duped and oppressed by the capitalists (Northern
and Southern) who encourage them to besot themselves with religion, whiskey,
and tobacco rather than work towards real, liberating knowledge.
Click
the image to the left
for an enlargement.
The
printed Career is followed in this little volume by an
extended
manuscript section containing neatly written excerpts from Wooley’s
Science of the Bible or an Analysis of the Hebrew Mythology.
Contemporary half calf over textured cloth, spine with gilt-stamped
leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands; front cover detached, leather
scuffed. All page edges marbled. Upper portion of front free endpaper torn
away; two front fly-leaves partially excised. Back free endpaper with pencilled
owner’s name. Printed portion very slightly age-toned, with faint creasing
to first section.
`