Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - July - 2017 Issue

Science, Medicine, and Natural History from Jonathan A. Hill Bookseller

A88ac28e-afef-4f2b-b641-2bba440335d7

Science, Medicine, and Natural History.

Jonathan A. Hill Bookseller has published a catalogue of Recent Acquisitions in Science, Medicine, and Natural History. The acquisitions are recent, the books not. These are mostly very old books, some dating back as far as the 16th century. Much of the science is not entirely accurate, updated by centuries of new developments. The medical practices would be a disaster if taken seriously today. There are good reasons most people didn't live past their 30's in those days and some are displayed here. However, in fairness, medicine was just emerging from over a thousand years of stagnation, nothing much new having been learned since Roman times. These books provide a fascinating look at science and medicine as it developed from primitive to advanced on the shoulders of many great thinkers. Here are a few examples.

 

We begin with someone who did get it right, although it took almost two millennia before his theory received much serious consideration. Aristarchus of Samos was a Greek astronomer and mathematician who lived in the third century BC. He proposed a heliocentric world, one with the sun at the center, the earth and other planets revolving around it. He also theorized that stars were really other suns, just at a far greater distance. Aristarchus also tried to estimate the relative distances of the sun and moon from earth, but substantially underestimated how much farther away the sun is. While Aristarchus managed some followers, the great minds of the ancient world, Plato, Aristotle, and Ptolemy, rejected his theory, opting for the geocentric universe which common sense seemed to dictate. However, if not accepted, it does not appear that it resulted in any great controversy or condemnation of the theorist. When Copernicus revived the theory 18 centuries later, and particularly when Galileo promoted it after 19 centuries, it resulted in his persecution by church authorities as being heretical. Item 4 is Aristarchus' De Magnitudinibus, et Distantis Solis, et Lunae... the first edition of Commandino's translation published in 1572. Priced at $37,500.

 

Speaking of Mr. Galilei, item 31 is a 1619 first edition of Galileo's Discorso delle Comete... a discourse on three comets that appeared in 1618. It was attributed to his student, Mario Guiducci, but few were fooled by who was its actual writer, including the Jesuit Father Orazio Grassi, to whose theory it was a biting response. Grassi had postulated that comets traveled between the sun and moon, not a correct theory, but then again, Galileo didn't offer much of an alternative. The book is more focused on what was wrong with Grassi's theory than on what comets actually were. Galileo questioned whether they were even real, speculating that they were more of an optical illusion, like rainbows, which would, of course, make an attempt to place their location fruitless. Grassi was offended by Galileo's sharp reply, and published an answer (also "anonymously" attributing it to a student), which in turn led to another Galileo reply, his well-known book Il Sagiatore (The Assayer). This latter book is more a discussion of how one should reach scientific conclusions rather than a continuing debate on the nature of comets. $40,000.

 

Item 69 is one of those lengthy titles more common among books centuries ago: Miscellaneous discourses concerning the dissolution and changes of the world : Wherein the primitive chaos and creation, the general deluge, fountains, formed stones, sea-shells found in the earth, subterraneous trees, mountains, earthquakes, vulcanoes, the universal conflagration and future state, are largely discussed and examined. Published in 1692, the author was John Ray, an English naturalist and botanist. Ray is well regarded for his early studies of plants and the classification of them, basing the latter on similarities between species. While a scientist, Ray was still a believer in the Bible as historical fact, and in this book he explains the existence of various geological features, notably the existence of fossil sea shells in places where they don't belong, consistently with the stories of the Bible. Ray believed fossils were the remains of once living organisms, but that their unexpected distribution could be explained by changes in the earth. The flood of Noah was one possible explanation for their locations. Being quite familiar with classification of plants and animals, Ray was cognizant that some fossils were from species unknown to man. Species becoming extinct would seem out of place with God's plan (why would He have created them in the first place?), but Ray argued that these species might exist somewhere but had not yet been discovered by man. This copy of Ray's book comes in an exquisitely gilt tooled red morocco binding and is in exceptional condition. $15,000.

 

Here is another long title (we have only reproduced part of it), a vitriolic attack on urine testing: The Anatomie of Urines. Containing the Conviction and Condemnation of them. Or, the second Part of our discourse of urines. Detecting and unfolding the manifold falshoods and abuses committed by the vulgar sort of Practitioners in the judgement of diseases by the urines onely... Urine testing is a common practice today used by doctors in assessing health factors of their patients. What made 17th century physician James Hart attack the procedure so strenuously? The problem was that urine testers of the day frequently used this as the sole means of assessing a person's health, or lack thereof, often using it as a replacement for physicians, such as Dr. Hart. While useful, urine testing is hardly a substitute for actually examining a patient. Hart exposes the fallacies of urine examination by ignorant people, noting three types of such persons in particular, unlicensed quacks, meddlesome old women, and in particular, clergymen. Item 39. $5,000.

 

Item 5 is a "beautifully illustrated" treatise on artificial limbs. The author/inventor was Pierre Ballif, surprisingly, a dentist from Berlin. Published in 1818, the title is Description d'une Main et d'une Jambe artificielles inventées par Pierre Ballif... (description of an artificial hand and leg invented by Pierre Ballif). Up to this time, existing artificial hands could not be operated separately. Lifting the arm, or closing the fingers had to be done with the other hand. Ballif's mechanical arm was attached to the stump and the shoulder by a harness. Gut strings and springs within the artificial limb enabled the wearer to manipulate the hand and arm independently. $5,000.

 

Jonathan A. Hill Bookseller may be reached at 646-827-0724 or jonathan@jonathanahill.com. The website is www.jonathanahill.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • <b>Forum Auctions: Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper. March 22, 2018</b>
    <b>Forum Auctions, Mar. 22:</b> Jenner (Rev. George Charles). <i>The Evidence at Large...Respecting Dr Jenner's Discovery of Vaccine Inoculation,</i> presentation copy from Edward Jenner to Rev. Rowland Hill, 1805. £4,000 to £6,000
    <b>Forum Auctions, Mar. 22:</b> Houdini (Harry).- Maggi (Girolamo). <i>De tintinnabulis liber postumus...de equuleo liber,</i> Harry Houdini's copy, Amsterdam, H. Wetstein, 1689. £600 to £800
    <b>Forum Auctions, Mar. 22:</b> Meyer (Henry Leonard). Coloured Illustrations of British Birds, and their Eggs , 7 vol. in 2 plus Illustrations of British Birds, 4 vol., 1842-50 and [1835-51]. £5,000 to £7,000
    <b>Forum Auctions: Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper. March 22, 2018</b>
    <b>Forum Auctions, Mar. 22:</b> Dickens (Charles). <i>An Entirely New Romantic Drama, in Three Acts, by Mr. Wilkie Collins, called The Frozen Deep,</i> 1857. £3,000 to £4,000
    <b>Forum Auctions, Mar. 22:</b> Lighthouses and Islands of Ireland, c. 125 drawings, 1867. £6,000 to £8,000
    <b>Forum Auctions, Mar. 22:</b> Shelley (Lady Jane). Diary, 1853 & 1860. £1,500 to £2,000
    <b>Forum Auctions: Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper. March 22, 2018</b>
    <b>Forum Auctions, Mar. 22:</b> Scottish Binding.- The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, bound in contemporary brown polished calf decorated with the figure of a Chinese spearman, by ?James Scott of Edinburgh, 1778. £2,000 to £3,000
    <b>Forum Auctions, Mar. 22:</b> Greene (Graham). <i>The Man Within,</i> first edition, signed by the author, 1929. £4,000 to £6,000
    <b>Forum Auctions, Mar. 22:</b> Mellan (Claude, 1598-1688). The Holy Face, or the Veil of St Veronica, [c. 1649 and later]. £800 to £1,200
    <b>Forum Auctions: Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper. March 22, 2018</b>
    <b>Forum Auctions, Mar. 22:</b> Desaguliers (John Theophilus). <i>A Dissertation concerning Electricity,</i> W. Innys, and T. Longman, 1742. £2,000 to £3,000
    <b>Forum Auctions, Mar. 22:</b> Le Jeune (Paul). <i>Relation de se qui s'est passé en la Nouvelle France en l'anné 1636 enuoyée au R.Pere Provincial de la Compagnie de Iesus en la Province de France,</i> 1637. £2,000 to £3,000
    <b>Forum Auctions, Mar. 22:</b> Stumpf (Johann Rudolph). <i>Gemeiner loblicher Eydgnoschafft Stetten, Landen und Völckern Chronicwirdiger thaaten beschreibung, </i> Zurich, Froschauer, 1586. £3,000 to £4,000
  • <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22: Autographs</b>
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22:</b> George Washington, Letter Signed to General James Clinton, preparing for the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign, 1778. $25,000 to $35,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22:</b> Thomas Jefferson, Letter Signed, to Major-General Nathanael Greene, promising to send reinforcements against Cornwallis, 1781. $15,000 to $25,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22:</b> Thomas Edison, Autograph Letter Signed, to Western Union President William Orton, 1878. $10,000 to $20,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22: Autographs</b>
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22:</b> William, Bishop of Coventry, vellum charter granting the church of Rochdale to the Cistercian Abbey of Stanlaw, in Latin, 1222. $3,500 to $5,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22:</b> FDR, Photograph Signed & Inscribed, framed with wood removed from the White House roof, 1927. $2,500 to $3,500.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22:</b> Jean Dubuffet, archive including many letters written while painting in NYC, 1951-72. $4,000 to $6,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22: Autographs</b>
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22:</b> Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autograph Letter Signed, describing the source of his patience, 1939. $4,000 to $6,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22:</b> Lithograph portrait of Albert Einstein by Hermann Struck, signed by both, 1923. $4,000 to $6,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22:</b> Charles The Bold, Duke of Burgundy, Letter Signed to Johann IV of Nassau, in French, 1470. $3,000 to $4,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22: Autographs</b>
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22:</b> Jean Cocteau, Autograph Letter Signed, in French, 1919. $3,000 to $4,000.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22:</b> Louis Armstrong, two Autograph Letters Signed to Erich Kauffmann, his lip salve purveyor, 1965-70. $1,500 to $2,500.
    <b>Swann Auction Galleries Mar 22:</b> Wernher von Braun, Autograph Letter Signed to Jonathan Cross, 1975. $5,000 to $7,500.
  • <b>Bonhams: Fine Books and Manuscripts. March 9, 2018</b>
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 9:</b> BEETHOVEN, LUDWIG VAN. Autograph Manuscript sketch-leaf part of the score of the Scottish Songs, "Sunset" Op. 108 no 2. [Vienna, February 1818]. Inscribed by Alexander Wheelock Thayer. $80,000 to $120,000
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 9:</b> Violin belonging to Albert Einstein, presented to him by Oscar H. Steger, 1933. $100,000 to $150,000
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 9:</b> EINSTEIN, ALBERT. Autograph Letter Signed ("Papa") to his son Hans Albert, discussing his involvement with the atomic bomb, September 2, 1945. $100,000 to $150,000
    <b>Bonhams: Fine Books and Manuscripts. March 9, 2018</b>
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 9:</b> HAMILTON, ALEXANDER. Autograph Letter Signed, to Baron von Steuben, with extensive notes of Von Steuben's aide Benjamin Walker, June 12, 1780. $10,000 to $15,000
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 9:</b> NEWTON, ISAAC. Autograph Manuscript in Latin, being detailed instructions on making the philosopher's stone. 8 pp. 1790s. $200,000 to 300,000
    <b>Bonhams, Mar. 9:</b> 1869 Inauguration Bible of President Ulysses S. Grant. $80,000 to $120,000
  • <b>19th Century Shop:</b> Charles Darwin on sexuality and the transmission of hereditary characteristics: Autograph Letter Signed to Lawson Tait. Down, 17 January [1877].
    <b>19th Century Shop:</b> MILTON, JOHN. <i>Paradise Lost. A Poem written in ten books.</i> London: 1667. A very rare example with the contemporary binding untouched and with a 1667 title page.
    <b>19th Century Shop:</b> Hamilton secures the ratification of the Constitution: <i>The Debates and Proceedings of the Convention of the State of New-York, assembled at Poughkeespsie, on the 17th June, 1788.</i>
    <b>19th Century Shop:</b> The social contract “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains”: ROUSSEAU, JEAN-JACQUES. <i>Principes du Droit Politique [Du Contract Social]</i>. Amsterdam: Michel Rey, 1762
    <b>19th Century Shop:</b> “The first English textbook on geometrical land-measurement and surveying”: BENESE, RICHARD. <i>This Boke Sheweth the Maner of Measurynge All Maner of Lande…</i>

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions
http://www.rarebookhub.com/reviews/2053
www.rarebookhub.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2018-13
91027
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:YB3NJ4ZQLG3VA6LCIPTFB3F3D42BR2VY
<urn:uuid:80c76093-d538-4b0a-a0c4-62f133e2b9de>
2018-03-18T00:12:21Z
54.225.48.124
text/html
sha1:S4R74PEL5YUTBLVGUQGHLLY7QSDSBJ6P
<urn:uuid:50879d98-ac51-430e-9fca-27db5b49704e>
http://www.rarebookhub.com/reviews/2053
response
<urn:uuid:200c761e-cca0-47ef-b5af-1b97f426ae68>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-228-172-248.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2018-13
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for March 2018
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf