Search Results: Science from W. C. Baker Rare Books & Ephemera

Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1960.Pp. 523-532 plus 4 plates containing 11 images (4 color). Original printed wrappers, side-stapled. Light rust marks near staples and light fading at wrappers' fold, else fine. Offprint from THE SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOR 1959, providing a brief history of the discovery and study of viruses and recent developments in the understanding of what a virus is, how viruses may be classified, genetic study, and virus diseases and recovery from them. The illustrations include schematic representations of virus activity, theoretical diagrams of DNA structures (including the recently-discovered double helix), and several examples of microscopic photography, including a color image of infected HeLa cells (the cell line developed from the cancer cells of Johns Hopkins cancer patient Henrietta Lacks in the early 1950s).

Orléans, France: L. P. Couret, 1794. Small quarto. Bifolium, 4 pp. 3/4-inch of loss at upper corner (with no loss to text). Soft early horizontal fold. Very minor foxing. Very good. The 1794 French Revolutionary decree transferring the former royal collections of scientific, technological, and artistic objects to newly designated state inventories, naming the commissioners of each to form the new commission temporaire des Arts. Forty-three commissioners and twelve categories of objects are named, offering an informative view of cultural authority and material taxonomy at the height of the Revolution. Almost immediately upon the overthrow of the French monarchy in 1792, members of the National Convention embarked upon the urgent and staggering task of protecting the massive royal collections and reorganizing them according to Republican and Enlightenment ideals. Within months, the famous Jardin du Roi and Cabinet dHistoire Naturelle were newly established as the Muséum National dHistoire… Read More

Uppsala: Excudebant Regiae academiae typographi, 1824. Two volumes: 22;[1],[23]-38 pp. In Latin. Printed self-wrappers, stitched. Small marginal tear in second leaf, very minor dust soiling in outer leaves, else fine. Medical dissertations submitted by Johan Immanuel Billberg and Johan Otto Lindströmer at Uppsala University on the topic of ipecacuanha. Johan Immanuel (or Emanuel) Billberg (1799-1845) received his PhD in 1821 and medical doctorate in 1827, following an important botanical collecting expedition to Columbia. The essays, on the botany and pharmaceutical uses of the ipecacuanha plant of Latin America, are addressed to Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828), Professor of Medicine and Natural Philosophy at Uppsala. An important disciple of Carl Linnaeus, Thunberg was particularly distinguished for his botanical collecting expeditions in South Africa and Japan.

Plattsburgh [N.Y.]: Printed by F. P. Allen, 1833. 280 pp, including 3 wood-engraved figures in text. Original cloth-backed plain paper over boards, in modern cloth clamshell case. Bookplate of Jacob L. Chernovsky in case. Binding worn, joints cracked, leaves wrinkled, mold stains in outer leaves, contents mildly foxed. Good. "To the medical bibliographer there are few more treasured Americana than the brown-backed, poorly printed octavo volume of 280 pages with the imprint "Plattsburgh, Printed by F. P. Allan, 1833'" (Osler 1972). William Beaumont (1785-1853), the "Father of Gastric Physiology," was serving as a U.S. Army surgeon in the Michigan Territory in 1822 when he treated Alexis St. Martin, an 18-year-old French-Canadian guide who had been wounded in his left side by an accidental discharge of a musket loaded with duck shot. The wound healed but left a permanent fistula - a hole through which Beaumont would access St. Martin's stomach to study gastric juice and digestive processes over the… Read More

Paris: Chez l'auteur... Laurent d'Houry... Jean Boudot, libraire..., 1699. 12mo. [18],300;112 pp. plus 26 plates (three folding). Contemporary speckled calf, spine richly gilt, gilt leather label, raised bands, edges rouged. Light institutional inkstamp in title page. 18th-century inscription in titlepage and signature of Theophile Leonard in title page and final page of the dedication. Occasional 18th-century marginalia. Minor wear. Near fine. First edition of the first major work of Nicolas Bion, complete with 26 plates of terrestrial and celestial maps, diagrams, and images of globes. Bion (ca. 1652-1733) was a Paris-based cosmographer and maker of mathematical and astronomical instruments, holding the title of "king's engineer for mathematical instruments" under Louis XIV (DSB II, pp. 132-1330). A landmark in its field.

New York: The Columbia University Press, 1905. First Edition. Softcover. Good. 110,[12] pp. Original wrappers, front and rear both printed recto and verso. Wrappers unevenly toned, lightly chipped at edges; last porton of text block light chipped at fore-edge; else very good. The first published work by Lynn Thorndike (1882-1965), best known for his exhaustive, eight-volume HISTORY OF MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE (1923-1958).

Altenburg: Paul Emanuel Richters, 1753. Quarto. [8],xxviii,[4],104 pp. plus six folding plates. In German. Contemporary three-quarter leather and speckled paper over boards. 19th-century ex-dono inscription in title page and occasional 19th-century marginal notes in German. Spine and nearly all leather perished, joints cracked. 2 x 2 cm. square excision in front free endpaper. Very light occasional foxing, else near fine internally in a fair binding. The German translation of Robert Nesbitt's best known work, HUMAN OSTEOGENY EXPLAINED IN TWO LECTURES, first published in London in 1736. Robert Nesbitt (1697-1761) trained at Leiden University under Bernhardus Albinus the Elder (1653-1721) and Herman Boerhaave, the "Dutch Hippocrates" (1668-1738). An Englishman, Nesbitt returned to London after his studies and commenced his medical career; he was admitted as a fellow to the College of Physicians in 1729. The present work comprises two lectures he delivered at the Anatomical Theatre of the Surgeons of… Read More

Paris: Fr. Horth-hemels, 1730. Hardcover. Very good. [10],246 pp. plus frontispiece and two folding tables. In Latin. Early three-quarter vellum and speckled paper over boards, raised bands, manuscript paper title and shelf labels. Early shelf number inscription in front free endpaper, light institutional inkstamp in title page. Lightly rubbed, extremities worn. Very good. George Ernest Stahl’s influential Latin edition of Gideon Harvey’s ARS CURANDI MORBOS EXPECTATIONE (first published in English in 1689). Stahl published both ARS CURANDI and his own critical response, ARS SANANDI CUM EXPECTATIONE, with a combined title page under the heading, SILENI ALCIBIADIS. The present example corresponds with Waller 4082: Harvey’s work alone, issued with the combined title and without a separate ARS CURANDI title leaf. Gideon Harvey (ca. 1640 – ca. 1700) served as physician to Charles II and “physician of the tower” to William and Mary. Despite his connection to the Crown, Harvey was never a member… Read More

New York: Dewitt & Davenport, 1849. First Separate Edition. Softcover. Good. 104,4 pp. including numerous in-text illustrations. Original printed wrappers. Rear wrapper lacking. Front wrapper moderately soiled and abraded, spine chipped, edges worn. Internally clean. Good.

[S.l.]: A. Friedländer, lithographer, [ca. 1880s]. First Edition. Broadside. Very good. Advertising card, 11.5 x 8.6 cm., pictorical color lithograph on recto, text on verso. Light wear, staining and light scuffing on verso, evidently from early adhesive. Very good. Chromolithographic card promoting the anatomical museum of Julius Winkler in Leipzig, featuring a centerpiece of an anatomical theater (mid-dissection), surrounded by images of jarred fetuses, a pair of conjoined twins, a sword swallower with an opened torso, and various surgeries and anatomical preparations. The verso describes a collection of more than 1000 pieces in areas of anatomy, embrology, pathology, surgery, and hygiene, including new exhibitions of "life-size bodies" depicting various epidemics, an "unsolved puzzle" and a "wandering corpse." Printed by Adolph Friedländer (1851-1904), the great Hamburg-based lithographer and publisher of posters of circuses and other entertainments. OCLC locates no copies. Rare.