The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Darwin, Charles - 1859: The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

London: Rowland Ward, Limited, 1908. First Edition . Cloth - Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. 115 pages. Blue cloth with gilt stamped lettering and photograph in-lay. Top edge is gilded. Covers show just a hint of rubbing, and remain bright and clean. Book plate of J. H. Bullard on front paste down, and his inked name with the date of 1922 is seen on the first blank page following free end page. Small book seller's decal at bottom of front free end page, and light rubbing/scuffs can be seen on the same page. Volume remains tight and is otherwise bright and clean. A lovely copy of this scarce title.

Amsterdam: Chez l'honore et fils, libraires, 1748. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 2 vols. in one. 8vo. I: [10], cxix, [7], 208 pp. + 1 f. ("Errata" for Tom. 1). II: [2], 231 pp. + 1 f. ("Addition") + 1 f. ("Errata" for Tom 1 [sic]). First title page with unobtrusive paper defect on lower margin, not affecting text; this copy is lacking half-title and Errata leaf for Tom. 2. Very attractive 19th-century French red glazed boards, red morocco spine, lettered in gilt directly (two insignificant worm-holes on lower hinge, leading nowhere; trifle wear to binding extremities. Completely unsophisticated. First printing of "Telliamed," in every way a remarkable book. Disguised as an Oriental fantasy, it contains perhaps the earliest appearance of one of the most important of all evolution speculations, namely the so-called ultra-neptunian theory: that the entire Earth was, and is, a marine deposit, and that all life on land originated from creatures of the sea. Maillet hypothesized that the earth was… Read More

(Persian) Falconry.Husam al-Dawlah Taymur Mirza. The Baz-nama-yi Nasiri. A Persian Treatise on Falconry, translated by D. C. (Douglas Craven) Phillott, 1st edition, Bernard Quaritch, 1908, One of 500 copies.Description: halftone illustrations in the text, original publisher's green pictorial cloth with gilt reproduction of ancient Persian ms. with falconer on horseback, gilt-lettered spine, one minor worm hole through bottom margin first few pages, 8vo 25.5 x 17 cm. Kept in, and comes with, non adhesive transparent dust jacket. See pics for overall condition.Blanc front and end papers, half title page, frontispiece with clean protective tissue, title page, dedication page in English and one in Farsi, xxiv and 195 pp and illustrated with 25 illustrations of Persian paintings, animals, and original ms. Quaritch printer's device to last leaf (see pics).Notes: - Wood; p. 519; Zimmer p. 623. One of 500 copies only. The author was a grandson of Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar (1772-1834) and a respected authority on… Read More

Paris:: De Bure l'Aine, 1742., 1742. Two parts in one volume. 4to. [8], 1-230, [2] [=*230+*230], [2], 231-491 [1] pp. Title printed in red & black, engraved allegorical frontispiece by Chedel after Francois Boucher and 32 engraved plates, Additions et Corrections. Later quarter calf, thin gilt bands, black leather title label, marbled boards, all fore-edges marbled; some minor kozo repairs to joints, the spine being split at the bottom gilt-band. Very good. Rare first editions, of the first natural history works written by Dezallier d'Argenville (1680-1765) and one of the most famous on the subject of conchology and lithology at the time of the Enlightenment. This important work was issued in two parts, the first on lithotomy, or rocks, and the second on conchology, or shells. It is dedicated to the Society of Sciences of Montpellier which had welcomed the author among its members. This book was written for naturalists and collectors and encouraged them to order and classify their shells. / In this… Read More

Neuchatel: H. Wolfrath, 1842-1845. 1845 LARGE ATLAS OF FOSSIL MOLLUSCS ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER 100 FINE LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES BY SWISS PALEONTOLOGIST WHO BECAME EMINENT HARVARD PROFESSOR. 11 inches tall hardcover, 3/4 leather binding with gilt-ruled marbled paper-covered boards, spine with raised bands, gilt title and gilt compartments, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers, bookplate of Robert L. Chevalier MD to front paste-down, xxii, 1-141, [1], 143-287, 105 fine lithographed plates. Binding tight, wear to cover edges and corners, handstamp of Earth Sciences Library to verso title page, fore-edge and bottom edge, handstamp of San Francisco Microscopical Society to front free endpaper, residue from removed library labels and "withdrawn" handstamp to back endpapers, light foxing to text, occasional foxing to plates, overall very good minus in custom archival mylar cover. JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ (1807 – 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's… Read More

London: Academy for Illustrating and Painting Natural History, 1792. Book. Very good+ condition. Hardcover. First Edition. Folio. Two title pages, four unnumbered pages, 33 pages of text in English interspersed with plates, four unnumbered pages of text in French, 41 pages of text in French, followed by four unnumbered pages containing the General Table [index] in English. Measures 36cm (height). New tan linen (hardcover) binding rebound by Corey, with an elegant dark brown leather spine label with gilt title mostly covering the spine. Illustrated with two engraved title pages, two unnumbered numismatic plates titled "Aurea numismata", and 42 numbered entomological plates, of which the first nine are hand-colored. Plates 11 and 28 are bound-in out of sequence. English text followed by French; English title page; author English professor of botany, Cambridge; plates produced by Martyn's Academy for Drawing and Printing Natural History, Great Marlborough Street, London. Knight, page 9.… Read More

London:: William Mackenzie, (1879)., 1879. Large 4to. (374 x 275 mm) xxvi, 204 pp. 41 colored full-page chromolithographs (including frontispiece), 64 engraved vignettes, red and black title-page, top edge gilt. Modern dark brown quarter morocco over original cloth boards, raised bands, gilt-stamped spine title. Bookplate of James Jones. RARE. Fine. MAGNIFICENT CHROMOLITHOGRAPHS OF BRITISH FISH: FIRST EDITION, with all plates present and in fine condition. Sometimes bound as two volumes, but this copy is bound as one, and it is complete. This Victorian book is a gentleman's encyclopedia of the fresh water fish native to Britain. In addition to 41 stunning color full-page plates of each fish described, the book also has a steelcut vignette at the beginning of each description, as well as numerous diagrams and drawings. Reverend William Houghton, a Shropshire clergyman, produced this work with the angler in mind - opposed to the naturalist. Many of the fish are portrayed as game-landed freshwater fish… Read More

London: Rowland Ward, Limited, 1898. First Edition . Cloth - Hard Cover. Good-/No Jacket. 4to. J. Smit. 329 pages, plus 24 hand colored plates after J. Smit. Number 474 of 500 copies numbered and signed by the publisher. Green cloth covers are heavily rubbed, and worn along edges. Wear is more toward fore edge and spine still looks good. All lettering on cover remains good. Small worm holes on both boards, with a little damage to blank front free end page, half title, title, and dedication pages. Damage is in blank spaces and does not affect any lettering. Small institution stamp on blank front free end page. Small tears at top edge of title page and dedication page. Last blank leaf and blank rear end leave are separated from text block though remain tightly attached at bottom cover. Plates are very slightly darkened near edges. Contents are otherwise bright, clean, and intact.

London: Printed by A Linde, Bookseller to Her Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales, 1755 A good copy of the first (and only) English edition in largely contemporary full leather binding with folding engraved map coloured in outline, and 28 plates. In 2 parts - the second part published over a year after the first as writing was disrupted by a major fire. The binding is complete and sound, with contemporary boards (scuffed) and later spine and corners. The spine has small raised bands and gilt titles. There is rubbing to spine joints. Internally a number of old catalogue entries about the work have been pasted to the front pastedown endpaper. Contents: folding map, title, preface, author list & contents xiv; text 206pp with 14 plates; title Pt 2, author's preface, contents viii; text 291pp with 14 plates - finis; directions to binder, index and errata xii. The map is in good clean condition with some staining at the bottom and side margins. There are 2 paper flaw holes in the top margin p 1/2,… Read More

Fowles, John. The Tree. The Nature of Nature. Two Essays. The Yolla Bolly Press, Covelo (1995). First Edition. Illustrated with 8 woodcuts by Aaron Johnson.One of 10 copies lettered A to J, signed by Fowles and Johnson; with an extra suite of 8 woodcuts, signed by Johnson, enclosed in linen portfolio.This is copy B. From an edition of 150 copies. Square 4to. Bound in decorated Belgian linen. Book and suite enclosed in folio Belgian linen clamshell box, with small woodcut on the cover. Box lightly faded along spine, front cover, and back cover. Book and woodcuts are in mint condition. Scarce.