Item 2, Voyage autour du monde... (Voyage around the world) is a 1751 French language edition published in Amsterdam of George Anson's famous travels. Anson was signed on by the British as a privateer to disrupt Spanish shipping from South America in the early 1740s. Anson set off with six ships, but lost five of his ships and most of his men by the time he made it around the Straits of Magellan and into the Pacific. Still, he would get lucky, capturing one ship loaded with riches, and Anson would return to England a wealthy man, only the second Englishman (after Drake) to circumnavigate the globe. €4,500 (US $5,820).

Item 15 is an obscure but telling early study of the effects of the smallpox vaccine. Vaccination was very controversial in the 18th century, many fearing it was more dangerous than taking your chances. Histoire impartiale de la vaccine... (Impartial history of the vaccine), published in 1831, uses a study of mortality rates in the town of Besancon to evaluate the vaccine's impact. Author Claude-Antoine Barrey studied 56 years of deaths in the town, 28 before use of the vaccine, 28 after, to conclude that the vaccine could successfully prevent new epidemics of smallpox. €400 (US $517).

Librairie Thomas-Scheler may reached at 01 43 26 97 69 or by email at BASANE@thomas-scheler.fr.