Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2004 Issue

Essential Works in Science and Medicine<br>From the 19th Century Shop

Andreas Cellarius’ map of the heavens

Andreas Cellarius’ map of the heavens


By Michael Stillman

The 19th Century Shop has issued a catalogue of “Science, Medicine & Mathematics” (Catalogue 99). It is a collection of major scientific works not to be believed. Here’s a note of caution. When there are items of such magnitude of importance as some herein, it is hard not to mention them. However, we have limited space. Therefore, the many books that are more modestly priced but still of great significance cannot now be described.

Where do we start? How about Isaac Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. This is a 1713 second and rarest edition of the three printed during Newton’s life. Quoting from “Printing and the Mind of Man,” the cataloguer notes “The Principia is generally described as the greatest work in the history of science…” This copy is in unusually attractive condition with a contemporary binding. Priced at $45,000.

If the Principia is the greatest work of science, Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity can’t be too far behind. Here’s a first edition from 1916 in the original German. $9,500. There’s also an ex-library copy priced at $2,200, or a 1919 reprint of this edition that is signed and dated by Einstein at $20,000.

Of comparable importance to the field of psychoanalysis is Freud’s Die Traumdeutung, the Interpretation of Dreams. The libido, the subconscious (then called the “unconscious”), all those terms that are bandied about today, derive from this seminal work. This is a 1900 first edition in German of this massively influential book. $25,000.

On April 25, 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published their article Molecular structure of nucleic acids. A structure of deoxyribose nucleic acid. Of course we now simply refer to the stuff as DNA, and it contains the genetic code which determines who we are. At the end they mention “It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.” This article and a follow up from May 30, 1953, by these Nobel Price winning scientists are offered for sale. Price not listed.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: ALDROVANDI, Ulisse (1522-1605) - [Opera omnia]. Bologna: Bellagamba, Benacci, Bonomi, Tebaldini, Ferroni, 1599-1668. €22.000-€28.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: [CANALETTO] - VISENTINI, Antonio (1688-1782) da Giovanni Antonio CANAL (1697-1768, detto 'Il Canaletto') - Urbis Venetiarum prospectus celebriores. Venezia: Giovanni Battista Pasquale, 1742-51. €7.000-€10.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: LA FONTAINE, Jean de (1621-1695) - Fables Choisies. Parigi: Claude Barbin, 1668. €7.000-€10.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: MERCATOR, Rumold (1545-1599) - [I continenti] - Europa; Africa; America Sive India Nova; Asia. Amsterdam: S.d. [ca. 1633]. €2.000-€3.000
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

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