Sales catalogue 119: Davis & Orioli

Date:: 20th century

Reference:: WA/HMM/CM/Sal/31/26

Credit: Sales catalogue 119: Davis & Orioli. Source: Wellcome Collection.

42/50 page 42

$ELEectRicITy, &c.—continued. Waves, Distribution of rapidly alternating currents, electromotive intensity in moving bodies, Electro- lysis of Steam.”’ Scarce. ENTOMOLOGY. (René-Ant.-Ferchault de Me- moirs pour servir a l’histoire des insectes. Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1734-42 £15 15s 4to. Contemporary French mottled calf, triple gilt borderline, fully gilt back with red and green labels. 6 vols. 267 plates. The importance of this work can hardly be exag- gerated. Réamur was a great scholar, who became a member of the French Academy of Science at the age of 24 years. His natural history of insects has hardly been surpassed either in accuracy, interest or style by any later books on the subject. Unfortunately the work was not completed, and the last two volumes which were to describe the grasshoppers and beetles never appeared. ‘The plates are uncoloured, but the book was never issued with coloured plates. A very fine set. GEOLOGY & PALAEONTOLOGY. 604 Plot (Robert, Secretary of the Royal Society) De Origine Fontium, Teutamen Philosophicum. In_ praelectione habita coram Societate Philosophica nuper Oxonii instituta ad Scientiam naturalem promo vendam. Oxonii, e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1685 308 Sm. 8vo. 187 pp. Calf. Frontispiece. A rare book, interesting for the development of geological ideas. 605 Ray (John) Three Physical-Theological Discourses concerning the Primitive Chaos and Creation of the World, the General Deluge, its causes and effects, the Dissolu- tion of the World, and future Conflagration ... the third edition. London, 1713 25s 8vo. Old calf, worn. 32, 456 pp._ Engraved por- trait of the author by Vertue after Faithorne, and 4 plates. : An interesting work on the early geological changes of the earth, on fossils, volcanos, earthquakes, etc. Ray was one of the earliest writers to point out the effects of running water on the earth’s surface and the encroachment of the sea on the shore. The description of earthquakes includes that of one at Jamaica. Paper a little spotted. 606 Romé de !’isle. lV Action du Feu Central démontrée nulle a la Surface du Globe contre les assertions de MM. le Comte de Buffon, Bailly, de Mairan, ete. Seconde edition. Stockholm & Paris, Didot, 1781 30s 8vo. Unbound. 6 ll, 124 pp. m An uncommon pamphlet, containing a critical examination of Buffon’s theory of the earth. 607 Whitehurst (John) An Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth, deduced from facts and the laws of nature, to which is added an appendix containing some general observations on the strata in Derbyshire. London, 1786 30s 4to. Old calf, worn. Portr. and 7 folding plates, four sheets. The work was chiefly intended to facilitate the dis- covery of valuable minerals. ‘“... he wrote well on organic remains, and showed that he clearly grasped the stratigraphical succession of the forma- tions in Derbyshire and other parts of England ” (Sir A. GEIKIE). SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. and Philosophical Instruments made and sold by George Adams, no. 60 Fleet Street, London. n.d. (ca. 1795) 21s 8vo. Unbound. 15 pp. A pricelist. menti & Machine... con una brieve dichiara- tion di Franc. Beroaldo . .. di Latino in volgare Italianoa tradotto per Giulio Pas- chali. Lyons, Barth. Vincenti, 1582 £16 16s Folio. Limp vellum. Titlepage, 2 preliminary leaves and 60 engraved plates, with descriptive text. One of the rarest and most beautiful early books on machinery and engineering. The title page has a beautiful woodcut border of Renaissance design and the engraved plates show all kinds of machinery as it was then used. There are machines for ail manner of carpentry work, furnaces, mills, ploughs, water raising machines, carriages (some of most elaborate design), barrels and drinking vessels, musical instrument, building of pontoon bridges, housebuilding (use of cement), wells, mining opera- tions, a fire-extinguishing machine, various types of ships and naval operations. Upper blank margin of titlepage stained and repaired, otherwise good. a newly invented portable barometer, with a short historical notice on barometers in general. London, published by the author, 1849 21s 8vo. Unbound. 34 pp. and advertisement leaf. The author was a famous maker of chronometers for Greenwich Observatory, the Admiralty and East India Company. The present book contains the description of the aneroid barometer, with its history, the invention of which is generally ascribed to Lucien Vidie (1845), but had already been described in 1799 by Conté. scope. London Stereoscopic Co., 1856 15s 8vo. Unbound. 69 pp. 4 plates, 12 pp. ad- vertisements. + with the New Discoveries, including an account of the Eidouranion, or Transparent Orrery (invented by A. Walker) as lectured upon by his son. 14th edition. Ipswich, 1800 12s 6d 8vo. Unbound. 43 pp. both the Globes, the Armillery Sphere, and Orrery, exemplified in a large Variety of problems in Astronomy, Geography, Dial- ling, etc. . . . also a new construction of the Hour Circle on the Globes, etc., ete. Lon- don, 1783 21s 8vo. Unbound. 107 pp. 3 plates. MICROSCOPY. scope, containing a description of the most improved Microscopes, a General History of Insects . . . a View of the Organisation of Timber, etc., when under the Microscope. London, 1787 £4 10s 4to. Old half calf, rebacked. 2 vols., the second ‘containing the Atlas of 31 doublepage engraved plates. First Edition. There is a 27 pp. section on the history of microscopes, a list of instruments at end, and a bibliographical list of earlier writers on the subject. Some upper corners dampstained, but a good sound copy. \$

Sales catalogue 119: Davis & Orioli

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