History of Ideas & Science

Exceptional manuscript on a relatively little known work by Llull.

A finely executed, early 15th century manuscript of the great proverb collection assembled by the philosopher and theologian Ramon Llull (ca. 1232-1315).

Unrecorded celestial atlas, made by a Jesuit missionary in China.

An unrecorded manuscript celestial atlas from the Sui dynasty, edited with an extensive commentary by the early 18th century Jesuit astronomer Antoine Gaubil, hailed by Joseph Needham as the “the interpreter general and father superior of Chinese astronomy”, of which this manuscript gives impressive evidence. The manuscript contains an unpublished translation of the “Bu Tian Ge” (a.k.a. “Songs of pacing the heavens” or “The song of the marches of the heavens”), a Sui dynasty (581-618 CE) star catalogue in verse by the Taoist hermit Dan Yuanzi, also known as Wang Ximing. Beyond the text of the star catalogue, Gaubil provides his ink- drawn copies of 31-star charts, including a fold-out celestial map of the north polar region. Gaubil provides an extensive commentary on the text, and a tabular catalogue of Chinese stars that allows us to determine the corresponding European stars based on their distance from the North Pole.

Fine drawing of a Toucan and a Woodpecker made by the last Spanish Governor of Paraguay during his visit to Brazil in the beginning of the 19th century

Attractive drawing by Bernardo de Velasco, and who was the last governor of the province of Paraguay, made presumably during his voyage to Paraguay passing through Brazil, specifically the Island of Santa Caterina, where he portrayed a Toucan and the very local bird Picapau, or woodpecker.

Pre-Gutenberg Chinese printing and silk weaving: a consecutive set of five volumes of the Garland Sutra in original brocade bindings

An extremely early Chinese block-printed suite of the Garland Sutra, beautifully preserved in the original, museum-quality medieval brocade bindings: an outstanding and near-unique example of Buddhist culture and the Chinese art of silk weaving as well as printing in the earliest decades of the 15th century.

Bound in contemporary Spanish Mudejar bindings, one of the first Spanish works to adhere to the Ptolemaic geographical vision of the World, used by 15th century explorers such as Columbus

First edition of a cosmographically-relevant Spanish work, apparently the first published in Spain to adhere to the Ptolemaic theory of the world, printed at the first press established Valencia (Spain), in a fascinating strictly contemporary Spanish “Mudejar” style binding.

The first book with a printed visual alphabet and the first illustration of a chess board

First edition and first issue of this illustrated epitome of the rhetorical arts, representing the first memory treatise to appear in print, the first book containing a printed visual alphabet and the first work to show a printed illustration of a chess board: this woodcut identifies this copy as the extremely rare first issue of the edition, being printed on l. d8r – blank in the second issue, as in most other surviving copies.

A French Tour of the United States and its Prisons in 1837, Tocqueville’s successor.

Blouet´s unpublished and unofficial autograph journal describing a tour in the United States in the winter of 1837, designed to study the United States’ renowned penitentiary system, organized by the French government in the wake of Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont’s similar seminal mission a few years earlier in 1831 and predates Charles Dickens’ tour in 1842, signed and dated, of which no other copies have been found. The manuscript is joined by a letter from John Haviland to Blouet, in which Haviland shows his appreciation to Blouet for sending his publication and also to inform Blouet of some of the modifications he had recently made to improve penitentiary architecture.

“Unsurpassed in Importance” (Lada-Mocarski), one of the most influential Spanish voyages to the Pacific and Northwest Coast.

First edition, an important and rare account of Spanish exploration of the Northwest Coast of North America and the Pacific, illustrated with an atlas comprising 9 maps and 8 engraved plates of the local costumes and native population, “Unsurpassed in Importance” (Lada-Mocarski).

Including the famous Ange Anatomique, the chef-d'oeuvre of Gautier, first edition, a deluxe copy.

First edition, considered the chef-d’oeuvre of Gautier, one of the grandest anatomical books published in the 18th century, illustrated with 20 visually arresting large plates including what the Surrealists called the Anatomical Angel, representing the muscles of the face, neck and throat, torso, and extremities, each accompanied by an explanatory text by Duverney (who worked with dissected cadavers), the anatomy lecturer from the Jardin du Roi.

First edition of the Arte de Ingenio.

First edition, very rare, one of the most important productions of the Golden Century of Spanish literature, and an influential work in world literature, specifically on literary aesthetics, and certainly the crowning jewel of Gracian´s ouevre. An unusually fine copy of a book that, when found, is usually in terrible condition or simply incomplete.

The first description of the Escorial and its contents, by its architect.

First edition, first issue, extraordinarily rare, of the first description of the Escorial, by Juan de Herrera, the architect of what is widely regarded as the most impressive building created in Spain in the 16th century. A book of exceptional rarity, and importance, which gives us the architect´s feel of what his magnum opus is and looks like. Herrera was the author of a set of drawings on the Escorial which were engraved by Pedro Perret Perret (1555-1637).

First edition in Spanish of the first printed book on architecture, commented by Spanish architect Herrera.

The first edition of Leon Battista Alberti's 'De Re Aedificatoria' in Spanish, one of the most influential books on architecture, an appealing copy.

The official Spanish handbook on precious metals employed in the American colonies.

First edition, extremely rare and influential, this was the official handbook on silver, gold, and precious metals, American bullion, and Spanish monetary policy, written by Spanish sculptor and goldsmith Juan de Arfe y Villafañe; signed at the end by the author, as usual.

First English edition of the first major science book printed in English.

First English edition of the “oldest mathematical textbook in the world still in common use today... the first substantial book to be printed with geometrical figures.” (PMM) and the first major science book printed in English; an influential translation, containing contributions by John Dee, and his famous Preface, widely regarded as his most important work. An unusually fine copy, preserving the large folding plate and the 37 diagrams with one or more overslips, the maximum possible count.

The first legislation addressed to the welfare of the Native Americans,
promulgated at the instances of Bishop Bartolome de Las Casas.

First edition, of pivotal transcendence, a work that altered the Spanish
position towards Native Americans and their relation with the
conquistadors, the first book dedicated solely to American Law and to
the betterment of the treatment of the indigenous population, including,
extraordinarily, an abolition cause. Of superlative rarity institutionally
and in the market.