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First edition of two of the most important works on twilight and optics

NUNES, Pedro. De crepusculis liber unus, nu[n]c rece[n]s & natus et editus.Including: [Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn MU'ADH] (mis-attributed to Ibn AL-HAYTHAM). De causis crepusculorum liber unus, à Gerardo Cremonensi iam olim Latinita te donatus, nunc vero omniu[m] primum in lucem editus.
(Colophon: Lisbon, Ludovicus Rodericus, January 1542). 4to. With woodcut architectural title-page with an arch containing putti and mythological figures (including 2 winged female fauns holding drapery, with the Royal Portuguese coat of arms at the foot and an armillary sphere at the head, 40 woodcut diagrams concerning astronomy, spherical geometry, optics and geodessy in the text, Rodericus's spectacular full-page emblematic woodcut device (a dragon with the motto "salus vitae" on a banderole), numerous woodcut initials (several series), and a vine-leaf ornament (a variant of Vervliet 94?). Set mostly in the first successful italic type to have sloped capitals, cut by Peter Schoeffer the younger, but with extensive passages in roman. Bound in a period-style Italian calf binding, gold-tooled spine, each board with a blind-tooled frame and a gold-tooled centrepiece, with "Petri Nonii" on the front and "MDXLII" on the back. [73], [1 blank] ll. Full description
€ 75,000
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Statistics on the world's oil production

[OIL]. IMPERIAL MINERAL RESOURCES BUREAU. The mineral industry of the British Empire and foreign countries. War period. Gypsum (1913-1919).
With:
(2) Strontium minerals (1913-1919).
(3) Molybdenum (1913-1919).
(4) Silver (1913-1919).
(5) Graphite (1913-1919).
(6) Petroleum and allied products. (1913-1919).
London, His Majesty's stationery office, 1923. 6 works in 1 volume. Contemporary red cloth, paper title-label on spine. IV, 31, [1 blank]; 12; 87, [1 blank]; 218; 57, [1 blank]; 296 pp. Full description
€ 375
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1598 ordinance for clearing trees around windmills, signed by Johan van Oldenbarnevelt

[MANUSCRIPT - ORDINANCE]. OLDENBARNEVELT, Johan van. [Ordinance forbidding the planting of trees around windmills in the Land van Arkel (in the southwestern corner of the province of Holland) and requiring the removal of existing trees].
The Hague, 14 December 1598. Manuscript document in Dutch in brown ink on the skin side of a single piece of sheepskin parchment (36 x 48 cm, folded to 14 x 19 cm). Full description
€ 2,950
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Rare work about star velocity by one of the most important astronomers of the 20th century

OORT, Jan Hendrik. The stars of high velocity. Proefschrift ter verkrijging van den graad van doctor in de wis- en natuurkunde aan de Rijks-Universiteit te Groningen...
Groningen, Gebroeders Hoitsema, 1926. Folio. With 12 figures, illustrating star velocity, and 30 tables (only 27 are numbered). Original grey paper wrappers, with the title and name of the author printed on the front wrapper and the spine, in a protective semi-opaque coated paper dust jacket. [8], 75, [1], [1 slip-in leaf with theses] pp. Full description
€ 950
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Best edition of a copiously illustrated work on mathematical recreations

OZANAM, Jacques. Récréations mathématiques et physiques, qui contiennent plusieurs problèmes d'arithmétique, de géométrie, de musique, d'optique, de gnomonique, de cosmographie, de mécanique, de pyrotechnie, & de physique. Avec un traité des horloges élémentaires.
Paris, Jacques Rollin, 1750 (vol. 2: 1749). 4 volumes. 8vo. With 136 engraved plates (9 folding, 127 full-page), numerous woodcut diagrams and printed tables in the text. Contemporary mottled calf. [16], 460, [20]; [4], 462, [14]; [2], 482, [12]; [8], 446, [5] pp. Full description
€ 2,950
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Horblit-copy of an important early description of the nocturnal astronomical instrument and its use, with the extremely rare woodblock-printed dials and pointers to construct the nocturnal and sundial-lunar dial

PADOVANI, Giovanni. Opera nuova ... tradotta di Latino in volgare, laqual dichiara luso del maraviglio so istrumento astronomico da lui intitulato horoscopio. ...
Verona, Paolo Ravagnano, 1560. 4to. With Ravagnanos woodcut emblematic device on the title-page (a hand emerging from a cloud and holding a stalk with three lilies, the whole in an oval in a rectangular scrollwork cartouche, with the motto, "candidio animus"), a folding plate (oblong long folio: 15.5 x 41.5 cm) containing 2 woodcuts (12.5 x 22 cm & 12 cm diameter with the 4.5 cm gnomen making it 14 x 13 cm) designed to be cut up to make the authors "horoscopio" in the form of a volvelle and the sundial-lunar dial, 3 decorated woodcut initials (pictorial), planetary and zodiac signs, and numerous tables of numerical data. 19th-century(?) boards, covered with block-printed decorated paper (black on white). [46], [2 blank] pp. Full description
€ 12,500
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First edition of a rare Dutch book on witchcraft containing some unsettling visuals
depicting supernatural phenomena and instances of extreme torment

PALINGH, Abraham. 't Afgerukt Mom-aansight Der Tooverye ...
Amsterdam, J. Rieuwertz, 1659. Small 8vo. WIth a woodcut title-vignette showing a witch on a broomstick leaving a house through the chimney (4.3 x 5.2 cm), 13 etched full-page illustrations on 8 plates by Salomon Savry. Contemporary overlapping vellum. [16], 429, [19] pp. Full description
€ 7,500
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Beautifully bound set of Pallas' famous description of Russia

PALLAS, Peter Simon (M. GAUTHIER DE LA PEYRONIE, transl.). Voyages de M. P.S. Pallas en differentes provinces de l'Empire de Russie, et dans l'Asie septentrionale.
Paris, Lagrange (vol. 1), Maradan (vol. 2-5; colophon of vol. 5: printed by Demonville), 1788-1793. 5 text volumes (4to) and 1 atlas volume (Imperial 4to: 33.5 x 25 cm). With 123 engraved plates and maps (27 folding), including a large folding map of the Russian Empire. Uniform gold-tooled tree calf, gilt edges. [3], [1 blank], XXXII, 773, [5]; [4], 550, [1], [1 blank]; [3], [1 blank], 492; [3], [1 blank], 722, [2]; [3], [1 blank], 559, [1] pp; atlas volume with 123 plates on 108 leaves. Full description
€ 12,500
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First folio edition of Paracelsus’ collected works, in its original richly decorated binding

PARACELSUS (= Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von HOHENHEIM) and Johann HUSER (editor). Opera, Bücher und Schrifften, so viel deren zur Handt gebracht ...
Strasbourg, Lazarus Zetzner, 1603.
With: (2) IDEM. Opera ... Ander Theyl.
Strasbourg, Lazarus Zetzner, 1603. 2 works in 1 volume. Folio in 6s (ca. 32.5 x 20 cm). With the title page printed in red and black within an elaborate woodcut border showing a portrait of Paracelsus at the head flanked by two allegorical figures personifying Astronomy and Astrology, the printers device at the foot flanked by two allegorical figures personifying Pharmacy and Alchemy and full-length figures of Virgil and Hermes Trismegistus on either side of the letterpress title. Further with the woodcut printers device on the divisional title page for the second work, and numerous woodcut illustrations in the text of the second work. Further with woodcut tailpieces and numerous decorated woodcut initials throughout. Contemporary richly gold- and blind-tooled pigskin, the front board shows the initials "A.B.D." above and the year "1605" below the centrepiece within the inner frame, the manuscript author and title in brown ink on the spine, red edges, remnants of ties. [12], 1127, [53]; [1], [1 blank], [5], [1 blank], 691, [12], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 4,500
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