Science, Medicine and Technology

Autograph Letter Signed ('Tho. Roffen.') to Thomas Adams of Alnwick, Northumberland; with the Bishop of Rochester's episcopal seal, in red wax.

Author: 
Thomas Dampier (c.1749-1812), Bishop of Ely and book collector [Bishop of Rochester from 1802 to 1808]
Publication details: 
Harley Street, Septr. 14. 1802.'
£80.00

4to: 1 p. Very good on the first leaf of a bifolium. A third quarto leaf carries the address, in Dampier's hand, with his franking signature 'free | T. Rochester.' Also the oval seal, c.3 cm high, a clear impression in red wax. 24 lines of text. Interesting letter. Dampier begins by thanking Adams for 'your Congratulations to me on my Promotion to the See of Rochester.

Offprint of article entitled 'Protection Against Lightning. What is a lightning conductor? How does it protect against lightning? And how should it be applied to be effective?'

Author: 
Alfred Hands [J. W. Gray & Son, Lightning Conductor Experts]
Publication details: 
Reprinted from "The Field" newspaper, May 16th, 1914.'
£28.00

8vo: ii + 14 pp. Unbound. Stapled and in original brown printed wraps. Very good on art paper. Six photographic illustrations, including 'Clothing of a man struck by lightning' and 'Farm-house at Whaddon, near Stamford, struck and practically wrecked by lightning.' Hands is described as 'Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, Member of the Astronomical Society of France, Senior Partner of J. W.

Legal manuscript, signed by the three parties, entitled 'Messrs. Alfred Riehl and W. F. Mohr to W. E. Page Esqre. Agreement for Sale of a Share of certain Royalties arising from Patent applied for and now known as the Boran Lamp'.

Author: 
Alfred Riehl; William Frederick Mohr, Electric Lamp Merchants; William Edwin Page [the Boran Lamp; Edwardian inventions, patents]
Publication details: 
12/12/12
£75.00

On three pages of a foolscap bifolium, supplied by J. Warner & Co., Law Stationer of New Oxford Street, ruled and with red borders. Good, on lightly stained paper. On 25 July 1912 Mohr and Friedrich Hansen 'made an application for a Patent for an improvement in the process of the manufacture of a filament for an electric incandescent lamp (at present known as the "Boran Lamp") accompanied by a complete specification at the Patent Office', but the application has not yet been accepted.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A. Picard') to Georges Berger (1834-1910), Directeur général de l'Exploitation de l'Exposition de 1889.

Author: 
Alfred Picard (1844-1913), Vice-Président du Conseil d'État [Exposition Universelle de 1889; Paris Exhibition]
Publication details: 
24 April 1890; Paris. On letterhead of the Conseil d'État.
£150.00

8vo: 3 pp. Bifolium. Very good. Written in French. After an 'etude attentive de rapport de M.M. de Lacretelle et Millas et des autres documents en ma possession' on the Exposition's foreign returns he finds 'certaines lacunes et certains points douteux' concerning which he hopes Berger can enlighten him. He gives a list of seventeen officially-participating countries, each with the subsidy it has received in francs, complaining that 'huit de ces chiffres sont douteux'. This is followed by a similar list of six countries which did not participate officially.

Corrected Typescript of 'Der Pyramidenbauer'; Corrected Typescript of German lecture; photocopy of Manuscript article 'Der Kanon des Kosmos', with English translation; two pages of German manuscript notes; 56 printed cosmological diagrams.

Author: 
Eberhard Wortmann [Hermann Hesse; Sacred Geometry; Neoplatonism]
Publication details: 
Der Kanon des Kosmos' dated '24. II. 71, Berkeley, California'; the whole in envelope postmarked 1975.
£450.00

Wortmann - whose 'Das Gesetz Des Kosmos' (1965) is considered a cosmological masterpiece - corresponded with Hermann Hesse, and was the only modern author to be described by him as a master of the Glass Bead Game. The Sacred Science Institute in America is presently working with Wortmann's family to bring out an edition of his work. The collection is discoloured with age and some leaves are slightly dog-eared, but the whole is in good condition.

The causes of death among the assured in the Scottish Widows' Fund and Life Assurance Society from 1874 to 1894 inclusive.

Author: 
Claud Muirhead, M.D., F.R.C.P.E.
Publication details: 
Edinburgh: R. & R. Clark, Limited. 1902.
£50.00

4to. Pages: viii + 103. Appendix consisting of nine detailed actuarial tables. Tight copy, in grubby, stained and worn printed paper boards. From the library of the librarian of the Medical Society of London, Nehemiah Asherson, and with the Society's oval stamp on the verso of the title. Small circular label on front board.

Autograph Letter Signed ('P. Lorain | Professeur à la Faculté de Médecine de Paris') to unnamed male correspondent. In French.

Author: 
Paul Lorain (1827-1875), Medical Examiner and Professor of the History of Medicine and Surgery at the Faculté de Médecine de Paris
Publication details: 
18 July 1873; Assay le Rideau, Loire.
£45.00

8vo: 1 p. On grubby, creased, discoloured paper, with chipping and slight loss to extremities. In French. As a result of the bad state of his health he is forced to live far from Paris and will not be able to accept the invitiation of the British Medical Assocation. The writer will soon receive the replies of those of Lorain's colleagues who have also been invited.

Autograph Letter Signed ('F. d'Olincourt.') to 'Monsieur Bance, aine, Editeur & Proprietaire, rue Saint-Denis, No. 271, a Paris.' In French.

Author: 
F. Gigault d'Olincourt, Ingenieur Civil [Lithographie, Imprimerie et Librairie]
Publication details: 
23 Janvier 1839; Bar-le-Duc. On elaborately printed letterhead.
£100.00

4to: 2 pp. Eleven lines. Good, on lightly creased and discoloured paper. Column of printed advertisements in left-hand margin of first page, which is headed by a printed description of d'Olincourt's qualifications, enclosed in an engraving of a jumble of disparate items including a book-press, beehive, scientific instruments, laurel wreath and sailing mast. He has begun to publish an 'immense ouvrage d'architecture', and he hopes Bance will subscribe for a number of copies which he will be able to sell 'chez vos clients'.

Autograph Letter Signed to the English mineralogist and geologist William Phillips (1775-1828).

Author: 
Henry Kater (1777-1835), English physicist of German descent
Publication details: 
23 May 1823; Union Place, Regent's Park [London].
£80.00

12mo: 2 pp. Very good. Addressed to 'Mr. W. Phillips' on otherwise-blank second leaf of bifolium, which carries traces of previous mount. Acknowledges 'the obliging present' of Phillips's 'valuable work on mineralogy' (the influential 'Outline of the Geology of England and Wales', 1822, written with William Conybeare).

Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs Sartoris, 27 Chapel Street, London.

Author: 
Mary Somerville (1780-1872), Scottish scientist after whom Somerville College, Oxford is named
Publication details: 
15 July [postmarked 1844, with Penny Red stamp]; 14 Lower Belgrave St, Eaton Square [London].
£100.00

16mo: 3 pp. A small bifolium (each leaf 10.5 x 9 cms) on aged paper. Discoloured strip at foot of first leaf, containing four lines of text and the signature, cut away and reattached with archival tissue, with damage to two words (not in signature). Second leaf with minor damage through breaking of seal. Good Penny Red stamp, postmarked in black, and second red postmark. The earliest she can accept the dinner invitation is the following Wednesday.

Catalogue of Fourteen Thousand Portraits of Authors, Actors, Legislators, Ministers and Celebrated Men and Women of All Countries. The Largest Sale that has ever taken place in the United States. [...] by Edelinck, Lemperour, Bause, Schidt, Doo [...]

Author: 
Banks, Merwin & Co., Auctioneers, Broadway, New York [Auction Catalogue]
Publication details: 
New York: To be Sold at Auction [...] 8th, 9th and 10th of March, 1864, By Banks, Merwin & Co., At the Irving Buildings, Nos. 594 and 596 Broadway].
£100.00

Octavo: 18 pp. Unbound: stabbed and unstitched. First leaf and leaves with pp. 15/16 and 17/18 loose. Leaves with pp.3/4 and 15/16 half-separated. Paper discoloured and chipping at edges. Extends to 918 lots. The odd number of leaves implies the loss of a final leaf, possibly bearing text. Stamp of the Public Library Ford Collection. Docketing in pencil notes a duplicate at the New York Public Library. No other copy traced.

[Pamphlet] Dissertatio Physica de Natura et Origine Presteris [Waterspouts]

Author: 
And. Dan. Lizell and Eric Arvid Lidell
WATERSPOUT
Publication details: 
Lundae [Lund], In Academiae Londini Gothorum, 24 Feb. 1798
£220.00
WATERSPOUT

Disbound, 27pp., cr. 8vo, plus one page of illustrations (four varieties of waterspouts (oceanic phenomenon like tornadoes), minor defects but mainly good condition. The text is mainly in Latin but one substantial footnote is a quotation from an English periodical, and the dedication and another substantial footnote are in Swedish. The footnotes reflect the paucity of material concerning this phenomenon, presumably not mentioning Benjamin Franklin's contribution to the study because it hadn't yet been published (?).

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent [William <Lecardale?>]

Author: 
John Carrick Moore [THE ROYAL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY]
Publication details: 
2 November 1848; 4 Hyde Park Gate, Kensington.
£80.00

Scottish geologist (1805-98), Fellow of the Royal Society. Written in capacity as Secretary of the Geological Society. Four pages, 12mo. On grubby, stained paper discoloured with age. Second leaf of bifoliate attached to two fragments of draft replies in similar condition. 'Your very elaborate Paper on the L[ower]. Greensand Corals came before the Council yesterday for consideration: and the unanimous wish was to print it in the Journal with the fullest illustrations.

[Desire Raoul-Rochette. Archaeologist] Letter (third person?) signed "Raoul-Rochette" to "Madame [?] Cherubini", wife of the composer. IN FRENCH.

Author: 
Desire Raoul-Rochette. Archaeologist
Publication details: 
Institut de France / Academie Royale des Beaux Arts, Paris [printed heading] le 3 Octobre 1840. / Le Secretaire perpetual de l'Academie.
£90.00

French archaeologist. One page, 4to, minor defects, text clear and complete. He gives details of the academy's "Seance Publique annuelle", asking for her attandedance at an event at which "une Notice historique sur la vie et les ouvrages de feu Mr. Cherubini sera lue". Places have been reserved for family members.

Autograph Note Signed ('Tho. Graham') to 'Mr. Schultze | Poland Street', printer.

Author: 
Thomas Graham (1805-1869), Scottish chemist and Master of the Mint
Publication details: 
4 Gordon Square [London]; 9 June 1851.
£56.00

One page, octavo. Carefully laid down on neatly-docketed larger piece of paper, but with the glue employed badly aged and causing staining. Closed tear across letter caused by removal from spike. Signature clear and unmarked. Reads 'Dear Sir, | I believe it will be better to set up the enclosed proofs, in sheets in the usual manner. The remainder of the Report will be sent immediately.'

Autograph Letter Signed ['J. Arthur Thomson'] to an unnamed firm of publishers.

Author: 
Sir John Arthur Thomson (1861-1933), Professor of Natural History at the University of Aberdeen, 1899-1930
Publication details: 
10 August 1914; his letterhead from the Natural History Department, Marischal College, The University, Aberdeen.
£45.00

One page, octavo. On aged paper, with slight chipping to corners, but text clear and entire. He is afraid that he 'did not answer your second letter in regard to a book on Sex.' 'After careful consideration', Thomas and 'Prof. Geddes' [Sir Patrick Geddes, 1854-1932] have come to the conclusion that 'if we wrote another book on that subject it should be published either by "Walter Scott" (who has 'The Evolution of Sex') or by Williams and Norgate (who have 'Sex')' [both books, 1889 and 1914 respectively, also by Geddes and Thomson].

Stead's Wonders of Science Series. The Story of Flying Machines. The Conquest of the Air. With eleven specially selected illustrations.

Author: 
T. W. Scott [William Thomas Stead's Publishing House; Wonders of Science Series; aircraft; aeroplanes; aeronautics; ballooning]
Publication details: 
London: Stead's Publishing House, Bank Buildings, Kingsway, W.C.2. Printed by W. & J. Mackay & Co., Ltd., Chatham.
£76.00

Octavo, 48 pages. Stapled. In faded original orange printed wraps. Nine pages of illustrations, including three on wraps. Good, on aged high-acidity paper. Wraps a little stained. Unobtrusive ownership inscription at head of front wrap. Illustrations include two full-page balloons and 'A modern sea-plane: the Burgess-Dunne type'. Twelfth illustration (diving English biplane) on front wrap. Scarce: no copy on Copac.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Francis Freeling (1764-1836), Secretary to the Post Office.

Author: 
Rev. R. H. Whitelock [Whitelocke] of Manchester [Sir Francis Freeling; Lavinia Robinson; Suicide]
Publication details: 
[March 1814; Manchester.]
£85.00

Two pages, quarto. On slightly stained, aged paper, with a few closed tears and some wear to extremities. Black wax seal adhering to second leaf of bifolium. Docketed 'March 1814 | Manchester | Revd. R. H. Whitelocke', but the signature appears to read 'Whitelock'.

Autograph Note Signed ('T Redwood') to unnamed recipient.

Author: 
Theophilus Redwood (1806-1892), Welsh analytical chemist, Professor of Pharmacy at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Theophilus Redwood
Publication details: 
19 Montague Street, Russell Square [London]; 26 March 1889.
£36.00
Theophilus Redwood

One page, 12mo. Blind stamped monogram at head. Text clear and entire, but on heavily damp-stained paper. Reads 'The enclosed is to be inserted in the Journal of the Chemical Society among the Proceedings.'

A Letter to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone upon a Land Scheme for Ireland.

Author: 
Charles Baron Clarke (1832-1906), British botanist [William Ewart Gladstone]
Publication details: 
London: Macmillan and Co. 1881.
£56.00

Octavo: twenty pages. Unbound and stitched. Good, but with outer leaves a little grubby and creased. The word 'rack-rent' on page six has been underlined and three exclamation marks placed beside it in ink. As well as important botanical works, Clarke numbered political economy and education among his interests.

Inauguration du Nouvel Hotel de la Societe; le 14 Janvier 1897.

Author: 
M. A. Mallet; M. F. Delmas; Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France [Civil Engineering]
Publication details: 
Paris: Aulanier et Cie, Editeurs; 13, Rue Bonaparte, 13. [Imprimerie de la Construction Moderne.] 1897.
£90.00

Octavo: 27 pages. A rather nice production, with nine double-page plates, frontispiece and double-page table. Unbound. In original grey printed wraps, with gold foil seal of the society laid down as part of cover design. Good, in lightly aged wraps. Some tissue guards. Two essays: 'La Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France de 1848 a 1896' by M. A. Mallet, and 'Le Nouvel Hotel de la Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France' by M. F. Delmas ('Architecte de la Societe').

Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
William Whitaker (1836-1925), British geologist, the 'father of English hydrogeology' [GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN]
Publication details: 
1 January 1867; East Molesey, Kingston, Surrey, on embossed letterhead of the Geological Survey of Great Britain.
£56.00

Two pages, 12mo. Very good, with the merest spotting at head. He 'will be at West Drayton by the train due there nearest to 4 o'clock'. He has no time-table to hand, 'but shall see one at Jermyn St. to-morrow'.

On the Drawing Office. Received 13th March, 1895; Read 26th March, 1895.

Author: 
Sir Archibald Denny (1860-1936), Scottish shipbuilder who chaired a 1912 British committee to investigate the Titanic sinking [Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland (Incorporated)]
Publication details: 
Offprint 'Reprinted from the Transactions of the Institution.'; Glasgow: Wm. Asher, Central Printing Works, 80 Gordon St. 1895.
£85.00

Thirteen pages, octavo, and fold-out 'PLATE XXI' (eight and a half inches by twenty-two and a half wide), with nine illustrations, headed 'THE DRAWING OFFICE BY MR. ARCHIBALD DENNY.', by Robert Gardner & Co., Engineering Lithographers, Glasgow. Unbound and stapled. Good, on aged and lightly foxed paper. Original pink printed wraps detached, chipped and with minor loss. PRESENTATION COPY, with front wrap (which has minor offsetting in ink) headed in pencil 'With the Authors Compts'. Ownership inscription of 'H. J. Young | Nov: '95' at head of first page.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr. Rackrill'.

Author: 
Storey Wilson, British author
Publication details: 
12 March [no year]; on letterhead 23 Claremont Road, Leamington.
£25.00

Two pages, 12mo. On aged and creased paper. Was 'taken by surprise the other afternoon when you mentioned my book and paid me such a high compliment [...] I cordially appreciate your warm approval of what I have written concerning hospitals, and as you take such a warm interest in health matters I beg to send for your acceptance some other titles of mine on such subjects'.

Special Railway Supplement.

Author: 
The Financial Times [Railway; Railways]
Publication details: 
London; 1 January 1923.
£56.00

Thirty-six broadsheet pages. On aged paper, with chipping to extremities and first and last leaves detached, but with text clear and entire. Articles on 'The Four New Railways', with photographs, by Sir Herbert Walker, Felix J. C. Pole, Arthur Watson and R. L. Wedgwood. Other articles include 'Electrification - The Metropolitan's Experience' by R. H. Selbie, 'Railways - Their Position and Prospects' by Sir Sam Fry, 'Railway Rates under the New Regime' by Sir W. M. Acworth and 'Finance of British Railways' by W. J. Stevens.

Faraday Number. Faraday Celebrations 1931 [...] Faraday Centenary Exhibition, Royal Albert Hall [...].

Author: 
The Times of London [Michael Faraday; Clifford Webb; Lord Rutherford; General Electric Company; Siemens; Mullard Wireless Service Co.]
Publication details: 
London: Monday, 21 September 1931.
£135.00

Broadsheet. Twenty-two pages. On browned high-acidity paper, with slight wear and loss to extremities and along central horizontal fold. Attractive full-page illustration cover illustration by Clifford Webb. Articles include 'Telegraphy and telephony. From Morse apparatus to the teleprinter. World-wide conversation.' by Colonel Sir Thomas Purves, and 'Generation of Electricity. Supremacy of the steam turbine. Economy of space and fuel.' by Robert H. Parsons. Also 'The making of a natural philospher. Heredity and environment.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Frank Clowes (1848-1923), Principal, University College Nottingham, and Professor of Chemistry and Metallurgy
Publication details: 
6 January 1915; on letterhead 'THE GRANGE, | COLLEGE ROAD, | DULWICH.'
£23.00

One page, 12mo. Good. Docketed and bearing the Society's stamp. Concerns 'Sir Alexander Redler's being brought up by Crookes for election to the Athenaeum by the Committee under Rule II [...] you [...] intimated that you knew Redler & that I need not descant on his virtues: he is a most clubbable man & I trust you may be able to support him'.

Certificate in favor of R. Battley | Elected a Fellow 9 Nov 1827', signed by Frost, Yarrell and William Newman

Author: 
Richard Battley (1770-1856), English chemist; William Yarrell (1784-1856), English zoologist; John Frost (1803-40), founder of the Medico-Botanical Society.
Publication details: 
London; 12 October 1827.
£85.00

One page, roughly eleven inches by eight. On aged paper, with fraying to extremites affecting one word of text. 'Richard Battley Esqre. of Fore Street Cripplegate a Gentleman very conversant in several branches of science particularly Vegetable Chemistry and Pharmacy being desirous of becoming a Fellow of the Medico Botanical Society of London | We whose names are hereunto subscribed do recommend him as highly deserving of that honor & likely to pr an useful and valuable member.' Signed 'J Frost', 'Wm. Yarrell' and 'Wm. Newman'.

Typed Letter Signed to the editor of the Journal of the Rontgen Society.

Author: 
Sir Richard Arman Gregory, Professor of Astronomy, Queen's College, London (1864-1952)
Publication details: 
25 July 1918; on letterhead of the British Science Guild (British Scientific Products Exhibition, 1918).
£33.00

Signed 'R. A. Gregory'. One page, folio. Good, with one dogeared corner. Bearing the stamp of the Royal Society of Arts. Circular letter referring to an enclosure (not present) relating to an exhibition which 'will shew that by the combination of science and industry we have done nearly as much in four years of war as the Germans did in the preceding forty. More than 250 manufacturers are sending exhibits, and the Air Ministry will make a large display, as well as the Food Production Department.' Asks for 'a sympathetic editorial note or article'.

Paper entitled 'Specific Refraction and Dispersion of Isomeric Bodies'.

Author: 
John Hall Gladstone
Publication details: 
Offprint 'From the PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE for January 1881.'
£23.00

English physical chemist (1827-1902), fellow of the Royal Society and father-in-law of the first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald. Seven pages, octavo (paginated 54-60). INSCRIBED at head of first page 'With J H Gladstone's kind regds.' Unbound. Stitched. Creased and with foxing at head of leaves. In grubby, creased wraps, stamped 'SOTHERAN. SACKVILLE STREET. LONDON'.

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