1836. 8vo, pp. viii, 151, [1] advertisement, [2] blank, [4] testimonials; with wood-engraved illustrations; some occasional light foxing and soiling, otherwise clean and fresh; with the book-plate of Lord Fitzhardinge, Berkeley Castle, on front paste-down; in the original drab boards, with mounted printed label on upper cover (a little scuffed and abraded with loss of a couple of letters), paper label on spine, chipped with small piece missing, 2cm loss of spine at tail, upper joint cracked at head, covers rather foxed and soiled, extremities bumped and lightly worn; a presentation copy from the author with inscription on title ‘The Right Honble Lord Segrave with the Author’s respectful Compts’ First edition, presentation copy. Webster describes himself on the title-page as the “inventor of the Otaphone”, and indeed Webster was granted the first British patent for a hearing aid on March 17th 1836, the present work therefore doing much to promote his newly invented device. ‘The invention was first suggested by observing person at church, and other large assemblies, supporting the ear with the hand; which induced the author to consider whether the same advantage might not be obtained by means less troublesome and unsightly. His own experiences, and subsequent experiments in which he was assisted by his friends, soon convinced him of the correctness of his induction's; since which the Otaphones have been worn in both Houses of Parliament, on the Bench in the three divisions of the Empire, at places of Public Worship, the Theatres, and every public arena’ (p. 131-2). An example of the Otaphone can be found at the Becker Medical Library, as part of the Central Institute for the Deaf - Max A. Goldstein Historical Devices for Hearing Collection. It was constructed of pure silver, and painted beige to match the skin of the wearer. It was shaped into a curve to be placed in the back of the ear. A small hook secures the device. The design allowed the auricle (external part of the ear) to be projected forward to collect sound waves, much as if the wearer was cupping the ear.
“The principal object which Mr. Webster seems to have contemplated by the publication of this treatise, is to afford useful and correct information regarding the ear to the general reader, especially to the deaf. This, we think, he has succeeded in doing; for, while his explanations of technical terms are such as any one may understand, he has adopted a scheme of distribution as regards the different parts of the ear, and their appropriate functions, that greatly tends to elucidate the subject. The author has made the particular organ in question the subject of long, and enlightened study; and from the success which has attended the application of the ‘Otaphone’ to the auricle, it may be added, that this study has been remarkably successful as regards its practical results.” (Monthly Review). One section is devoted to the musical ear in general, and to Mozart’s in particular, and is accompanied by an illustration of Mozart’s ear. In common with the Bodleian copy (and presumably all others), a space left for an illustration on p. 110 has been unfilled.

[1838.]. 8vo, pp. [iv], 102; with four large folding lithograph plates; lightly foxed and browned throughout due to paper quality, with some further occasional minor soiling, minor ink staining on verso of first plate, with other three plates a little creased and with evidence of previous folds; bound in contemporary marbled boards, neatly rebacked and recornered in calf, spine ruled and lettered in ink, with some minor abrasions to surfaces; with presentation inscription from the author to Mr. Fildes at the tail of the dedication leaf; a good copy. Uncommon first edition of this detailed work, based very much on first hand experience, on the design and management of boilers, and the work of the Manchester engineer Robert Armstrong. The work bears testament, therefore, to the many technical and mechanical advances which emanated from the town, thanks to the rapid growth of the cotton industry which had transformed Manchester from being a small market town with a popular of 10,000 at the turn of the century, to becoming Britain’s second city by the 1840s, and home to nearly 400,000.
Indeed Armstrong dedicates his work to the ‘Cotton Manufacturers and other Proprietors of Steam engines, in Manchester and its vicinity, who have afforded him many opportunities of obtaining a variety of information on practical details’. This first edition is printed on rather cheap paper, the four large folding plates containing somewhat crude illustrations done reproduced from his original drawings in lithograph, a fact which Armstrong rather ruefully acknowledges in his concluding remarks, his publisher clearly having had little faith in its sale and suggesting only a limited initial print run ‘to meet a merely local sale’. Whilst he prides himself upon his boiler-making workmanship, his limited budget had not allowed him to use skilled engravers and printers, when it came to his bookmaking. An interesting commentary, perhaps, upon how lithography was considered to be a less skilled profession.
The poor design and management of boilers was frequently the Achilles heel of the steam engine, preventing their efficient and economic running. Armstrong focuses in particular upon boilers for mill engines, though there is a small section describing locomotive boilers. He deals with high and low pressure boilers, form and proportions, the capacity of the steam chamber and what happens when the boiler is too small, together with rules for alteration and improvement. There is advice on re-setting boilers in order to save fuel, methods of estimating power, the best form of fire-grate, boiler cleansing machinery and ways to get rid of scale and boiler balls, which clogged up pipes and flues, and on the cause and prevention of explosions. Various types of boiler, such as the Boulton and Watt boiler or Durham and Cornish boilers are referred to and some leading contemporary books, such as Tredgold and Pambour, are cited. A practical and thorough work.

1873.]. Set of ten large, thick card tablets, 480 x 320 x 5mm; each with mounted printed sheet, with engraved vignette either at head or centrally, sheets all a little browned with some staining, soiling and scuffing or creasing in places, plain blue paper on verso, boards 1- 7 with the original green mottled paper edging (somewhat chipped and worn), boards 8 & 9 with later green cloth edging, and final board with no edging remaining and exposing the inner board; though extremities all somewhat rubbed, worn and a little dog-eared, otherwise a striking and rare survivor of an ephemeral teaching aid. A wonderfully striking and extremely scarce set of this didactic French ‘ABC’. The ‘Cours Désir’ was a private quasi-religious Catholic educational establishment set up by the Adeline Désir (1819-1875) in 1853. In particular it welcomed girls from the Parisian upper middle class, and its specific aim was to produce ‘cultured women’, with a focus upon religious education, and the arts, although Désir did place importance upon the role of science in the education of young women. The school took in full-and half boards, as well as some day pupils, from primary stage through to the baccalaureate, and also included a school for the training of women teachers. As the famous alumnus, Simone de Beauvoir, recounted in her ‘Memoirs of a Young Girl’, the school took care to distinguish itself from similar secular establishments, with the young girls enlisted into a ‘Eucharistic crusade’ as soon as they arrived. The number of hours of teaching a week did not exceed 12, and annual retreats were an important part of the school calendar. Students of the school were instantly recognisable by the manner of their bow: ‘un coup de pied droit en arrière avec un léger fléchissement de la jambe gauche’.
The series of ten printed teaching aids, introduce the young child to the basic principles of the ‘Abécdaire français’, through a series of engraved images with accompanying moralistic printed text or verse, starting with the nativity, the farm, ‘Creator God’, a nest, the tale of the ‘Good little Marie’, ‘the two Ceciles’, the good brother, and the Innocent Saints, together with the remaining two boards giving an overview of the linguistic principles so far introduced.

-1870s.]. 8vo, carte de visite photograph album, ff. 15 leaves of thick card, with images on both recto and verso, and comprising a lithograph introductory text within a garland border, followed by 28 numbered albumen print photographs of comical drawings, also within matching garland borders, each with lithographed text mounted below, the ‘windows for each surrounded by chromolithograph triple gilt ruled border; somewhat dust-soiled throughout with some marginal staining, first window previously torn but now repaired, the photographs all a little faded, more so towards the end, top corners of each card clipped for easier insertion into windows, small tear at tail of ff. 2, with further light wear and occasional minor tears to each, and cards a little awkward to remove; bound within the original elaborate blindstamped red morocco album, though now considerably darkened appearing almost brown, upper cover lettered in gilt 'The Club Adventures of Alderman Akeinside', sympathetically newly rebacked to style with new endpapers and later morocco label, spine with raised bands, all edges gilt and with inner gilt dentelles, with remains of brass clasps; a most unusual and appealing ephemeral item. A wonderful and somewhat curious piece of mid to late Victoriana, and seemingly a rare production. We have so far been unable to find any record of ‘B & Co. London (Wholesale), and have only found two copies held by Institutions, and none in the UK.
Presented as a carte de visite photograph album, the work contains 29 ‘cartes’, the first of which is a lithograph introductory text, followed by 28 numbered albumen print photographs of comical drawings illustrating the gluttonous night-out of Alderman Akeinside at his club, his inebriated return home, and his final consultation with Dr. Sloe and Mrs. Akeinside. Though slightly hard to remove from their ‘windows’ (each framed by a gilt ruled border), each card has the imprint 'Published by B. & Co. London (Wholesale)', within a circle on the verso, though undated. Harvard hold what is presumably the original manuscript version, and which they date to 1850, and which contains ‘pen, pencil and watercolour’ drawings, each signed ‘GB’ or ‘GBR’. Toronto holds a copy of the present later version including the albumen carte-de-visite prints, most probably photographs of the original album held at the Houghton, and which they date to 1860.
From the Introduction: 'August ye 12th. 18-- Dine at the Club tomorrow ? Of course I shall, whoever heard of such a thing ? Mrs. A. wont eat turtle, never did: I dont like Ice: because I once fell into the Serpentine: no wonder she dont know the difference between Turtle and boiled Goose!! Some people dont know the difference between a sheeps head and a Carrot!'.

1754.]. 8vo, pp. [ii], 5-138, with engraved title-page vignette; pp. 7, [1]; aside from some light spotting and foxing, clean and bright; abridgement loosely inserted, with some dust-soiling and light wear along fore-edge; in later stiff marbled wrappers, spine somewhat nicked and worn with small loss at head and approximately 2cm loss at tail, covers slightly creased with some light surface wear and minor staining. Separate edition, issued with a general title the year after it had received Royal Assent, of the act which saw the inception of the British Museum, the ‘Act for the purchase of the Museum, or collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and of the Harleian collection of manuscripts; and for providing one general repository for the better reception and more convenient use of the said collections; and of the Cottonian Library, and of the additions thereto’ (p. 5 and known formerly as Public General Act 1753 26. Geo. II. c.22).
Sir Hans Sloane died on January 11th 1753, aged 83, leaving behind a magnificent collection consisting of around 71000 objects, including 50,000 printed books and manuscripts, natural history specimens including 337 volumes of dried plants, coins and medals, prints and drawings, and antiquities, acquired from around the globe. Like many of the great collections and cabinets of curiosities of the time, Sloane had used developing global networks created by European imperial expansion to collect these materials, some of his income partly derived from Jamaican sugar plantations and enslaved labour. His will had placed the collection in the care of several trustees who were entrusted to ensure that his wishes that it be bequeathed to the nation were achieved. They were instructed to approach king or parliament with an offer for the collection in return for the payment of £20,000 - not the full value of the collection which was nearer 80,000 - to be paid to his executors for his daughters. Further, it was his wish that they secure an act of Parliament to vest the collection in their care, with all necessary property, powers, and money to ensure its preservation and accessibility by creating a new and freely accessible public museum to house it. So confident was Sloane over the collection’s scientific and educational value, that should this offer be declined it was to be offered in turn to four academies - St. Petersburg, Paris, Berlin, and Madrid - where Sloane held honorary memberships. Should this fail, the collection was not to revert to the daughters, but rather was to be sold at auction, with his heirs receiving the cash.
As chair of the executors, the Earl of Macclesfield presented a petition to King George II to purchase the legacy, but being famously uninterested in championing either the arts or sciences, he dismissed it as being too expensive. This rebuff led the executors to approached parliament, and whilst some did not fully embrace the idea of purchasing a museum, others, notably Henry Pelham, recognised that such a valuable bequest should not slip through its hands. After deliberation, parliament took the opportunity to combine Sloane’s museum with the great Cottonian and Harleian libraries, to create a larger institution than originally envisaged. The Act set in place the rules of governance for the museum, with a new body of forty-two Trustees appointed, and which included holders from some of the greatest offices in church and state. The Act was passed and given Royal Assent on June 7th 1753, the collections thus becoming the foundation not only of the British Museum, but subsequently of the Natural History Museum and the British Library.
The King having refused to pay the £20,000, the Act provided for the establishment of a national lottery to raise £300,000 to build the museum. It proved to be a scandalously run affair, with virtually all of the tickets sold before they were put on offer to the public. The market was covered especially by a rich financier, Sampson Gideon, and also by one of the four receivers of the lottery money, Peter Leherpe. They managed to sell the tickets in large chunks before the lottery opened. The Act had specified that no one person should have more than 20 tickets. Leherpe, however, allowed people to submit a list of fictitious names so that they could buy many more. After two days, the British Museum lottery tickets were said to be selling for a premium of 16 shillings, with various financiers reselling them at a profit. Gideon himself had more than 5,000 tickets. When he died he left an estate worth more than half a million pounds, and during his lifetime was so rich that he bankrolled the Government. The identity of the eventual lottery winner is not known, but the winning ticket number was 46885. The British Museum, after the payment of expenses, received £95,194 8s 2d, some of which went towards buying Montague House, the house on the present site into which the various collections were sent. It was eventually opened as a museum on January 15th 1759.

1810. Large letterpress broadside, 785 x 535mm, printed on two single sheets of laid paper and then neatly adhered together horizontally in the centre, text in three columns, with two vertical geometric woodcut dividing borders, some light foxing and soiling, evidence of previous horizontal and vertical folds, some creasing, uncut with some minor edgewear, and evidence of previous later mount on verso at tail, and with contemporary title in brown ink ‘remedie secrets’ on verso; a lovely example. A scarce survivor and fine example of this Imperial decree issued to regulate the secret remedy in France, of importance in the history of proprietary remedies. This large letterpress broadside, printed in three columns on two on two sheets and joined together, has been printed in Nîmes in the Gard department of Southern France.
Matthew Ramsey, in his essay ‘Property Rights and the right to health: The regulation of Secret Remedies in France, 1789-1815’ (Chapter five of ‘Medical Fringe and Medical Orthodoxy’ edited by W Bynum and Roy Porter, Routledge, 2019) provides a detailed and fascinating account of the various attempts to regulate Secret Remedies, a contentious issue which attempted to balance, often rather precariously, the Enlightenment ideals of the right to property with the right to health. ‘The complexities of the relationship between fringe and orthodox medicine in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are nowhere more apparent than in the history of proprietary medicines, or remèdes secrets, as they were known in France. Such remedies were neither officinal (standard preparations from the pharmacopoeia that the apothecaries kept in stock) nor magistral (compounded according to a physician’s prescription for a particular case). As the French term indicates, their formula was a trade secret; and as the English term suggests, this secret was the property of the inventor or other owner who exploited it commercially’. Such preparations had flourished and abounded for centuries, though had long fallen foul of physicians and apothecaries, who opposed quack doctors or healers. Since an absolute prohibition was not a practical possibility, state regulation of some form was the only answer. As early as 1352 a Royal Edict was passed in France in 1352 which forbade preparations of secret remedies, but over the centuries many were authorized through warrants, and they continued to flourish. The 18th century, however, saw more concerted efforts to control the secret trade, notably after the French Revolution during wider efforts to regulate the Medical Professions and suppress abuses which threatened public health. Yet this insistence on regulation, and notably restrictions on the development and distribution of secret remedies, ran counter to the overriding principles of intellectual and economic freedom, and whilst several decrees were passed between 1789 and 1815, ultimately it was not until 1926 that secret remedies were abolished in France. Property rights overrode concern for public health.
The first decree of note was that of 1803, the ‘Germinal Law’, which followed a few weeks after law regulating medical practice, and was primarily concerned with the education and licensure of pharmacists and the repression of illegal practice of pharmacy. In October of that year a commission was organised, and a set of instructions prepared for owners of secret remedies who had to comply with the new law. It did not expressly ban the sale of secret remedies altogether, however, and was again something of a compromise. Whilst there were prohibitions on advertising or hawking them, subsequent decrees, including one of 1805 actually confirmed the rights of vendors whose remedies had been approved by the government, and in some cases reasserted rights and privileges previously granted under the patents law of 1791. Approved remedies could be sold in Paris and the provinces if they were authorised by local officials; and though to be submitted before the commission, vendors were not obliged to divulge their secret.
As the present Imperial Decree demonstrates, despite the best efforts of the authorities, the secret remedy trade continued to flourish in all its forms. This final effort sought to free society of secret remedies, and its declared purpose was to disseminate knowledge of good remedies whilst discouraging the sale of bad ones. The state would buy and make public the recipes of useful compositions, asserting that it was the duty of owners to co-operate in having them published. All previous permissions would be nullified. Proprietors would submit their recipes to the Minister of the Interior, together with an account of their use and a record of clinical experience to date. A five member commission was established, including three professors from the faculties of medicine, and headed by the distinguished anatomist François Chaussier, professor at the Paris faculty and an authority on medical jurisprudence. As laid out in the present decree, this commission would determine whether the remedy was harmless; if harmless, whether it was useful; and if useful, what price should be paid to acquire it. Once a remedy had been approved, the minister would negotiate an agreement with the inventor, and once confirmed by a State Council, the formula would be published. No inventor would receive an approbation if he insisted on keeping his remedy secret. The law’s larger intent, was not only to protect the public health, by preventing the use of drugs that had no value or contained unknown substances, but also to ‘spread enlightenment’ and ‘discourage charlatanism’.
In the end, however, this 1810 attempt also miscarried, once again compromised by the government’s respect for the inventor’s or owner’s interest and rights to his remedy. ‘In Napoleonic France, the right of property remained ‘inviolable and sacred’; it could and often did outweigh the claims of public health. Although the regimes that followed the First Empire were to create other regulatory institutions, this retreat from the Enlightenment commitment to end secrecy in therapeutics set the pattern for the rest of the century and beyond’ (Ramsey p. 81).

1850. Folio, bound manuscript in a single calligraphic hand in a variety of colours; pp. [iv] half-title with calligraphic flourish and title-page penned in landscape and elaborately hand-coloured, 1-190, 191 part title ‘Actes Divers’ elaborately and colourfully penned in landscape, 192 blank, 193-252, 253 part title ‘Procès verbaux’ elaborately and colourfully penned in landscape, 254 blank, 255-290, 291 part title ‘Actes Civils’ elaborately and colourfully penned in landscape, 292-323, 324 blank, [4] blank; with a number of small neat line illustrations and diagrams; text in a single hand predominantly in brown ink, ornately embellished with colourful calligraphic headlines and flourishes in light green, golden yellow, various shades of blue, pink, red, orange, purple and brown; some light marginal browning and foxing throughout, with some ink bleed through due to liberal application, half title slightly creased; retaining remains of original pink silk page marker; in contemporary calf backed green marbled boards, spine lightly scuffed and rubbed, covers a little scratched, extremities lightly rubbed; a most attractive example. A most attractively executed calligraphy exercise book, the work of Eugène Chênè (born we are told in Campeaux in 1836), and a student of M. Deschamps, a teacher in Campeaux, the French commune located in the department of Calvados. The striking title-page sets the tone, Eugène elegantly and colourfully penning the title in landscape, and employing a number of calligraphic styles for the lettering. We believe his instructor to be a M. Pierre Deschamps, who between 1846-1865 taught in five towns in Calvados, though according to the biographical record for his son Leon (1849-1927), was forced to leave his post in Champeaux in 1850 having fallen foul of the Catholic authorities in the area.
This extensive manuscript is divided into various sections dealing in turn with the general principles of arithmetic (covering addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, fractions, simple and compound interest etc); geometry, a section highlighting miscellaneous legal documents (receipts, leases etc); a section of templates or ‘procés verbal’ on filing minutes or reports; and concluding with a section on civil acts (registering births, marriages, deaths etc). It would appear that Pierre Deschamps was also acting as an agent for an insurance company, and this may explain his focus upon legal and business matters. From the subject matter of some of the sample templates included, one would imagine that the 14 year old Chênè was being prepared for a legal apprenticeship perhaps, some of the ‘procés verbal’ dealing with how to record the statement of an individual caught ‘en flagrant de lit’, a statement recording a disgrace, and how to report an accident involving a carrier. A most appealing and striking example.

1840s. Slim 4to, 210 x 171mm, ff. 21, of which the first four leaves have been neatly penned in brown ink, the remaining leaves remaining blank and unused; with faint ruled vertical margin in pencil, some faint pencil corrections and markings; stitched as issued, and most attractively bound in pink paper wrappers, heavily embossed in cream and pink to form a decorative cartouche within a single line frame, on a blue background, at the centre of the cartouches are oval hand-coloured lithographs of adults and children in garden settings, with a stork on the upper cover and ducks on the lower. A most appealing child’s manuscript exercise book, outlining some basic principles of anatomy and physiology, and the work of young Emma Wuilleumier, who has also written her name on the front cover. Though her studies appear not have lasted for very long, sections focus upon the bones and skeleton, the trunk of the body, the arms and legs, and the muscles and tendons. This is a very attractive example of an embossed paper binding, designed for use by children and rarely found in good condition.

1883. 4to, pp. [iv], [204]; copiously illustrated throughout, each of the 100 chapters illustrated with one full page steel engraving facing the text, and usually a further small engraving within text page; with some occasional light foxing throughout and some faint marginal browning, but otherwise clean and bright; in the original blindstamped decorative green cloth, upper cover lettered in gilt with title within round floral wreath, boards with bevelled edges, head and tail of spine a little bumped and knocked, covers and spine with some minor spotting and scuffing, extremities a little bumped; a very good copy. First edition of this little-known and most attractively produced, late 19th century popular work of science, copiously illustrated with finely executed steel engravings.
Lévy devotes two pages to each of his chosen one hundred scientific ‘tableaux’, with a page of descriptive text to the left (often with inserted engraving), opposite a striking full-page steel engraving. Somewhat informally organised, he breaks up the volume as it were, into the twelve months of the year, devoting two pates to each month and providing the reader with an insight facts such average temperatures, hours of day-light, associated traditions, festivals, saint’s-day, together with an appealing allegorical plate.
The work includes for discussion scientific discoveries such as the diffraction of light, those of Torricelli and Archimedes, hot-air balloon flight, and the telescope. Lévy also describes the work of great scientists such as Aristotle, Galileo, Papin, Newton, Pythagoras, Euclid, Copernicus and Descartes. Rather portentously, the penultimate ‘tableaux’ addresses the question whether the end of the world is nigh - though as Lévy notes, various prognostications throughout history have so far come to nothing, and he concludes with the exhortation to ‘banish chimerical fears, leave aside these vain terrors, and let us only occupy ourselves with living well and with dignity’.
The BnF describe Albert Lévy (1844-1907) as ‘Physicien. - Directeur du service chimique à l'Observatoire de Montsouris (en 1894)’. From 1887 he ran a chemistry course at the Faculty of Science in Clermont, and later worked as a meteorologist at the Montsouris observatory and then in the Central Meteorological Office. He published a number of educational works.

1712. Oblong 16mo, (80 x 100mm) pp. [ii] engraved title-page, [xvi], 250, [2] errata and blank; with one folding throw out wood-engraved plate (a little foxed and creased), with a number of small wood-engraved diagrams and tables within the text; engraved title-page a little browned with slight staining at gutter, lightly browned throughout with some light dampstaining affecting lower corner between pp. 56-154; in contemporary vellum, faint numbering in ms at tail of spine, small nick to upper rear joint, covers a little sprung, and somewhat soiled and lightly dampstained, with contemporary ownership signature in ink dated May 1740 on front free endpaper, and in red crayon on rear endpaper; an appealing copy. Uncommon third edition (first 1663) of this appealing pocket sized elementary textbook on practical geometry and field measurements, and the work of the noted mathematician, surveyor, and cartographer, Jakob Meyer (1614-1676). As head of urban construction in Basel, he mapped the topography of much of the canton. ‘This is a pocket-sized work explaining the rudiments of geometry as applied to surveying. The work is quite practical, with very irregular fields being used as example problems. The work begins with elementary instruction as to the size of a man’s pace, surveyor’s chain, etc’ (Tomash & Williams, M 96). ‘It is written by practitioners for practitioners without any claim to new results’ (HAB, Maß, Zahl Und Gewicht, 6.12).
This was one of a series of small portable hand-books on arithmetic and geometry published over a number of years by Jakob, and then later by his son Georg Friedrich Meyer (1645-1693), and including ‘Compendium Arithmeticae Germanicae’ (1651); ‘Arithmetica Decimalis’ (1669); ‘Arithmetica Practica’ (1665); ‘Geometria Theoretica’ (1657); ‘Stereometria’ (1675); and ‘Doctrina Triangulorum’ (1678).

1835. Small 8vo, pp. viii, 86, with a number of small woodcuts; title page a little soiled with some light paper abrasion at upper margin, lightly browned throughout, particularly at margins; uncut in the original green pebble-grained cloth, with printed paper label on upper cover (somewhat soiled), and remains of paper label along spine, joints and head and tail of spine neatly repaired. First edition of this uncommon introduction to the fibrous structures in particular, by Alexander M’Nab, Jun ‘Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London’. According to the preface, Macnab has drawn upon more ‘voluminous works’, and hopes that his abridged compilation will provide a more accessible work for those ‘unable to conveniently to peruse more elaborate productions’. The woodcuts are apparently by ‘Mr Berryman’, and although as far as we can tell, Macnab makes no direction citation from other works, he does refer to case histories as described by physicians both in England, Europe and America, including ‘Dr. Kirkbride, resident physician of the Pennsylvania Hospital’, (p. 22) ‘Dr. Warren of Boston’ (p. 23), Dupuytren (p. 23), Bichat (p. 56) Delpech (p. 65) and ‘Mr. Hunter’ (p. 62) as well as a number of cases highlighted in the Medical Gazette.

1902. Two volumes, large 8vo; pp. 605, [1] blank, with with one double-page table t p. 178 and one plate at p. 330, together with 89 text engravings and graphs, some of which are full-age; pp. 666, [2] blank, with folding chromolithograph map, a heliogravure portrait (both retaining tissue guards), and with 306 text engravings, graphs and half-tone images, a number of which are full-page; volume one printed on different paper stock and a little more browned with some light foxing along upper edge, title-page of Vol. II lightly foxed, with some light soiling to both volumes, but otherwise clean and crisp; a lovely bright set in the original green fine grained publisher’s cloth, upper covers lettered in silver, head and tail of spines a little bumped and rubbed, with further light rubbing to joints and extremities, spine of Vol. I a little cockled, corners bumped, book-blocks very slightly shaken due to the weight and size. First edition of this extremely comprehensive and detailed illustrated account of the first ‘Congrès de la Houille Blanche’ held in Grenoble in 1902, organised by the ‘Syndicat des propriétaires et industriels possédant ou exploitant des forces motrices hydrauliques’, discussing the technical, economical and legal issues surrounding the development, concessions, rights of use, and potential of ‘white coal’ - the metaphorical term coined in 1889 by the entrepreneur and paper-maker Aristide Bergès (1833-1904) to describe the pure energy resource of mountain rivers and glaciers which could be harnessed to create renewable ‘clean’ hydroelectric power.
Though hydropower had long been used for grinding grain and flour, it was not until the late 19th century that it came to be used as an electricity source. In 1878 the world’s first hydroelectric power scheme was developed at Cragside in Northumberland by William Armstrong to power a a single arc lamp. The first Edison hydroelectric power station began operating in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1882, with an output of about 12.5 kilowatts. By 1886 there were 45 hydroelectric power stations in the US and Canada.
In Europe, Grenoble was to become the centre of electrification from the start of electrical power generation. In 1883 Marcel Depréz succeeded in transmitting direct current over a distance of 14km to Grenoble. The driving force however, was to be Aristide Bergés, who became the voice of the developing industry, being one of the first to adopt hydropowered electrical turbines for paper manufacture, and indeed building a dam to help expand his business. An excellent communicator, he is remembered for his famous speech given at the Paris World’s Fair in 1889, who coined the term ‘white coal’ to ‘fire the imagination and report intensely that the mountains and glaciers, which provide the driving forces, are just as valuable for their region and for the state as the coal from the depths’. He strongly believed that such technical progress should also be used for social progress, and had electricity installed in the houses of Lancey, as well as founding in 1896 the Société d'éclairage électrique du Grésivaudan which supplied low-cost electricity to the valley and supplied the tram line from Grenoble to Chapareillan. It’s potential was soon recognised and seized upon by the Grenoble authorities, both municipal, industrial, and indeed academic and legal, who began working together to further development. In 1899 the Grenoble Electrotechnical Institute was created with links to the University, and that year also saw the formation of the Société générale Force et Lumière (SGFL), which became one of the leading hydroelectric power companies. The region thus saw the creation of new professions and industries through the development of public works, the construction of dams, the rise of cement factories, the manufacture of turbines and electrical equipment, improved transportation, and the development of electrochemical and electrometallurgical industries. Such a transformation was not without controversy, many decrying the loss of traditional trades such as glove-making, and the dramatic changes to the landscape which such large scale constructions resulted in. Indeed Bergès himself faced a number of civil court challenges from aggrieved farmer who had lost land and which affected his health towards the end of his life, although his legacy lives on today, with a school and road named after him in Grenoble.
In response to these rapid developments, a union of owners and industrialists owning or exploiting hydraulic forces was formed in 1901, and under whose auspices this first Congress was organised. It brought together for the first time, all the parties involved in the creation and operation of hydroelectric facilities: directors of companies, engineers, civil servants, academics, etc. From the tone of the preface, it seems likely that the present publication was done in limited numbers, with copies given primarily to delegates and other interested parties. The first volume provides details of the committee, the programme and itinerary of the Congress, an account of the plenary sessions, and transcripts of the various conference papers delivered by delegates, who counted amongst their number engineers, lawyers, academics, industrialists, and government ministers. The second volume, which is printed on better quality paper to enable the extensive inclusion of half-tone images, describes in detail the various excursions to visit sites including Lancey (the site of Bergés’ paper mill); la chute et des usines de la Société hydro-électrique de Fure et Morge; des chutes et usines de la Société des Forces motrices du Haut-Grésivaudan; the chute d’Avignonet; usines électriques de Grenoble et Voiron; Chamonix; Simplon; and electric installations at Lausanne. A Lengthy section of ‘notices d’usines’ then follows describing numerous factories and industries which are associated with and benefit from hydroelectric power.
A Turbine commission was set up as a result, bringing together scientists, operators and manufacturers, to study the various problems relating to the performance of the machines and to look into the number of accidents that had occurred at certain installations. Eventually an independent company was created - the Société Hydrotechnique de France (SHF) in 1912.
This was the first of three such Congress to be held, with further gatherings in 1914, 1922, and most notably perhaps, in 1925. By this time the region had grown considerably, the Congress was expanded becoming an International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism which promoted not only the benefits of hydroelectric power, but Grenoble in general.

1863. Large 4to, pp. 17, [1] blank; with four large folding lithograph plates; title-page and plates a little foxed, with some minor dust-soiling; stitched as issued in the original plain wrappers, head and tail of spine chipped, covers a little foxed and soiled, extremities a little furled with a couple of small nicks. A detailed offprint of a paper discussing a traumatic dislocation of the humerus, accompanied by four fine lithographs, by Francesco Rizzoli (1809-80), professor of surgery and obstetrics at Bologna, and considered ‘the father of Italian orthopedics’ (Castiglioni, p. 716). It was first presented before the Bologna Institute of Sciences and printed in their Memoirs. ‘Italy has contributed illustrious figures to orthopaedic surgery. F. Rizzoli of Bologna, one of the first to recognize the need for the systematic study of diseases of motor apparatus, founded the institute which now bears his name, from which have come many valuable studies’ (ibid, p. 878). An outstanding operative surgeon, ‘he introduced a compressor for aneurysms, a tracheotomy, cystotomy, lithotrite, enterotome, osteoclast and performed acupressure as early as 1854’ (GM 5610 for his two volume Collezione della memorie chirurgische ed ostetriche, 1869, in which the present account was considered worthy and important enough for consideration in Vol I). A contemporary of, and indeed relation by marriage to, Paolo Baroni, Rizzoli was an integral part of a thriving scientific and medical community in Bologna, and which was at the heart of much medical advancement in Italy at the time.

1871. Small folio, pp. vi, [2], 28; with six partially hand-coloured lithograph plates; some foxing throughout, more prominent in early leaves, with some staining and foxing to plates; in contemporary red cloth backed grey boards, with paper printed label on upper cover, covers a little scuffed and soiled with quite prominent ink stain affecting top margin of upper cover, and smaller mark at the lower fore-edge, extremities and corners lightly bumped and worn; a good copy. Uncommon first edition of this finely illustrated anatomical treatise on the femoral vein, by the noted German anatomist Wilhelm Braune (1831–1892), published just a year before his groundbreaking and iconic ‘Topographische-anatomischer Atlas’ (1872), famous for its use of frozen sections.
Braune studied at the universities of Göttingen and Würzburg, and in 1872, became professor of topographical anatomy at the University of Leipzig. His works are renowned for his excellent use of lithography to depict the anatomy of the human body, of which this is a striking and early example. A second edition was published in 1873, together with a companion volume ‘Die Venen der menschlichen Hand’, and which are sometimes found together. These preliminary works and studies eventually culminated in his publication of ‘Das venensystem des menschlichen körpers’ (1884-1889), and which GM remarks was also ‘notable for its excellent illustrations’.

1792. 4to, pp. 4; with woodcut head-piece; a little foxed and spotted with some dust-soiling (mainly marginal), and some light finger-soiling visible to fore-edge; with contemporary inscription above head-piece ‘Bon pour imprimeur chez M. Descamps Douay le 12 avril 1792’; stitched in later marbled wrappers, and with plain paper outer dust-wrapper, title and date in manuscript florid calligraphic hand, believed to be in the hand of Quarré-Reybourbon, with his book-label ‘Collection Quarré-Reybourbon, Lille’ on inside cover of front marbled wrapper; very good. First edition of this important legal document announcing the approval for use of a mechanical beheading device, first called a ‘louisette’, but more infamously later renamed after Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814).
Whilst not the first such capital punishment device, the guillotine became synonymous with the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, although it was invented with the intention of making executions more humane and less painful, in accordance with Enlightenment thought. Previous methods were substantially more gruesome and often prone to error.
Guillotine first proposed the use of a more humane device on October 10th 1789. A death penalty opponent, he sought to persuade Louis XVI to implement a less painful alternative, and proposed to the National Assembly that capital punishment should always take the form of decapitation ‘by means of a simple mechanism’. It was, however, the French surgeon and Royal physician Antoine Louis (1723-1792), together with the German engineer Tobias Schmidt (1755-1831), who built the first prototype, Louis as Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Surgery having been appointed as head of a committee to investigate the matter. The eventual machine was deemed successful, and soon replaced the more traditional methods of beheading by sword or axe, or hanging.
The present pamphlet announces the passing of the decree by the National Assembly on March 20th 1792, and transcribes Dr. Louis’ text, ‘Avis motivé sur le mode de la décolation’: ‘The mode in use in the past to cut off the head of a criminal exposes him to a more dreadful torture than the simple deprivation of life... The execution must be done in an instant and only one blow... It is necessary for the certainty of the process, that it depends on invariable mechanical means, of which one can also determine the force and the effect... The back of the instrument must be strong enough and heavy enough to act effectively like the ram which is used to drive in pillories... It is easy to have such a machine built, the effect of which is unmistakable, the beheading will be done in an instant... ‘
What makes the present example of particular appeal to printing historians, is the contemporary inscription found above the woodcut head-piece ‘Bon pour imprimeur chez M. Descamps Douay le 12 avril 1792’, and noting ‘1400 placards, 1500 in 4to’, suggesting that the present copy was used as a template for a provincial impression. There is a further signature - ‘Delval Lagache’, and who we believe to be Antoine Joseph Delval Lagache (1749-1822), at the time appointed by Paris as a leading administrative figure in Douai, and who would no doubt have been in charge of the distribution of National Assembly decrees throughout the region (see Duthilloeul, Galerie Douaisienne, 1844, ff. 96). François Descamps (1760-1794) was a printer in Douais. Initially rallied to the ideals of 1789, he subsequently became disillusioned with the anti-religious policy of the Revolution and began publishing critical essays and verses. In 1794 he was denounced by the revolutionary committee of Douai, and was put to death - by guillotine - on April 21.
The present example was once in the collection of the noted French historian and collector Louis François Quarré-Reybourbon (1824-1906). He amassed an impressive collection of objects and works relating to the département du Nord, Hainaut and Artois.

1928. Presentation Offprint: 4to, [169] - 178; with six half-tone figures; paper somewhat browned due to quality, with some minor edge wear and nicking along fore-edge; ex-libris of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, with their stamp at head of first leaf and on upper wrapper; in grey card wrappers, with later linen back-strip so retaining the original upper cover with printed paper label, though with replacement rear cover, upper cover somewhat browned with small tear to fore-edge; presentation copy signed at head of title-page by Zand, with a further authorial note at tail of printed label. Presentation offprint, an an ‘extrait des Archives du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, 6e Série, T. II’ (printed label). A scarce neurological work by the Polish Jewish neurologist Nathalie Zylberlast-Zand (1883-1942), described by Esther Lovejoy as ‘a physician of outstanding ability’ (Women Doctors of the World, p. 174), and who, as highlighted by the present article, worked closely with the noted neurologist Edward Flatau (1868-1932).
Zand gained her medical diploma from the University of Geneva under the supervision of Eduoard Martin, and also passed the state examination at the National University of Kharkiv in Ukraine. She ‘specialised in the pathology of the central nervous system, and contributed to the literature on this important subject. Her papers were published not only in Poland but also in France and England. In 1935, she reported that about 15 per cent of the physicians in Poland were women, four of whom held the title of docent on the Medical Faculty of the University of Warsaw. Dr. Zand represented the Medical Women’s International Association at the Congress of the International Federation of University Women held at Cracow in 1936, and the following year she was a delegate to the meeting of the Medical Women’s International Association at Edinburgh. Nationally and Internationally, she was interested in the professional and political status of women - too interested perhaps. “Polish medical women are firmly convinced that equality of rights should be strictly maintained and take active steps whenever their rights seem to be threatened” was one of her last recorded pronouncements. That was dangerous doctrine. Dr. Zand and Dr. Garlicka were among the thousands of freedom-loving people who “disappeared” during the debacle which followed the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union at the beginning of World War II’ (ibid). Research subsequent to Lovejoy’s work of 1957 has discovered that Zand and her husband were forced to live in the walled Warsaw ghetto, during which time she continued to work as a physician. Sometime around September 24th 1942 she was deported to Pawiak prison in Warsaw where she is believed to have been executed.

1851. Large Folio, 450 x 295mm, bound manuscript in a single calligraphic hand in a variety of colours, ff. 158; with watercolour illustration mounted on front paste-down (presumably a self portrait of Joly in local Saintongeois costume), with numerous section headings stencilled in black and block lettering (a number misspelt and with corrections), the first leaf heading surrounded by ornate garland in green, brown and ochre, with the copious calculations throughout embellished with underlining in green, brown or ochre; with neat pen illustrations depicting a number of instruments on ff. 113; lightly foxed and soiled throughout, with a few ink smudges, one or two minor marginal nicks and losses but nothing significant, very small square excised at tail of final leaf, presumably a correction?; seemingly self-bound and stitched in contemporary paste-paper card wrappers, with title in manuscript on upper cover, evidence of previous tear on upper cover neatly repaired, some small loss along spine at stitching points, covers a little soiled with dampstaining at head of rear cover; overall a little dog-eared, but nevertheless charming for its unsophistication. A charming, unsophisticated, and one of the most substantial manuscript exercise books we have handled, and the work of the young student Théophile Joly, from Lonzac, a commune of Haute Saintonge in the Southwestern department of Charente-Maritime.
Joly’s notebook is an appealing example of a cyphering book, i.e. a manuscript written either by a student or teacher and with a particular focus upon mathematical content. Printed books were rarely used, and teachers would compile manuscript sum books to be used as teaching aids, and from which the students copied, often embellished with calligraphic headings and flourishes, ink and wash sketches and diagrams, etc. The content often followed a prescribed pattern, containing rules, cases, problems, and solutions to exercises associated with a well-defined progression of mathematical (usually arithmetic) topics.
The present example very much follows this traditional format, though Joly refrains from overly embellishing his course-work - perhaps being of a less artistic temperament, or perhaps reflecting a more rigourous approach to learning instilled by his tutor. His headings are seemingly stencilled in black block lettering - several of which have been misspelt and which have then been corrected. Clearly worked quite hard, the volume contains very few introductions to the arithmetical processes under discussion, but instead is focused almost entirely upon the problems to be solved together with the calculations. Few illustrations are included, although one or two small diagrams are to be found, but a full page illustrations depicting ‘les instruments de la géometrie’ is found on ff. 113. Perhaps compiled in preparation for a trade or mercantile apprenticeship, the arithmetic processes and examples are derived from, or relate to, various professions, including banking, land surveying, brewing, notaries, and as such throws a fascinating light upon contemporary educational priorities of the time.
Joly has clearly given way to a few moments of light-relief however. An appealing water-colour depiction of a young man in local costume has been pasted onto the inside front cover - and which may well be a self-portrait. Furthermore, in a moment of boredom perhaps, at the tail of ff. 22 we find what appear to be five ‘brass rubbings’ depicting the faces of a 2 and 5 franc coin, and which are dated 1838 and 1839. He frequently signs his name throughout the work as well. Seemingly also self-bound, though perhaps a less sophisticated example than some previously handled, Joly’s notebook is in many ways all the more charming for this ‘home-made’ feel!

1825. Small folio; pp. [ii] original printed green paper wrapper to first fascicle bound in as general title, [64] of biographical text; with 32 lithograph portraits; somewhat foxed throughout, with the text leaves for Linné, Aldrovani, Celsus, Sydenham and Bartez rather browned, and those for Chaussier and Haller at the end of the work heavily browned; in black morocco backed pebble boards, spine in compartments with raised bands, ruled and lettered in gilt, with marbled endpapers, inner hinge cracked but holding firm, spine somewhat faded and lightly rubbed, extremities more prominently bumped and worn; with small library stamp on verso of final leaf ‘Don du Docteur Ch, Leroux, Hopital Civil de Versailles’. Rare. A complete set bound together of this most striking lithograph ‘gallery’ of some of the most notable figures in medical history.
The inspiration of the physician Guillaume Tell Doin (1794-1845), the lithographer Pierre Roche Vigneron (1789-1872), and the publisher G. Engelmann (1788-1839), according to a contemporary review in the ‘Archives générales de médecine; Journal publié par une société de médecins’ (Tome IX, p. 312, Sept 1825), the original intention was to produce one hundred portraits, the whole publication issued in a series of monthly fascicles containing four portraits together with accompanying biographical text. Normal copies on plain paper would cost 6fr, whilst more luxurious copies on China paper priced at 9fr. However, as later notices reveal, the plan was revised down to a proposed series of 10 fascicles - and indeed ultimately only eight were produced, with 32 fine lithograph portraits issued. No more were published, and being issued in individual fascicles, the plates more often than not, now appear individually. It is thus uncommon to find a bound copy of the complete series.
In the present copy beginning with Hippocrates, (the order of the copy found at Padova is different) Doin and Vigneron have concentrated upon Western luminaries both ancient and modern, and thus we find included Galen, Leonard Fuchs, Andreas Vesalius, William Harvey, Albrecht von Haller, Philippe Pinel, Herman Boerhaave, Paul Joseph Barthez, and Edward Jenner. From the wider sphere, portraits of Carl Linnaeus and Nicolas Copernicus are also included, with the medieval Islamic polymath Averroes chosen as the sole representative from the Arabic world.

1886. Mixed set, together two volumes, text and atlas, small folio; text: pp. viii, 160; atlas: pp. [iv], with 59 glyptographs numbered A-D and I-LV; front free endpaper and half-title of text volume with some marginal dampstaining, lightly browned throughout with occasional light spotting and foxing, but otherwise generally clean; atlas also somewhat browned throughout due to paper quality, fore-edge of planche A nicked with japanese paper repairs to verso, and with library stamp on half-title ‘Royal College of Surgeons Library Ireland’; text volume bound in recent black cloth, with new morocco label on spine lettered in gilt, with the original printed wrappers bound in (dampstained and with signs of repairs), atlas volume in contemporary blue cloth, neatly rebacked preserving much of original spine, with new endpapers, and inner hinges strengthened, upper cover ruled and lettered in blind and gilt, covers slightly stained, extremities lightly rubbed and worn, mainly at corners. Uncommon first edition of notable work of neuro-anatomy by Émile Alexandre Gavoy (1836- ca 1896), with 59 striking life-sized plates drawn from nature by the author and printed using a method of etching called glyptography.
Gavoy received his medical doctorate in Strasbourg and made a career as a military doctor, and indeed was to publish a number of works relating to military medicine, most notably his account of his experiences during 1870-1871, Étude de faits de guerre. Le service de santé militaire en 1870. Hier, aujourd'hui, demain. (1894).
It is for his neuro-anatomical works, however, for which he is perhaps best remembered, having carried out numerous researches in this field throughout his career. In 1882 he published his Atlas d’Anatomie Topographique du cerveau et des localisations cérébrales’, containing 18 life-sized chromolithograph plates of the brain, and for which he obtained an honorable mention at the Montyon Prize.
The present work includes a highly complimentary prefatory letter from the noted French neurologist Professor Alfred Vulpian (1826-1887), who writes: ‘You have done an important work here, not only by the number and the beauty of the figures, but also and above all by the evident sincerity with which you have reproduced the texture of the brain. I admire the talent and the prodigious amount of work of which these plates are indisputable proof; I am even more seduced by the personal character of these plates... It is not difficult to recognize that you have done better in many ways than your predecessors’. A contemporary advertisement in L’Encéphal: journal des maladies mentales et nerveuses, p. 256, reveals that the work was originally available for purchase in five parts.

ca. 1814]. Three short pamphlets in one volume 8vo; pp. [ii], 18; pp. 7, [1]; pp. 8; small paper flaw with loss of one letter on first title-page, all three pamphlets lightly foxed and browned; in cloth-backed marbled paper over boards, with hand-written paper label on upper cover, front inner hinge cracked and broken; with small book-label on front paste down. Three uncommon satirical pamphlets discussing the final chapters of the Napoleonic era, and the restoration of Louis XVIII, very much an anti-Bonaparte standpoint and celebrating the restoration of the Bourbons. Following the French Revolution and during the Napoleonic era, Louis XVIII lived in exile in Prussia, England, and Russia. When the Sixth Coalition of Russia, Austria, Prussia, England, Holland, and other smaller states finally defeated Napoleon in 1814, forcing the surrender Paris, and the abdication and exile of Napoleon himself, Louis XVIII was placed in what he, and the French royalists, considered his rightful position. However, Napoleon escaped from his exile in Elba and restored his French Empire. Louis XVIII fled, and a Seventh Coalition declared war on the French Empire, defeated Napoleon again, and again restored Louis XVIII to the French throne. He ruled as king for slightly less than a decade.