OF THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS: An Essay; Also, a Diaglogue on the Same Subject by [Whewell, William] - 1854

Francoforti: Ex officina Petri Brubachii, 1549 An extremely rare work. Johannes Sacrobosco’s Tractatus de Sphaera, first written around 1230 and first printed around 1472, set the framework for European understanding of astronomy for 400 years. Based on the work of Ptolemy Alfraganus, and using more recent Arabic sources, he presented a vision of the heavens as a series of enveloping spheres. The tables in his work are an almanac relating the 'rising' and 'setting' of celestial spheres with respect to the calendar. As this work presented the stars in terms of constellations, it also became of value to astrologers. In this setting the Earth is also a sphere, at the centre of the universe, around which the spheres of the heavens rotate. It was copied many times in the 15th and 16th centuries - sometimes as a whole text, and sometimes in the form of 'Quaestiones'. This version by Hartmann Beyer is in the latter form. Beyer (1516-1577) was a mathematician, theologian and… Read More

Peterborough, NH: McGraw-Hill, 1980. First edition. Hard cover in original cloth and dust jacket. Published Peterborough, NH: McGraw-Hill, 1980, first printing. 8vo., 7 1/2" x 9 1/4", 235pp., illustrated with color and b/w plates. A seminal work by a pioneer in computer graphics and cinema techniques. Near fine, clean and bright, in a very good dust jacket with edgewear and a short, closed tear. . 1st. Hard. Near Fine/Very Good. 8vo.

Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London. 1968. FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (8.7 x 5.7 inches). Illustrated with 19 half-tone photographic plates, including six pages reproducing Watson's letter to Max Delbruck, telling of the Double Helix, and 11 diagrams within the text. A very bright, clean copy which has been finely bound in full red morocco, spine with raised bands, the compartments ruled, decorated and lettered in gilt. Single gilt ruled border on the boards. All edges gilt. A fine, attractively bound copy of this fascinating work by one of the Nobel Prize winning Scientists who discovered the structure of DNA.

Washington D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution, 1896. Hardcover. Excellent. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Large octavo. Original green cloth, titles to upper board gilt, yellow coated endpapers. Corners and tail of spine bumped slightly affecting leaves, else a very fresh copy in excellent condition. First separate edition, first printing of the first publication on the discovery of argon, which led to Nobel Prizes for its co-discoverers. "Few discoveries have been as dramatic as the discovery of argon in the atmosphere by Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay, professor of chemistry at University College, London. The discovery of argon involved a bitter public dispute concerning the legitimacy of a chemical element whose most important characteristic was its inertness, and which forced the chemists to reassess the very notion of a chemical element." Rayleigh had begun work to determine the densities of atmospheric gases in 1882. In 1892 he uncovered a strange discrepancy between the atomic weight of… Read More

The Geological Society of America, 2006. Paperback. Used- Very good condition. Book is clean and tight. Book shows light shelf wear. One small crease on the top middle of back cover. No creasing on the spine. No markings on the inside of the book. Special paper maps in pocket at back of book. Photos are of the book we have here at Barbed Wire Books. Note: ISBN printed in book may apply to other books, as well.

Francoforti: Ex officina Petri Brubachii, 1549 An extremely rare work. Johannes Sacrobosco’s Tractatus de Sphaera, first written around 1230 and first printed around 1472, set the framework for European understanding of astronomy for 400 years. Based on the work of Ptolemy Alfraganus, and using more recent Arabic sources, he presented a vision of the heavens as a series of enveloping spheres. The tables in his work are an almanac relating the 'rising' and 'setting' of celestial spheres with respect to the calendar. As this work presented the stars in terms of constellations, it also became of value to astrologers. In this setting the Earth is also a sphere, at the centre of the universe, around which the spheres of the heavens rotate. It was copied many times in the 15th and 16th centuries - sometimes as a whole text, and sometimes in the form of 'Quaestiones'. This version by Hartmann Beyer is in the latter form. Beyer (1516-1577) was a mathematician, theologian and… Read More

Peterborough, NH: McGraw-Hill, 1980. First edition. Hard cover in original cloth and dust jacket. Published Peterborough, NH: McGraw-Hill, 1980, first printing. 8vo., 7 1/2" x 9 1/4", 235pp., illustrated with color and b/w plates. A seminal work by a pioneer in computer graphics and cinema techniques. Near fine, clean and bright, in a very good dust jacket with edgewear and a short, closed tear. . 1st. Hard. Near Fine/Very Good. 8vo.

Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London. 1968. FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (8.7 x 5.7 inches). Illustrated with 19 half-tone photographic plates, including six pages reproducing Watson's letter to Max Delbruck, telling of the Double Helix, and 11 diagrams within the text. A very bright, clean copy which has been finely bound in full red morocco, spine with raised bands, the compartments ruled, decorated and lettered in gilt. Single gilt ruled border on the boards. All edges gilt. A fine, attractively bound copy of this fascinating work by one of the Nobel Prize winning Scientists who discovered the structure of DNA.

Washington D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution, 1896. Hardcover. Excellent. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Large octavo. Original green cloth, titles to upper board gilt, yellow coated endpapers. Corners and tail of spine bumped slightly affecting leaves, else a very fresh copy in excellent condition. First separate edition, first printing of the first publication on the discovery of argon, which led to Nobel Prizes for its co-discoverers. "Few discoveries have been as dramatic as the discovery of argon in the atmosphere by Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay, professor of chemistry at University College, London. The discovery of argon involved a bitter public dispute concerning the legitimacy of a chemical element whose most important characteristic was its inertness, and which forced the chemists to reassess the very notion of a chemical element." Rayleigh had begun work to determine the densities of atmospheric gases in 1882. In 1892 he uncovered a strange discrepancy between the atomic weight of… Read More

The Geological Society of America, 2006. Paperback. Used- Very good condition. Book is clean and tight. Book shows light shelf wear. One small crease on the top middle of back cover. No creasing on the spine. No markings on the inside of the book. Special paper maps in pocket at back of book. Photos are of the book we have here at Barbed Wire Books. Note: ISBN printed in book may apply to other books, as well.