Search Results: Authors starting with F from Alembic Rare Books

Bloomington & Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press, 1997. Tall quarto. Original grey cloth, titles to spine and T-rex design to upper board in black, yellow endpapers embossed with patterns of dinosaur scales. With the dust jacket. 8 double-sided colour plates, greyscale illustrations throughout the text. Just a single tiny crease at the edge of the dust jacket. An exceptional copy. First edition, first printing. A beautiful copy of one of the most scholarly and best-selling of the dinosaur encyclopedias published during the "dinomania" of the 1990s. The Complete Dinosaur, copiously illustrated and accessible to both professional and popular audiences, contains forty-three essays by leading geologists and palaeontologists on dinosaur physiology, behaviour, and evolution; the history of palaeontology around the world; and the appearance of dinosaurs in popular culture. The Quarterly Review of Biology described it as "the most readable and interesting book on many aspects of dinosaurs that I… Read More

London: The Royal Society, 1975. Large octavo. Original light brown wrappers printed in black. 3 single and 9 double-sided plates from photomicrographs. Wrappers very lightly rubbed, narrow strip of fading at the top of the upper wrapper. Excellent condition. First edition, first printing. The uncommon full issue of the journal containing fourteen papers read at a symposium on the intercellular environment in multicellular organisms, organised by prominent cell biologist Honor B. Fell (1900-1986). A very attractive and fresh copy in the original wrappers. As well as serving as the organiser of the symposium, Fell contributed the article, "The role of mucopolysaccharides in the protection of cartilage cells against the immune reaction". Fell's childhood interest in animals and nature was encouraged by her parents, and she received what was at the time an unusually science-focused education. She earned four degrees at St. Andrews and the University of Edinburgh, and then went to Cambridge "to learn a… Read More

Philadelphia: The Wistar Institute Press, 1925. Octavo. 44-page offprint, wire-stitched, original buff wrappers printed in black. 4 illustrations from photomicrographs within the text. Author's name in black ink, "1925a" in red crayon, and ownership stamp of L. G. Dunn to the upper cover. Two-inch closed tear to the title not affecting text, staples rusted, a little light rubbing and some short nicks to the edges of the wrappers. Very good condition. First edition, first printing. The rare offprint of the first major work by prominent cell biologist Honor B. Fell (1900-1986). We can locate only one institutional copy of this offprint, at the University of Southern California. Fell's childhood interest in animals and nature was encouraged by her parents, and she received what was at the time an unusually science-focused education. She earned four degrees at St. Andrews and the University of Edinburgh, and then went to Cambridge "to learn a new technique pioneered by T. S. P. Strangeways in his… Read More

London: The Royal Society, 1963. Tall quarto. Original light brown wrappers printed in black. Double-sided plate, diagrams within the text. Spine rolled and slightly faded, vertical creases to the lower wrappers, small abrasion to the top corner of the upper wrapper. Excellent condition. First edition, first printing. The full issue of the journal, containing a single paper by the accomplished marine biologist Howard Barraclough Fell (1917-1994), who worked at Victoria University of Wellington and then Harvard. He was considered one of the world's foremost experts on fossil sea urchins.

London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1931. Sextodecimo. Original grey cloth, titles to spine and upper board in black. 8 plates of which 4 are double-sided. Slight rubbing at the extremities, contents faintly toned. An excellent, fresh copy. First edition of the sequel to The Flutter of Aeroplane Wings (1929), widely considered the "Bible of Flutter". Scarce; WorldCat locates only nine institutional copies, and auction records include one copy sold at Dominic Winter in 2011. The term "flutter" refers to sustained oscillations of the structures of planes that can damage or destroy them. The first documented case occurred in 1916, affecting the tail of a Handley Page O/400 bomber, and by the 1920s flutter was a major area of aeronautics research. "At the NPL [National Physical Laboratory] work was initiated in 1925 by R. A. Frazer; he was joined in the following year by W. J. Duncan. Two years later, in August 1928, they published a monograph, 'The Flutter of Aeroplane Wings', R&M 1155. This… Read More

London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1929. Sextodecimo. Original grey cloth, titles to spine and upper board in black. 3 plates from photographs, 2 double-sided plates of charts, charts and figures throughout the text. Pencilled ownership initials to front free endpaper. Tail of spine and lower corner bumped, cloth a little rubbed and scuffed, contents faintly toned. A very good copy. First edition of this key work on aeronautical engineering, widely known as "The Flutter Bible". Scarce, with only institutional 15 copies recorded in WorldCat and one in auction records, at Dominic Winter in 2011. The term "flutter" refers to sustained oscillations of the structures of planes that can damage or destroy them. The first documented case occurred in 1916, affecting the tail of a Handley Page O/400 bomber, and by the 1920s flutter was a major area of aeronautics research. "At the NPL [National Physical Laboratory] work was initiated in 1925 by R. A. Frazer; he was joined in the following year by W.… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer, 1917. Duodecimo. Original cream wrappers printed in black. 1 leaf of publisher's ads at rear. Short pencil note to upper wrapper. Wrappers toned and rubbed with a few small marks, creases and nicks. Contents fresh. A very good copy. Second impression (originally published the previous year) of this proposal for testing Einstein's theory of relativity by the astronomer Erwin Finlay-Freundlich (1885-1964). Freundlich knew Einstein well during the period when they both lived in Berlin, and astronomical proofs of Einstein's theories were among his major research interests. "The quest for high accuracy in the measurement of the redshift in the solar spectrum led him to plan the building of the famous Einstein tower in Potsdam. he was also involved in some of the earliest attempts to measure the deflection of starlight during eclipses. In the summer of 1914 he led an expedition to the Crimea to observe a total solar eclipse. Caught by the outbreak of the First World War, he and… Read More