First edition of the third and final volume of John Hill's three-volume set entitled A General Natural History. This volume, which focuses on animals, is considered Hill's primary contribution to zoology and includes a…

Engraving by Francis Cary (active 18th century) depicting several ancient monuments located in the St. Illtyd's church complex at Llanilltud Fawr (present day Llantwit Major) in southeast Wales.

From the "Explanation of the Apparatus" (page 67):
1. Net
2. Balloon
3. Crown to suspend the Balloon
4. Barrels of Zinc
5. Oil of Vitriol
6. Backs, in which the Water and Oil of Vitriol was mixed
7. Recipient of Oil of…

Kazimierz Siemienowicz's treatise was used for over a century as a basic manual on artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics. It was originally published in Latin (1650) and was translated into French (1651), German (1676),…

Plate illustrates the moon's craters (figure 20), an armillary sphere (figure 21), celestial positioning (figures 19, 22-24, 26) and a comet (figure 25). This plate comes from the "Astronomie" section of Volume 5 of…

First published in 1617, Michael Maier's alchemical emblem book contains a preface on ancient music and the Greek myth of Atalanta and Hippomenes and consists of 50 engraved emblems, each accompanied by a discourse and…

A battering ram with an iron tip in the shape of a ram's head.

Engraving depicting a series of ancient brass and iron artifacts excavated from County Roscommon in Ireland. Figure 1 depicts the bitt and headstall of a bridle, both brass. Figure 2 depicts a brass spur. Figure 3…

Map of Britain in Roman times drawn from several sources, including the works of Ptolemy and The Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus, a register of the stations and distances along the various roads of the Roman empire.

Volume 1 in a series of 4 travel logs written by William Camden (1551-1623) in 1586. Camden traveled extensively through England and Wales, but likely never set foot in Scotland or Ireland. He compiled Britannia through…

This book is volume 2 in a series of 4 travel logs originally written by William Camden in 1586. Camden traveled extensively through England and Wales, but likely never set foot in Scotland or Ireland. Camden traveled…

Volume 3 in a series of 4 travel logs written by William Camden (1551-1623) in 1586. Camden traveled extensively through England and Wales, but likely never set foot in Scotland or Ireland. He compiled Britannia through…

Volume 4 in a series of 4 travel logs written by William Camden (1551-1623) in 1586. Camden traveled extensively through England and Wales, but likely never set foot in Scotland or Ireland. He compiled Britannia through…

Engraving by Francis Cary (active 18th century) depicting the Cerne Abbas Giant (Figure 2) and ground plan of Maiden Castle (Figure 3). The Cerne Abbas Giant is a hill figure outlined by shallow trenches cut in the turf…

The first of two encyclopedic volumes seeking to provide a comprehensive exposition of the state of chemical manufactures at the turn of the 19th century. Written by James Sheridan Muspratt (1821-1871), an Irish-born…

The second of two encyclopedic volumes seeking to provide a comprehensive exposition of the state of chemical manufactures at the turn of the 19th century. Written by James Sheridan Muspratt (1821-1871), an Irish-born…

Illustrated with 20 hand-colored plates, Conversations on Botany is composed as a series of conversations between a mother and son about the principles of the Linnaean system of classification and elements of useful…

Conversations on Chemistry is an introductory chemical textbook. To this third American edition (the first and second: Philadelphia, 1806, and 1809), the anonymous editor has added new material on mineral waters and the…

A collection of four alchemical works ascribed to Ramon Llull (c. 1232-1316), of which three are printed here for the first time: Apertorium, Magia Naturalis, and Tertia Distinctio. The fourth treatise, De secretis…

A first edition, Italian work considered to be the earliest printed book on metallurgy published in Europe. The work was written in Venice by Vannoccio Biringuccio (c. 1480 – c. 1539), an Italian metallurgist of Siena,…

Engraved title page of Maranta of Venosa's work on antidotes to poisons.

Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond’s Description des expériences assembles first-hand observations, research, technical descriptions, letters, tables, diagrams, and illustrations related to the groundbreaking experiments…

Detail view of a portion of tessellated pavement, one of a series of Roman antiquities excavated from the Gloucestershire village of Woodchester in England.