This continuously growing library collection includes rare books from the Othmer Library of Chemical History. The collection includes works donated to the library by notable collectors including Donald Othmer, the Chemists' Club, Herb Pratt, Alfred Bader, and Robert E. Schofield. Only a small portion of the library's rare books have been digitized.
Please note, this collection excludes rare books donated by Roy G. Neville, whose sizable donation can be found partially digitized here.
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23 items
A Journal of Travels in England, Holland and Scotland, and of Two Passages Over the Atlantic, in the Years 1805 and 1806, Vol. 2
- 1812
Travel log of Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864) detailing his research in England, Holland, and Scotland. Silliman founded the American Journal of Science and discovered a way to distill petroleum. Written in first-person,…
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7 items
Annales de Chimie
- Recueil de mémoires concernant la chimie et les arts qui en dépendent
- 1791 – 1793
The title page of the Annales de Chimie changed repeatedly in the first few years of its publication in response to rapid changes brought about by the French Revolution. Initially it published with the permission and…
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11 items
Basilica chymica
- continens philosophicam propriâ laborum experientiâ confirmatam descriptionem et usum remediorum chymicorum selectissimorum é lumine gratiae et naturae desumptorum
- 1611
Basilica chymica: continens philosophicam propriâ laborum experientiâ confirmatam descriptionem et usum remediorum chymicorum selectissimorum é lumine gratiae et naturae desumptorum: in fine libri additus est authoris…
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3 items
Culinary Chemistry: Exhibiting the Scientific Principles of Cookery, with Concise Instructions for Preparing Good and Wholesome Pickles, Vinegar, Conserves, Fruit Jellies, Marmalades, and Various Other Alimentary Substances Employed in Domestic Economy, with Observations on the Chemical Constitution and Nutritive Qualities of Different Kinds of Food
- 1821
Title page and facing title page of Culinary Chemistry: Exhibiting the Scientific Principles of Cookery, With Concise Intructions for Preparing Good and Wholesome Pickles, Vinegar, Conserves, Fruit Jellies, Marmalades,…
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174 items
Dyer's account book, Volume 1
- After 1855-Nov-29 – before 1864-Nov-10
The first of two highly legible British dyer's account journals. The journal lists recipes and the costs for materials used in the process of dyeing many kinds of cloth, "gum china blue," "sumac," "peachwood," etc.…
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239 items
Dyer's account book, Volume 2
- After 1855-Nov-29 – before 1864-Nov-10
The first of two highly legible British dyer's account journals. The journal lists recipes and the costs for materials used in the process of dyeing many kinds of cloth, "gum china blue," "sumac," "peachwood," etc.…
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6 items
Essai sur l'electricité des corps
- 1746
Jean-Antoine Nollet (1700-1770) was an 18th-century French experimental physicist known for discovering osmosis in 1748 and conducting foundational research on electricity. This book, published in 1746, features an…
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15 items
Essay sur les feux d'artifice pour le spectacle et pour la guerre
- Essay on fireworks for spectacle and for war
- 1745
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6 items
Guilielmi Harvei doct. & profess. Regii Exercitatio Anatomica De Motu Cordis & Sanguinis
- Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis
- An anatomical essay on the movement of the heart and blood
- 1648
William Harvey (1578-1657) was an English physician who discovered the circulation of the blood. He correctly described the motion of the heart as a contraction that forced blood out of the left ventricle into the…
- Author Harvey, William, 1578-1657
- Publisher Ex Officinâ Arnoldi Leers
- Contributor Sylvius, Zacharias, Back, Jacobus de, approximately 1594-1658
- Subject Blood--Circulation, Blood, Oxygen in the body, Heart, Cardiovascular system, Harvey, William, 1578-1657
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22 items
Il Colombo : Regioni Esterne del Corpo, Scheletro, Sistema Vasale, Muscoli, Organi Interni
- 1924
Italian-language book on the anatomy of the pigeon. It includes a color illustration of a pigeon and a pigeon egg. The pigeon is composed of two large, double-sided flaps and a series of smaller flaps, each of which…
- Author Mico, Dott.
- Editor Cappelli, L.
- Subject Pigeons, Lift-the-flap books, Pigeons--Anatomy, Birds, Birds--Anatomy, Birds--Reproduction, Birds--Eggs
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164 items
Integrum morborum mysterium
- Sive medicinae catholicae tomo primi Tractatus secundus, in Sectiones distributus duas
- 1631
Integrum morborum mysterium: Sive medicinae catholicae tomo primi Tractatus secundus, in Sectiones distributus duas was published in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1631.
This first edition is a compendium of the occult…
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45 items
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27 items
Istituzioni di pirotecnia: per istruzione di coloro che vogliono apprendere a lavorare i Fochi d'Artifizio
- Institutions of Pyrotechnics: for the education of those wanting to learn the making of Fireworks
- 1819
- Author Calà Ossorio, Marcello
- Engraver Alfano, G. (Gaetano)
- Subject Fireworks, Calà Ossorio, Marcello, Alfano, G. (Gaetano), Fireworks industry
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5 items
Italian dyer's notebook
- Autograph manuscript
- Circa 1856 – circa 1866
This warped and worn nineteenth-century Italian manuscript appears to be a working manual and color inventory of a wool dyer in mid-nineteenth-century Italy. The handwritten entries are dated between 1856 and 1866,…
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588 items
Kunst Buch von allerhandt rahren undt schönen inventionen so wohl in der Feuerwerckerey Kunst als auch in der Büchsenmeisterey zusammen
- 1671
A manuscript work from Andreas Räbel, a 17th-century pyrotechnician, containing formulas and recipes for the creation of fireworks, explosives, rockets, detonators, flares, bombs, and other armament. The recipes call…
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31 items
L'art du Distillateur Liquoriste: Contenant le Bruleur d'Eaux-de-vie, le Fabriquant de Liqueurs, le Débitant ou le Cafetier-Limonnadier
- The Art of the Liqueur Distiller: Containing the Brandy Burner, the Liqueur Maker, the Bartender or the Lemonade Maker
- 1775
Part of a series published between 1761 and 1788 by the Parisian Académie des Sciences entitled Descriptions des arts et métiers, or Descriptions of the Arts and Trades. The full series comprises 113 folio volumes and…
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30 items
L'art du Distillateur d'Eaux-Fortes, &c.
- 1773
Part of a series published between 1761 and 1788 by the Parisian Académie des Sciences entitled Descriptions des arts et métiers, or Descriptions of the Arts and Trades. The full series comprises 113 folio volumes and…
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28 items
La Vacca : Regioni Esterne del Corpo, Scheletro, Sistema Vasale, Muscoli, Organi Interni
- 1924
Italian-language book on the anatomy of dairy cattle. It includes a color illustration of a dairy cow that is composed of two large, double-sided flaps and a series of smaller flaps, each of which lifts to reveal the…
- Author Mico, Dott.
- Editor Capelli, L.
- Subject Cattle--Anatomy, Cattle, Dairy cattle, Lift-the-flap books, Livestock, Agricultural education
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22 items
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262 items
La pyrotechnie de Hanzelet
- Lorrain ou sont représentés les plus rares et plus appreuvez secrets des machines et des feux artificiels. Propres pour assiéger battre surprendre et deffendre toutes places
- 1630
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2 items
Lavoisier manuscript
- 1791-Sep-28
A document signed by Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) as the Director of Government Powder Mills (1776-1794)
- Creator Of Work Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent, 1743-1794
- Subject Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent, 1743-1794
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Le livre de tous les ménages, ou, L'art de conserver pendant plusieurs années, toutes les substances animales et végétales
- L'art de conserver pendant plusieurs années, toutes les substances animales et végétales
- 1813
Foldout engraving from Le livre de tous les ménages, ou, L'art de conserver pendant plusieurs années, toutes les substances animales et végétales.
- Author Appert, Nicolas, 1749-1841
- Engraver Gaitte, Antoine-Joseph, 1753-
- Subject Canning and preserving, Food--Preservation
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142 items
Liber de arte Distillandi de Compositis
- Book on the Art of Distilling Compounds
- 1512
Hieronymus Brunschwig (circa 1453-cira 1513) was a surgeon in the Imperial Free City of Strasbourg who published on subjects including medicine, the plague, and surgery, though his most important works were those…
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33 items
Medical and alchemical recipes : autograph manuscript
- 1550s
Dutch or Flemish apothecary's reference pocketbook with recipes, remedies, and customers' names, all written in Dutch. The majority of the recipes and remedies relate to women's illnesses and the plague. The final notes…
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111 items
Medicinal Plants: An Illustrated and Descriptive Guide to Plants Indigenous to and Naturalized in the United States, Volume I
- 1892
First of two volumes detailing a variety of plant species and their medicinal properties. The works contain 180 chromolithographic plates, originally drawn and hand-colored by the author. The illustrations depict the…
