Categories
FREE SHIPPING WORLWIDE
WE ACCEPT
Visa Mastercard

Natural History - Botany - Gardening

Results (1 - 30) of 136
TilesList
Photo VARELA, Francisco. 

VARELA, Francisco. 

Principles of Biological Autonomy. 

New York, North-Holland, 1979.
More Details >
1500 €

First edition.

Francisco Varela (1946 - 2001) was a Chilean neurobiologist whose work in theoretical biology and cognitive science had an influence far exceeding his initial fields of study and thus influenced the field of artificial intelligence research.

Francisco Varela’s Principles of Biological Autonomy was a groundbreaking text when it was first published in 1979, putting forth a novel theory of how living systems produce and maintain themselves.

This foundational book introduces the key concept of autonomy derived as an elaboration of the idea of autopoiesis (the self-production and self-distinction) of living organisms.

Varela covers topics in systems theory, neuroscience, theories of perception, and immune networks and offers a participatory epistemology that goes on to be further developed in later enactive literature. (The MIT Press, 2025).

These ideas are compelling not only for historical reasons but also because they still illuminate current efforts in developing the enactive approach toward wider and more challenging goals (including language, human cognition, ethics, and environmentalism).

Varela’s ideas continue to shape cognitive science through the ongoing development of the enactive approach, which today encompasses accounts of various aspects of cognition and is becoming an increasingly influential framework. Yet it’s often forgotten how deeply Varela’s work was grounded in a conception of biological autonomy. So much so, in fact, that the label enactivism is frequently invoked without reference to its foundational commitment to autonomy.

Photo VOLTERRA, Vito. 

VOLTERRA, Vito. 

Leçons sur la Théorie Mathématique de la Lutte pour la Vie. 

Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1931.
More Details >
Sold

First edition.
Vito Volterra (1860-1940) was a world-renowned Italian mathematician and physicist, a member of the Institute and professor at the University of Rome. His Leçons sur la Théorie Mathématique de la Lutte pour la Vie (Lectures on the Mathematical Theory of the Struggle for Life), edited by Marcel Brelot and published in the "Cahiers Scientifiques" collection directed by Gaston Julia, is a pioneering work in biomathematics. Volterra is considered one of the founders of the mathematical study of biological interactions, particularly predator-prey relationships and population dynamics. This book presents his famous differential equations (Lotka-Volterra equations), which model these interactions. It is a seminal work at the intersection of mathematics and biology.

Photo FLAMMARION, Camille. 

FLAMMARION, Camille. 

L'atmosphère : météorologie populaire. 

Paris, Hachette, 1888.
More Details >
80 €

First edition.

Photo BERNARD, Claude. 

BERNARD, Claude. 

La science expérimentale. 

Paris, Baillère, 1878.
More Details >
80 €

First edition.
A posthumously published compilation of Claude Bernard's writings. It is a collection of previously published speeches, lectures, and articles, organized to present an overview of his scientific and philosophical thought.

Photo MARIÉ DAVY, Hippolyte. 

MARIÉ DAVY, Hippolyte. 

Météorologie, les mouvements de l'atmosphère et des mers considérés au point de vue de la prévision du temps. 

Paris, Victor Masson et fils, 1866.
More Details >
60 €

First edition.

Photo CUVIER, Georges. 

CUVIER, Georges. 

Discours sur les révolutions du globe avec des notes et un appendice d'après les travaux récents de MM. de Humboldt, Flourens, Lyell, Lindley, etc. 

Paris, Firmin-Didot et Cie, 1879.
More Details >
35 €

Le Discours sur les révolutions du globe est considéré comme l'un des textes fondateurs de la paléontologie et de la géologie moderne.

Photo TYNDALL, John. 

TYNDALL, John. 

Les glaciers et les transformations de l'eau suivis d'une conférence sur le même sujet. 

Paris, Germer Baillière, 1880.
More Details >
Sold

Third edition.

Photo ARTEDI, Peter || LINNE, Carl von. 

ARTEDI, Peter || LINNE, Carl von. 

Ichthyologia, sive opera omnia de piscibus. 

Leyde, Gonradum Wishoff, 1738.
More Details >
1300 €

First edition.
Artedi is known as the "father of ichthyology" for this pioneering work in classifying the fishes into groups.

The foundation of modern ichthyology.

Artedi, who drowned in Amsterdam in 1735, is published here posthumously by Carl von Linné, who inherited the manuscripts of Artedi.

The classification is based on an order, then a genus and a species. He thus distinguishes four orders of fish and one for cetaceans, 47 genera and 230 species.
A very complete set of its five parts.

Photo [MANUSCRIT] MAHOT, Maurice. 

[MANUSCRIT] MAHOT, Maurice. 

Traité de Botanique sur Estampes du Traité historique des Plantes de Buchoz classées suivant Tournefort & Linné. 

[Nancy], [Buc'Hoz], [1762-1770].
More Details >
7000 €

Original manuscript of an unpublished botanical treatise by a learned scholar from Nantes.
It presents botanical concepts as well as the classifications of Linnaeus and Tournefort. This manuscript, nearly 200 pages long, is written on the verso of the plates from Buc'hoz’s Flore Lorraine.
All plates are also annotated with details on plant names, their classification according to Linnaeus and Tournefort, and their medicinal uses—together forming a true pharmacopoeia.
These 187 plates were intended to illustrate Buc'hoz’s Traité historique des plantes qui croissent dans la Lorraine et les Trois-Évêchés, published in ten octavo volumes between 1762 and 1770. The plates, originally issued separately in installments and designed to be folded and bound in octavo, are gathered here in a single folio volume.
Buc'hoz, known for the beauty of his plates, had solicited financial support from fellow countrymen and botany enthusiasts for the production of these engravings. Thus, at the bottom of almost every plate, one finds the coat of arms and name of the sponsor who funded it.
Maurice Mahot, the author of this manuscript, sponsored plate 152.
While biographical information on Maurice Mahot “the elder” (1745–1810), a royal counselor, civil and criminal judge at the présidial, alderman (1777), and deputy mayor of Nantes (1779), offers little indication of an interest in natural sciences and botany, the same cannot be said of his son, Maurice Mahot “the younger” (1774–1842), a doctor of medicine and scholar who published several books on medicine and lexicography.
The annotations by the son—a physician—on the plates funded by the father—a botany enthusiast—explain the numerous pharmaceutical and medical recipes found in the work.
Another collector has left his name on the title page: Silas Boucher de la Ville Jossy, a member of a prominent Nantes family in the mid-19th century.
A fascinating manuscript, still largely unexplored, of exceptional character, both for the beauty of its annotated plates and for its content, which intertwines botanical classification and pharmacopoeia.

Photo ENAUX, Joseph || CHAUSSIER, François. 

ENAUX, Joseph || CHAUSSIER, François. 

Méthode de traiter les morsures des animaux enragés et de la vipère. 

Dijon, A.M. Defay, 1785.
More Details >
150 €

First edition.
This work was intended to be distributed to priests and municipal trustees in order to disseminate in the countryside the means to combat the indicated accidents.

Photo DUTENS, Louis. 

DUTENS, Louis. 

Des Pierres précieuses et des Pierres fines, avec les moyens de les connoitre & de les évaluer. 

Paris, F.A. Didot, 1776.
More Details >
800 €

First edition.
In the first part Dutens explains his system of classification whereby the finest and most durable of gemstones are dubbed "oriental" while those of lesser quality and hardness receive the title of "occidental," thus perpetuating in a highly popular and widely distributed work these unfortunate and misleading terms that persisted in use well into the last century. Some generalities on gemstones also appear here as curious lore, origin of gemstones, and other topics, followed by separate chapters on the major gemstones beginning with diamond. The latter chapter records recent experiments in France and elsewhere on the combustibility of diamond, one such experiment he personally observed. The second part describes lesser gemstones, mainly massive types, used mostly in cabochons or in the manufacture of small to large ornamental articles or decorations.

Photo BARREIRA, Isidoro de. 

BARREIRA, Isidoro de. 

Tratado das significaçoens das plantas, flores e frutos. 

Lisbonne, Manoel Lopes Ferreyra, 1698.
More Details >
300 €

Second edition.
Rare Portuguese treatise on the symbolism of plants in sacred and secular writings.

Photo MERCURIALE, Geronimo || SCHELIGA, Albert. 

MERCURIALE, Geronimo || SCHELIGA, Albert. 

De venenis et morbis venenosis tractatus. 

Francfort, Andreae Wecheli, 1584.
More Details >
500 €

Edition published same year as the first edition in Venice.
Pioneering work on knowledge on poisons.
Some period handwritten annotations in the margins.

Photo SEVERINO, Marco Aurelio. 

SEVERINO, Marco Aurelio. 

Vipera Pythia id est, De Viperae Natura, Veneno, Medicina, Demonstrationes, et Experimenta nova. 

Padoue, Pauli Frambotti, 1651.
More Details >
800 €

Second edition.
Marco Auelio Severino (1580-1656) was a prominent Italian anatomist and surgeon. In 1610, he was appointed professor of anatomy and surgery in Naples. His work, "Vipera Pythia," deals with venomous snakes, their anatomy, venom, and medicinal properties and virtues. It provides extensive information on the mythology, superstitions, and occult traditions surrounding snakes.

Many of the engravings, mostly full-page, depict mythological images as well as pagan deities, symbols, and idols associated with snakes.

Photo JAUME SAINT HILAIRE, Jean Henri. 

JAUME SAINT HILAIRE, Jean Henri. 

Plantes de la France décrites et peintes d'après nature. 

Paris, Chez l'Auteur, 1808-1809.
More Details >
4000 €

First edition, first print of the plates.
Arranged in alphabetical order, each plant is described by a text sheet accompanied by a color plate.
Beautiful complete set of 400 plates printed in color from the drawings of Jaume Saint Hilaire and engraved in dotted lines by Dubreuil and Veron.
Our collation is consistent with that given by Stafleu in his bibliography, the same announcement that this publication was limited to a print run of 400 copies.

Photo DARWIN, Erasmus. 

DARWIN, Erasmus. 

Zoonomie, ou lois de la vie organique. 

Gand, P. F. de Goesin-Verhaeghe, 1807-1811.
More Details >
1300 €

First french edition.
Erasmus Darwin, Charles Darwin's grandfather, was a British physician, poet, and naturalist.
In Zoonomy, he proposed a classification of diseases based on the excitability of fibers, a physiological theory of the time.
The work also discussed early ideas about the evolution of species, suggesting that all living things might have descended from a common ancestor, anticipating some of the theories that his grandson would later develop, including that of sexual selection.

Darwin's work is preceded by "l'Analyse raisonnée de la Zoonomie de Darwin" published in 1807.

Photo LA BROSSE, Guy (de). 

LA BROSSE, Guy (de). 

De la nature, vertu, et utilité des plantes. 

Paris, Rollin Baragnes, 1628.
More Details >
700 €

First edition.
Guy de La Brosse was Louis XIII's regular physician and founder of the Jardin du Roi (ancestor of the Jardin des Plantes). The last part, entitled "Dessein d'un Jardin Royal pour la culture des plantes médicinales", presents the project for the future Jardin des Plantes.
While the author remains famous for having successfully completed this project, he is also known for having been one of the first French Paracelsians. This work, one of the first great French botanical treatises, detailing the medicinal virtues of plants, their classification and their therapeutic use, is very much inspired by Bacon and Paracelsus. The book illustrates in a very clear way one of the schools of thought of the nascent revolution, that of Paracelsianism.

Photo BOISSIER DE SAUVAGES, (Abbé). 

BOISSIER DE SAUVAGES, (Abbé). 

Mémoires sur l'éducation des vers à soie. 

Nismes, Gaude, 1763.
More Details >
350 €

First edition.
Reference work on silkworm breeding.
Bound later by the same author, we find: De la culture des muriers, Nismes, Gaude, 1763. 128-8 pages.

Photo LA QUINTINYE, Jean Baptiste. 

LA QUINTINYE, Jean Baptiste. 

Instruction pour les jardins fruitiers et potagers, avec un traité des orangers, et des réflexions sur l'agriculture. 

Paris, Cavelier, 1739.
More Details >
900 €

New revised and corrected edition.
A famous French gardener of the 17th century, Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie was known for having been the director of the fruit and vegetable gardens of King Louis XIV. His work is a complete treatise on the cultivation of fruits and vegetables, as well as on the layout of gardens.
He was very influential in his time and helped to popularize modern gardening techniques, particularly on methods of forcing vegetables and pruning fruit trees.
Very complete copy of the plan of the royal vegetable garden and the plates outside the text on tree pruning.

Photo ADANSON, Michel. 

ADANSON, Michel. 

Familles des plantes. 

Paris, Vincent, 1763.
More Details >
1500 €

First edition of this important botanical treatise.
Michel Adanson was the first to analyze and explain the theoretical foundations of natural classification and, what is even more important, to define the practical method to be used to seek this classification.

In this work, Adanson proclaims his contempt for "systems" and proposes a natural classification based on all the characters and not on a few characters chosen arbitrarily, which puts him in conflict with Linnaeus.

Photo REAUMUR, René-Antoine (Ferchault de). 

REAUMUR, René-Antoine (Ferchault de). 

Art de faire éclorre et d'élever en toute saison des oiseaux domestiques de toutes espèces. 

Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1751.
More Details >
350 €

Second edition, greatly expanded.
This work brings together Réaumur's work on birds based on his observations. He sets out practical ways to produce a large quantity of chickens at low cost, a very expensive commodity at the time. He suggests building artificial incubators for incubating eggs and brooders to replace mother hens.

Photo SMYTTÈRE, Philippe-Joseph-Emmanuel. 

SMYTTÈRE, Philippe-Joseph-Emmanuel. 

Tables synoptiques de l'histoire naturelle, pharmaceutique et médicale. 

Paris, Librairie médicale de Crochard, 1833.
More Details >
450 €

Second edition.
Philippe-Joseph-Emmanuel de Smyttère (1800-1886) was a French physician, botanist and historian. His work, inspired by the classifications of Candolle, offers classification tables where medicinal properties are highlighted.
"I conceived the project of demonstrating, through application, the link that unites natural history to therapeutics" (extract from the preface).

Photo [VALLOT, Jacques-Nicolas]. 

[VALLOT, Jacques-Nicolas]. 

Cours de Minéralogie. 

[Dijon], s.n., An 9 [1800].
More Details >
500 €

Handwritten course on Mineralogy.
A note at the end of the document tells us that the course was taken under dictation by Vallot in the year 9. At that date Jacques-Nicolas Vallot (1771-1860) was a professor of natural sciences at the central school of Dijon. A naturalist, he touched on all sorts of subjects: botany, zoology, mineralogy, antiquities...
Vallot reviews the different minerals and gives their main characteristics: jasper, chalcedony, gold, petroleum, carbonates, etc.

Photo ALIX, Eugène || CUYER, Édouard. 

ALIX, Eugène || CUYER, Édouard. 

Le Cheval. 

Paris, J-B Baillière, 1886.
More Details >
2000 €

First edition.
A sought-after work for its beautiful anatomical system plates produced by Edouard Cuyer, painter and teacher at the Beaux-Arts.
Plate VI is placed as it should be in a portfolio at the end of the atlas accompanied by all its accessories. This original plate allows, with the help of a small articulated horse, to visualize the different gaits (walk, trot, kick, etc.).

Photo DODART, Denis. 

DODART, Denis. 

Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des plantes. 

Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1679.
More Details >
950 €

Second edition.
Presentation copy to John Ray (Raïus latinized form).
A founding work of botanical science in France.
This second edition only includes the first part of the original edition, entitled Projet de l'Histoire des plantes. Denis Dodart sets out the framework for one of the great designs of the young Royal Academy of Sciences: the creation of a History of Plants, an exhaustive catalogue of plant species.
At the same time, in 1674, the British naturalist John Ray (1607-1725) complained to the scientific community about having to consult and combine a multitude of publications for a simple study, calling for a catalogue of all known plants. These Memoirs constitute the first step, the master plan in a way, and the work is today considered the founding work of botanical science in France.

Photo VAILLANT, Sébastien. 

VAILLANT, Sébastien. 

Botanicon parisiense, ou Dénombrement par ordre alphabétique des plantes qui se trouvent aux environs de Paris. 

Leiden & Amsterdam, Verbeek & Lakeman, 1727.
More Details >
1500 €

First illustrated edition and first edition in french (firs ed. in latin in 1723).
33 plates by J. Wandelaar, each with explanation text.
It is to Sébastien Vaillant that we must attribute the decisive role of having identified the sexual organs of plants and having recognized their importance in taxonomy. It is thanks to Vaillant's work that Linnaeus proposed his classification of plants.

Photo D'AZARA, Félix. 

D'AZARA, Félix. 

Essais sur l'histoire naturelle des Quadrupèdes de la province du Paraguay. 

Paris, Charles Pougens, 1801.
More Details >
1000 €

First edition.
Work published by Moreau de Saint-Mery based on a manuscript sent by Félix D'Azara's brother, without his consent.
Félix de Azara (1742-1821) arrived in America to participate in the demarcation of the colonial border between the Spanish and Portuguese empires. An engineer, cartographer and soldier, he traveled for twenty years in this southern America (current Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil). The quality of Félix de Azara's historical, natural and ethnological descriptions made his writings an essential source for those interested - from Humboldt to d'Orbigny, from Von Martius to Bonpland - in the natural and civil history of this continent.

Photo DARWIN, Charles. 

DARWIN, Charles. 

De l'Origine des espèces ou des lois du progrès chez les êtres organisés. 

Paris, Guillaumin et Cie, 1862.
More Details >
1750 €

First edition in French.
This first French translation, of one of the most important books in modern science, was controversial as soon as it was published. Indeed, translator Clémence Royer (1830-1902, philosopher and scientist) added a preface and numerous footnotes in which she gave her interpretation of the text and commented on it.

Photo BÜCHNER, Louis. 

BÜCHNER, Louis. 

La Vie psychique des bêtes. 

Paris, C. Reinwald, 1881.
More Details >
50 €

First french edition.

Photo GEOFFROY, Étienne-Louis. 

GEOFFROY, Étienne-Louis. 

Histoire abrégée des insectes qui se trouvent aux environs de Paris; dans laquelle ces animaux sont rangés suivant un ordre méthodique. 

Paris, Durand, 1762.
More Details >
800 €

First editon.
This book was a great success in the field of Natural Sciences as soon as it was published.
Étienne-Louis Geoffroy (1725-1810, French pharmacist and entomologist) introduced a new classification of insects based on the study of wings and established six different groups (beetles, hemiptera, mealy-winged tetraptera, bare-winged tetraptera, diptera and aptera).

Results (1 - 30) of 136
TilesList
About
Sell your books
Contact
Newsletter
Blog
Facebook Français English
52 rue des Ecoles   75005 Paris
tel. +33 (0)1 43 54 22 23
Terms and conditions
European VAT number: FR87515091171
© Eric Zink, Antiquarian Bookseller