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Photo AMPERE, André Marie || BABINET. 

AMPERE, André Marie || BABINET. 

Exposé des nouvelles découvertes sur l’électricité et le magnétisme. 

Paris, Méquignon-Marvis, 1822.
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1250 €

First edition, separately-paginated offprint of this early publication on electricity and magnetism in which Ampère and Babinet review the latest discoveries concerning electromagnetism.
Papper first published as a supplement to the French translation by Jean-René-Denis-Alexandre Riffault of the fifth edition of Thomas Thomson's Système de chimie.
Ampère notably presents his famous rule called "Ampère's rule" which describes the direction in which a magnetized needle moves near a conducting wire in which a current flows. His galvanometer, a device for measuring current intensity. As well as the idea of ​​an electric telegraph system.
Book that bears witness to the excitement caused among physicists by Oerstedt's experiment in 1820 which opened a new scientific field, electromagnetism.
A very complete copy of the last leaf (table and errata) which is usually missing.

Photo CLAIRAUT, Alexis. 

CLAIRAUT, Alexis. 

Théorie de la Lune, déduite du seul principe de l'attraction. 

Paris, Dessaint & Saillant, 1765.
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1500 €

Second edition.
This second edition brings together the Theory of the Moon and the Tables of the Moon published by Clairaut in 1752 and 1754 which are the first approximate resolution of the three-body problem. Between 1747 and 1754, three of the greatest mathematicians of their time, Euler, D'Alembert and Clairaut, opposed each other on a common project: to develop new mathematical methods in order to resolve the complex problems posed by the movement of the Moon, subject to both to the gravitational pull of the Earth and the Sun. The issue was both scientific and economic since the establishment of precise astronomical tables was necessary for the reliability of navigation at sea.

Photo PASCAL, Blaise. 

PASCAL, Blaise. 

Oeuvres de Blaise Pascal. 

La Haye [Paris], Detune, 1779.
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1500 €

First and only old collective edition,
Published by Bossut, this edition is illustrated with a portrait and 14 plates.
Among the unpublished there are many "pensée", writings on Grace, the Treaty of vacuum and and extensive correspondence.
Volumes IV and V contain the scientific works.
We found the second printing of the describing of invention of the computing machine of Descartes (TIV, pages 7-30). The first edition, certainly printed by the author, is unobtainable (only two copies known).
Also of interest here is the reprint of Pascal's 1654 paper introducing his triangle of binominal coefficients (Pascal's Triangle), included in Volume V, pages 1-54. Pascal's invention "predated the concepts of computation of the values of polynomial functions by differences.".

Photo MARIOTTE, Edme. 

MARIOTTE, Edme. 

Oeuvres de Mr Mariotte, de l'Académie royale des Sciences. 

Leide, Pierre Vander, 1717.
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1500 €

First collected edition, and first edition for the "Traité du mouvement des pendules" is published here for the first time.
Edme Mariotte was one of the pioneers of experimental physics in France and, with Newton, one of the great figures of European physics. His works bear witness to great originality and great diversity. In 1660 he undertook research on the elastic deformations of solids and laid down a law. In 1676, he also established the gas compressibility law which bears his name and formulated it in his treatise On the nature of air: at constant temperature, the volume of a gas varies inversely with pressure.
He also studied optics, hydrodynamics, fluid mechanics, as evidenced by his numerous writings on vision, colors (he opposed, like Hooke or Huygens, Newton's theory), weather forecasts , fluid movements, body shock ...
He also left his name to the "Mariotte spot", which is a part of the completely blind retina.).

Photo MEAD, Richard. 

MEAD, Richard. 

De Imperio Solis ac Lunae in corpora Humana et Morbis inde oriundis. 

Londres, Raphael Smith, 1704.
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1500 €

First edition.
Richard Mead (1673-1754), a physician and friend of Isaac Newton, attempts in this book to demonstrate the influence of gravitational forces on human health. Mesmer drew heavily on this book to write his doctoral thesis in 1766 (On the Influence of the Planets on the Human Body). The term "animal gravitation," taken from Mead, was later changed by Mesmer to "animal magnetism.".

Photo ALEMBERT, Jean Le Rond d’. 

ALEMBERT, Jean Le Rond d’. 

Reflexions sur la Cause generale des Vents. Piéce qui a remporté le Prix proposé par l'Académie Royale des Sciences de Berlin, pour l'Année 1746. 

Paris, David l'aîné, 1747.
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1500 €

First edition of this important work on atmospheric tides.

Photo NEWTON, Isaac. 

NEWTON, Isaac. 

Traité d'optique sur les réflexions, réfractions, inflexions et les couleurs de la lumière. 

Paris, Montalant, 1722.
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Second French edition of this important work in which Newton sets out his theory of light, the study of the refraction and diffraction of light. He observes in particular that light is composed of a multitude of colors.

This edition is more sought after than the first because the translation by Pierre Varignon was revised and supervised by Newton himself.

Handwritten note at the end: "Bookplate Musei C.Dupré. 1 quarto volume purchased on April 2, 1779"
An old handwritten note states that this copy was purchased on May 2, 1863, at the library sale... and placed to their proper place the plates that had been incorrectly inserted by the bookbinder.

Photo GROLLIER DE SERVIÈRE, Gaspard. 

GROLLIER DE SERVIÈRE, Gaspard. 

Recueil d'ouvrages curieux de mathématique et de mécanique, ou description du cabinet de Monsieur Grollier de Servière avec des figures en taille douce. 

Lyon, David Forey, 1719.
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2200 €

First edition.
Among the mechanical inventions depicted in Grollier de Serviere's Cabinet are those for propelling ships, making elevations, various kinds of clocks, lamps, mechanical figures, mills, optical contrivances and geometrical instruments.

Photo BECQUEREL, Antoine César. 

BECQUEREL, Antoine César. 

Traité expérimental de l'électricité et du magnétisme, et de leurs rapports avec les phénomènes naturels. 

Paris, Firmin Didot, 1834-1840.
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2200 €

Rare first edition of ono of the most important work of Becquerel.

Photo PASCAL, Blaise. 

PASCAL, Blaise. 

Oeuvres de Blaise Pascal. 

La Haye [Paris], Detune, 1779.
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2500 €

The first and sole ancient collective edition, partially original.

Published by Bossut, this edition is illustrated with a portrait and 14 plates.
Among the unpublished there are many "pensée", writings on Grace, the Treaty of vacuum and and extensive correspondence.
Volumes IV and V contain the scientific works.
We found the second printing of the describing of invention of the computing machine of Descartes (TIV, pages 7-30). The first edition, certainly printed by the author, is unobtainable (only two copies known).
Also of interest here is the reprint of Pascal's 1654 paper introducing his triangle of binominal coefficients (Pascal's Triangle), included in Volume V, pages 1-54. Pascal's invention "predated the concepts of computation of the values of polynomial functions by differences.".

Photo DESCARTES, René. 

DESCARTES, René. 

Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison et chercher la vérité dans les sciences.
Plus la Dioptrique et les Météores qui sont des essais de cette méthode. 

Paris, Michel Bobin & Nicolas Le Gras, 1668.
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The true third edition with the privilège dated 28 avril 1668.

Photo [VOLTA, Alessandro]. 

[VOLTA, Alessandro]. 

L'identita del fluido elettrico col cost detto fluido galvanico vittoriosamente dimostrata con nuove esperienze ed osservazioni. Memoria comunicata al Signore Pietro Configliachi Professore di Fisica sperimentale nell?Università di Pavia e da lui pubblicata con alcune note. Porta in fronte il ritratto di Volta e vi è aggiunto il Catalogo delle sue opere stampate sino a tutto l'anno 1813. 

Pavia, G. Giovanni Capelli, 1814.
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First edition on large paper.

This is Volta's latest memoir and his most important contribution to the famous controversy that occurred between the Galvanic and Voltaic theories of electricity. This memoir was submitted under the name of one of the students of Volta in 1805 during a competition organized by the "Società Italiana delle Scienze"; it was then "to explain with clarity and dignity, by offending anyone, the question of Galvanism, discussed by Giovanni Aldini (nephew of Galvani) and Alessandro Volta". No memory was rewarded at the end of this event. Nine years later, Pietro Configliachi, professor of physics and publisher of the "Giornale di fisica, chemica e storia naturale" pupil and then successor of Volta at the University of Pavia, was finally able to publish this work. The last 7 pages of this book present a detailed bibliography of Volta's works until 1813.
Beautiful rare and remarkable copy on large paper.

Photo MARAT, Jean-Paul. 

MARAT, Jean-Paul. 

Découvertes de M. Marat sur la lumière constatées par une suite d'expériences nouvelles qui ont été faites un très-grand nombre de fois sous les yeux de MM. les Commissaires de l'Académie des Sciences. 

Londres et Paris, Jombert, 1780.
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3000 €

First edition of this rare work by Marat on light.
In fact, the french revolutionary published several scientific works in his youth.
In this treatise on light, Marat discusses Newton's doctrine on the decomposition of sunlight by the prism.

Photo DESCARTES, René. 

DESCARTES, René. 

Le Monde de Mr Descartes ou le traité de la lumière et des autres principaux objets des sens. 

Paris, Jacques Le Gras, 1664.
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3000 €

First edition.
Very rare copy with title page in unlisted condition in the name of Jacques Le Gras.

Descartes wrote this treatise in 1632 and 1633. He defended in particular the heliocentric system of Copernicus, but following Galileo's condemnation, he gave up publishing this work during his lifetime. It will not be finally published, according to his will, until after his death. At the end of 1663, the Le Gras and Clerselier family will dispute the privilege of publishing the posthumous works of Descartes. For the "World" it is Jacques Le Gras who will be the first to deposit the privilege. (cf. CARTESIAN BULLETIN V. (1976). Archives de Philosophie, 39 (3), 445–494) Jacques Le Gras, the holder of the privilege, then shared it with Thomas Girard (his brother-in-law) and Michel Bobin.

Our title page is unknown to Tchermerzine and Guibert as well as to Mathias Van Otegem who in his bibliography of the works of Descartes published in 2002, after consulting the copies in public libraries, describes only four states of the title page of this edition.
Our copy therefore presents a fifth state of the still unpublished title page.
Our title page has the same typographical mark as the Thomas Girad state (6 fleurons) canonically considered to adorn the true first edition. In addition, like the copy "Thomas Girad" from the Munich library (BSB: Rar. 4594) our title page is margined shorter than the rest of the book body and printed with the same characters, which suggests an impression at the same time.
The copies having a recomposed title page with a typographical mark "à l'oiseau" only coming, according to bibliographers, in a second step.

"In Le Monde, Descartes wants to ruin the concepts of scholasticism, and 'evacuate' Aristotle's physics, by giving a physical interpretation of the new heliocentric astronomy. As opposed to traditional finalism, he envisions, in the form of a "Fable", the mechanical formation of the cosmos, from an initial state of chaos (pieces of matter of various shapes and sizes agitated by all-out movements) and only by virtue of the general laws of nature: principle of inertia, laws of the communication of movement, etc ... "Robert Maggiori, Liberation, 26.

Photo CHEVREUL, Michel Eugène. 

CHEVREUL, Michel Eugène. 

Mémoire sur la vision des couleurs matérielles en mouvement de rotation et des vitesses numériques de cercles. 

Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1882 [1881].
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3000 €

First edition of Chevreul's last works on color.
A rare offprint with its own title page published by Firmin-Didot in 1882, of an article presented to the Academy of Sciences in December 1880 and January 1881 (one generally only finds the article extracted from the Mémoires de l'institut published in 1883). Chevreul is interested here in physiological optics, trying to analyze how the contrast between complementary colors is affected by movement.
In his conclusion, in which he calls himself "the dean of students in France" (he was then 95 years old), he sees a direct application of his work to signaling for train drivers.

Photo PASCAL, Blaise. 

PASCAL, Blaise. 

Traitez de l'équilibre des liqueurs et de la pesanteur de la masse d'air. 

Paris, Guillaume Desprez, 1663.
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3500 €

First edition.
Milestone in the history of science in which Pascal discovers atmospheric pressure.

The famous experiment, carried out by his brother-in-law in Auvergne, consisted of comparing the height of a column of mercury in Clermont-Ferrand and then at the top of Puy-de-Dôme.
The question of the weight of the air was already under discussion in Descartes and Galileo, but it is Pascal with this experience who provides the proof. He thus broke with nearly 2000 years of Aristotelian physics: "Nature abhors a vacuum", more than a popular maxim then took the place of the only physical principle of hydrostatics.

"Nature has no repugnance for emptiness; she makes no effort to avoid it; all the effects that have been attributed to this horror proceed from the gravity and pressure of the air; she is the only one. real cause, and, lack of knowing it, we had invented this imaginary horror of emptiness on purpose, to make it right." (extract from chapter II)

Then pascal (Pa) will be adopted as the international unit of measurement of pressure.

Photo BECQUEREL, Henri. 

BECQUEREL, Henri. 

Manuscrit autographe : Reflexions sur une théorie moderne. 

s.l., s.n., [1907].
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4000 €

Original Manuscript by Henri Becquerel.

An interesting manuscript in which the discoverer of radioactivity ponders the nature of matter at the end of his life.
This manuscript, with corrections for printing, was published at the Institut de France after a reading at the session of October 25, 1907.

One of Henri Becquerel’s final works, this manuscript reflects on the revolutionary discoveries that had upended the traditional understanding of matter: the electron (discovered by Thomson in 1897), radioactivity (discovered by Becquerel himself in 1896), and radioactive decay (discovered by Rutherford in 1902).

The long-held notion of the atom as an indivisible, stable particle, as proposed by Democritus, was challenged by these groundbreaking findings. Becquerel pondered this new reality, suggesting that atoms, rather than being eternally stable, might undergo modifications over time. However, the slow pace of these transformations or the rarity of conducive conditions could create the illusion of stability.

The 15 pages offprint will be joined (covers detached).

Photo CHEVREUL, Michel Eugène. 

CHEVREUL, Michel Eugène. 

Des couleurs et de leurs applications aux arts industriels à l’aide des cercles chromatiques. Avec XXVII planches gravées sur acier et imprimées en couleurs par René Digeon. 

Paris, J.B. Baillière et Fils, 1864.
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5500 €

First edition of the rarest of Chevreul's publications on color.

Michel-Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889) is known to chemists for his research on fatty acids, saponification, and the discovery of stearin, but it is as a color theorist that his name will go down in history. Chevreul was appointed director of the Manufacture des Gobelins in 1824. Responsible for overseeing the production of dyes, he supported the work of dyers with his research on color perception. Thus, in 1839, he proposed a scientific approach to color complementarity and subsequently developed "color circles." A true "Pantone" color chart, a hundred years ahead of its time, Chevreul's color circles had the dual benefit of systematizing the production of hues (each with its own name) and making it easier to understand the concept of color complementarity. Thus, complementary colors are found on the same diameter of the color wheel, Red No. 2 corresponds to Green No. 2. "I believe I can affirm that it is possible to subject colors to a reasoned nomenclature, by relating them to types classified according to a simple method, accessible to the intelligence of all those who deal with colors" (extract from the preface). The standardization of color production was to interest first and foremost the industry then in full development, but it is undoubtedly in the Impressionist movement that Chevreul's theories found their finest accomplishment. Very early on, painters were inspired by Chevreul's work in their paintings, starting with Delacroix and then Monet. We will thus remember the fields of poppies dear to the Impressionists (Van Gogh, Monet, Pissaro...) where the red dots of the flowers burst out on complementary green backgrounds. The 27 spectacular plates were printed by René-Henri Digeon using chromochalcography, the process and difficulties of which are discussed in a paragraph in the book. Digeon appears to have presented a first edition of these plates at the 1855 World's Fair, for which he received a patent from the Empress. Several of the plates in our copy appear to be from this first edition and contain errors that have been corrected in other later copies that we have been able to consult.

Photo CHEVREUL, Michel Eugène. 

CHEVREUL, Michel Eugène. 

De la Loi du Contraste simultané des Couleurs et de l’Assortiment des Objets colorés, considéré d’après cette Loi dans ses Rapports avec la Peinture, les Tapisseries des Gobelins, les Tapisseries de Beauvais pour Meubles, les Tapis, la Mosaïque, les Vitraux colorés, l’Impression des Étoffes, l’Imprimerie, l’Enluminure, la Décoration des Édifices, l’Habillement et l’Horticulture. 

Paris, Pitois-Levrault, 1839.
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9000 €

First edition.
One of the most influential books on art in the 19th century.
Michel-Eugène Chevreul (1786–1889) is known to chemists for his research on fatty substances (1810–1823) and on immediate organic analysis (1824), but it is as a color theorist that his name achieved lasting fame.
De la loi du contraste simultané des couleurs introduced a scientific understanding of color that had a profound and lasting impact on the painters of his time.
His “law” describes how the perception of a hue is altered by the surrounding colors, each color projecting its complementary onto its immediate environment (thus, a red object tends to cast a greenish glow on nearby surfaces, a yellow one a purplish tint, and so on). This principle is clearly illustrated in plate 7 of the Atlas, where colored dots on a white background seem to emit halos of their complementary hues.

Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), a central figure of Romanticism, paid close attention to Chevreul’s research. According to the painter Paul Signac, Delacroix even sought to meet the chemist and acquired notes from his lectures in order to better grasp the law of simultaneous contrast. Several of his paintings feature harmonies built around complementary color pairs. For instance, The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople (1840) deliberately juxtaposes yellow/purple, blue/orange, and red/green to dramatize the scene—so effectively that art historian Lee Johnson called it an ideal “illustration” of Chevreul’s treatise.

But it was arguably within the Impressionist movement that Chevreul’s theories reached their highest artistic fulfillment. Claude Monet (1840–1926), in particular, used simultaneous contrast to heighten luminosity in his landscapes. He avoided black and earth tones, preferring instead to render shadows in color: purples and blues for shaded areas at sunset, accented with yellow-orange highlights in full light. This technique appears as early as Impression, Sunrise, the foundational work of the movement. One might also recall the poppy fields, a favorite motif of the Impressionists (Van Gogh, Monet, Pissarro…), where red flowers vibrantly stand out against green backgrounds.

A book heralding one of the greatest revolutions in painting.

Our copy is complete with all the color plates, most of them signed by Chevreul himself.

Photo LAGRANGE, Joseph-Louis, comte de. 

LAGRANGE, Joseph-Louis, comte de. 

Méchanique analitique. 

Paris, Veuve Desaint, 1788.
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10000 €

First edition of Lagrange's masterpiece, the foundation of modern mechanics, second in importance to Newton's Principia.

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