Two albums of watercolors of British wildflowers and garden flowers. Chetwode, 1838 - 1840 and 1841 - 1873

These delightful albums contain 142 finely executed full-page watercolors of British flowers.

$12,000

A Trip to the Moon. New York: F. M. Lupton, September 9, 1893

Signed by Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on the moon. This classic of science fiction, turned into scientific fact by Armstrong and the Apollo 11 mission, was first published as De la Terre à la Lune in 1865.

$10,000

Reports to the Evolution Committee of the Royal Society. Reports I–V.. London: Royal Society, 1902-1909 [1910]

FIRST EDITIONS. A splendid association copy, from the library of Caroline Pellew with her signed inscription:  “C. Pellew  Ink corrections taken from W. Bateson’s corrections in his own copy.”

$10,000

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1871

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, with the uncorrected text in Vol. I and with the list of errata on the verso of the title-page in Vol. II. Freeman observes that “there are important textual differences” between the two issues of the first edition. One of these, later rectified with the removal of long passages from the second issue, is pointed out in the first issue’s inserted slip referring to “a serious an unfortunate error, in relation to the sexual differences of animals.”

$9,500

Darwiniana. London: Macmillan, 1893

FIRST EDITION. A spectacular Darwin association copy, presented by Thomas Henry Huxley to Joseph Dalton Hooker, with an engraved “From the author” slip on the front pastedown above which is written “Sir J. D. Hooker.”

$7,500

The Curious Distillatory. London: Printed by J. D. for Robert Boulter, 1677

First edition in English. Elsholtz (1623-1688), who studied at Padua, was physician to Elector Friedrich Wilhelm and director of the botanical garden at Brandenburg.

$6,800

Table for Transmitting Chinese Despatches by Telegraph, containing all characters employed in official, commercial, or private correspondence of Chinese, and their translation in numbers. Shanghai: Printed at the American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1871

FIRST EDITION. The Great Northern Telegraph Company introduced the telegraph in China in 1871. This rare volume enabled its use in Chinese, marking an epoch in the history of commerce.

$6,500

The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication. London: John Murray, 1868

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, one of 1500 copies. “Survival of the fittest” appears here for the first time in any of Darwin’s works.

$5,500

Charles Robert Darwin [obituary notice]. In Proceedings of the Royal Society. Vol. XLIV, No. 269. London: Royal Society, 1888

FIRST EDITION.  Huxley’s 25-page reminiscence of his friend Charles Darwin is the most famous contemporary notice of Darwin’s life and death. Huxley, “Darwin’s bulldog,” was the naturalist’s most important and most passionate defender.

$2,200

An Explanation of the Observed Irregularities in the Motion of Uranus, on the Hypothesis of Disturbances caused by a more Distant Planet. London: Published by the Society, 1847.

The discovery of Neptune is highlighted by two singular features: that its existence was correctly surmised on a theoretical prediction, and the contention between its contemporaneous discoverers, British astronomer John Adams and French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier.

$1,800