Aristoteles Master-piece, or, The Secrets of Generation displayed in all the parts thereof.. London: J. How, 1684

First edition of Aristotle’s Masterpiece, “the most popular book about women’s bodies, sex, pregnancy, and childbirth in Britain and America from its first appearance in 1684 up to at least the 1870s” (Treasures, Library Company of Philadelphia).

$60,000

The Haggadah. London: Beaconsfield Press, [1940]

FIRST EDITION of the greatest Haggadah of the 20th century, finely printed in color on vellum, published in an edition of 250 copies.  The entire edition of the celebrated Szyk Haggadah was printed on vellum.

This is Szyk’s own copy, out of series and unsigned. An accompanying provenance note states that it descended from Szyk to his heirs until it appeared for sale at Christie’s in New York in 2015.

$55,000

Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Cambridge, 1713

SECOND EDITION. . Newton’s Principia is “generally described as the greatest work in the history of science.  Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler had certainly shown the way; but where they described the phenomena they observed, Newton explained the underlying universal laws.  The Principia provided the great synthesis of the cosmos, proving finally its physical unity” (PMM).

$55,000

The Complete Writings. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1902

First edition of “the first comprehensive collection of Whitman’s work.” This is the rare deluxe issue printed on Japan vellum, number 2 of only 10 such sets, in the magnificent original morocco binding.

$28,000

La Historia di Italia. Florence: Lorenzo Torrentino, 1561

FIRST EDITION. A “masterpiece of scientific history,” Guicciardini’s History of Italy was “undoubtedly the greatest historical work that had appeared since the beginning of the modern era. It remains the most solid monument of Italian reason in the 16th century, the final triumph of that Florentine school of philosophical historians which included Machiavelli …” (Britannica, 11th ed.).

$28,000

General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. London: Macmillan, 1936

First edition of this classic of modern economics, “on which Keynes’s fame as the outstanding economist of his generation must rest” (DNB).

$24,000

On the Origin of Species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.. London: John Murray, 1860

SECOND EDITION. On the Origin of Species is “certainly the greatest biological book ever written” (Freeman) and “the most important single work in science” (Dibner).

$19,000

The Second World War. London: Cassell, 1948-1954

FIRST ENGLISH EDITIONS. Signed and dated by Churchill in the first volume.

$18,500

Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital; From its First Rise, to the Beginning of the Fifth Month, called May, 1754. Philadelphia: B. Franklin and D. Hall, 1754

FIRST EDITION of Benjamin Franklin’s account of the Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital established in the British colonies, co-founded by Franklin with his friend Dr. Thomas Bond. It remains a leading medical institution in Philadelphia.

$17,500

Torat ha-Elohim. The Law of God [Five Books of Moses]. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 5605-6 (1845-46)

FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of the Pentateuch translated by a Jew and the first American translation of the Torah. Isaac Leeser was the single most influential Jewish figure in 19th-century America. His many accomplishments include establishing the vernacular sermon as a permanent feature in the American synagogue, publishing the first successful American Jewish newspaper, and founding the first American rabbinical school.

$17,000