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 History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. With the precedent Passages, and Actions, that contributed thereunto, and the happy End, and Conclusion thereof by the King’s blessed Restoration. Oxford: Printed at the Theater, 1702-1704

FIRST EDITION. A magnificent set of Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion, “the most valuable of all the contemporary accounts of the Civil Wars. … His characters are not simply bundles of characteristics, but consistent and full of life, sketched sometimes with affection, sometimes with light humor” (DNB).

$7,800

Opticks: or a Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. London: William Innys, 1730

The Opticks and the Principia are the two pillars of Newton’s unparalleled scientific achievement. The Opticks has been called “an underpinning for the entire edifice of physics” (Scientific American).

$6,000

Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Cambridge, 1730

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).

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[Plan of London.] Urbium Londini et Westmonasterii nec non Suburbii Southwark. Nuremberg: Homann Heirs, 1736

This famous three-sheet plan of London, Westminster, and Southwark gives names of streets, drainage, parish boundaries, buildings, parks and other places. The right sheet has inset views of St. Paul’s Cathedral, St. James Square, Custom House and the Royal Exchange on right sheet.

$3,200

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. London: A. Millar , 1749

FIRST EDITION of the greatest English novel of the eighteenth century and one of the most influential works of fiction ever published.

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“Whereas a great many false reports have been raised, by Deserters from the Virginia Regiment …” in The Maryland Gazette, 5 September 1754, p. 3. Annapolis: Jonas Green, 1754

FIRST EDITION of George Washington’s second appearance in print. This rare document shows George Washington at the dawn of his military career, building the experience and reputation that would ultimately lead to his appointment as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War.

$85,000

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

Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General, traduit de l’Anglois.. “Londres [Paris]: Fletcher Gyles”, 1755

First edition of the book that is, “more emphatically than any other single work, the cradle of political economy”

$60,000

A Dictionary of the English Language. London: W. Strahan for J. & P. Knapton, 1755

First edition of this enduring classic of English literature. This is Johnson’s “audacious attempt to tame his unruly native tongue … combining huge erudition with a steely wit and remarkable clarity of thought” (Hitchings).

$65,000