Rare Books Collection

See also

• Comben Collection  
• Watt Collection  
• Exhibition Literature Collection

The Rare Books Collection contains books and periodicals published before 1800, and rare later works. There are about 4600 books and 85 serial titles published before 1800.

Most subjects are covered including mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, physics, engineering, medicine, biology and natural history. There are also more general works on geography, history, languages, many fine accounts of voyages of discovery and early works on alchemy and astrology.

The collection includes significant holdings of 16^th to 18^th century editions of works by ancient and medieval authors such as Aristotle, Plato or Archimedes and by later natural philosophers such as Robert Boyle, Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton. The collection contains many of the great classics of science, technology and industry as well as minor works.

The books are supplemented by runs of early journals such as Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London; Acta eruditorum; Journal des sçavans; Gentleman’s magazine, Memoires de l'Academie royale des sciences; Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. There is a complete list of the early periodicals.

Highlights of the collection include:

General works

• Gregor Reisch. Margarita philosophica (Basel, 1535)

Early encyclopaedias

• Ephraim Chambers. Cyclopaedia (London, 1738)

• Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopedie (Paris, 1762-1772) 

Mathematics

• John Napier. Logarithmorum canonis description (Edinburgh, 1614)

• Galileo Galilei, Discorsi e dimonstrazione matematiche (Leiden, 1638)

Astronomy

• Ptolemy. Epytoma Joãnis De mõte regio Jn almagestu ptolomei (Venice, 1496) 

• Nicolaus Copernicus. De revolutionibus orbium Coelestium (Nuremberg, 1543) 

Physics and natural philosophy

• Sir Isaac Newton. Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (London, 1687)

• J.T. Desaguliers. A course of experimental philosophy (London, 1734-1744) 

Alchemy

• Annibal Barlet. Le vray et methodique cours de la physique resolutive vulgairement dite chymie. (Paris, 1657)

• Johann Becher. Physica subterranea profundam subterraneorum genesin (Leipzig, 1738)

Chemistry

• Robert Boyle. Sceptical chymist (London, 1661)

• Martin van Marum. Description de quelques appareils chimiques nouveaux ou perfectionnés de la Fondation teylerienne (Haarlem, 1798)

Earth sciences

• Sir William Hamilton. Campi phlaegri (Naples, 1776-1779)

Natural history

• Edward Topsell. The historie of foure-footed beastes (London, 1607)

• John F. Miller. Cimelia physica : Figures of rare and curious quadrupeds, birds (London, 1796)

Medicine

• Andreas Vesalius. De humani corporis fabrica. (Basel, 1543)

Civil engineering

• John Smeaton. A narrative of the building and a description of the construction of the Edystone Lighthouse with stone. The second edition, corrected. (London, 1793)

Mechanical engineering

• Agostino Ramelli. Le diverse et artificiose machine (Paris, 1588) 

Military engineering

• Roberto Valturio. De re militari (Paris, 1534)

Mining 

• Thomas Savery. The MinersFriend; or, An engine to raise water by fire, described (London, 1702)

Ballooning

• Thomas Baldwin. Airopaidia : containing the narrative of a balloon excursion from Chester, the eighth of September, 1785 (Chester, 1786)

Exploration & Discovery

• James Cook. A new, authentic, and complete collection of voyages round the world(London, 1784-1786)