Rare Scientific Books

• Historical Period
• Scientist
• Subcategory

Collecting By Historical Period

Collectors of rare scientific books might begin by buying in a specific historical era they find interesting.

The Scientific Revolution

One important period in the history of science is from about the sixteenth century to the eighteenth century known as The Scientific Revolution. The Age of Reason, notorious for a rational approach to the world around us, grew from this period.

There are rare scientific books available with wood engravings from the 1600s by the German scientist Johannes Kepler, famous for his laws of planetary motion. It might be easier to find first editions by Galileo Galilei, who observed the moons around Jupiter, in rare bookstores in Italy. Scientific books by these early pioneers of astronomy might also be of interest to collectors of mathematics, physics and optics.

• Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, or Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Sir Isaac Newton. English translations published during Newton’s lifetime are available of this important scientific book.

The Industrial Revolution

Another period to collect rare scientific books from is the Industrial Revolution where the steam engine became important to industrial growth.

• A Short Treatise on the Application of Steam, Whereby is Clearly Shewn, from Actual Experiments, that Steam May be Applied to Propel Boats or Vessels of Any Burthen Against Rapid Currents with Great Velocity by James Rumsey. An early inventor of the steam boat published this book in 1788.

There are also scarce technical pamphlets associated with inventions that are highly sought after.

• James Watt Company. Copy machine instruction manuals and trade catalogues. James Watt, the Scottish inventor, was an early developer of the steam engine and also created a copy machine.

Collecting By Scientist

Another way to collect rare scientific books is by the scientists who wrote them.

Single Scientist

You could limit yourself to rare scientific books by a single scientist which could include scholarly articles published in scientific journals. Many scientists might not have their work collected though, so the individual letters and journal articles might have to be tracked down.

• Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America by Benjamin Franklin. A collection of his writings was published in 1774.

Related Scientists

Marie Curie, the Polish-born French chemist known for her studies of radioactivity, won two Pulitzer Prizes. After collecting everything written by her, you could go on to other famous women scientists.

• Wayside and Woodland Fungi by W.P.K. Findlay, Illustrated by Beatrix Potter. Helen Beatrix Potter, the children’s author of the Peter Rabbit books, was also a mycologist. She made many botanical paintings and wrote scientific papers about fungi such as On the Germination of the Spores of Agaricineae that was presented at the Linnean Society of London in 1897. Her work should definitely be investigated for those specifically interested in women scientists.

Another option is to purchase rare scientific books by other Pulitzer Prize scientists.

• Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein. Even the first edition in English from 1920, translated by Robert W. Lawson, is clearly a rare scientific book.

Collecting By Subcategory

A smaller subcategory may also be more manageable. Alchemy, for instance, could be considered a division of chemistry. The transformation of lesser metals into gold used to be a serious scientific endeavor that even Isaac Newton studied. You could start with newer books then work your way back to primary sources referenced in them. Doing so, you could discover how a book used mistaken information from a previous source. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be well on your way to becoming an expert collector in the field.

The Dibner Library’s Rare Scientific Books

An interesting section of the Smithsonian Institution is The Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology. Bern Dibner was a famous rare book collector who wrote Heralds of Science, a book about his collection of

• The 200 most important scientific books
• Grouped into eleven categories

You can visit the museum library containing his collection or the online exhibit based on his book.