Earth Science
JACQUEMONT, Victor. Letters From India;London : 1834
First published in French the previous year, the year after Jacquemont's death. These letters to his family and friends were sent during a government sponsored scientific expedition to India. The books proved immensely successful, providing what Buckland describes as "a most vivid account … of the social condition of India in those days" (p....Learn More
GULF WAR. Tadmīr abār al-naft fī al-wathāi'q al-'irāqīah al-'adrār al-bi'īah wa-l-iqtisādīah wa-l-juhūd al-kūwaītīah fī al-muhāfazhah 'ala al-tharūah al-naftīah.Kuwait : 1995
First edition of this well-illustrated study on the environmental impact of the destruction of oil wells in Kuwait, based on government documents issued by the Iraqi government during the Gulf War.
The work presents this damage, substantiated by copious data, as a main goal of the Iraqi war strategy of delayed sabotage. An appendix lists...Learn More
MALLET, Robert & John William. The Earthquake Catalogue of the British Association,London : 1858
First one-volume edition of this foundation work of seismology, "the first really scientific investigation" on the topic (Davison, p. 81); inscribed from the author to William Cole, 3rd Earl of Enniskillen, an Irish palaeontologist who worked closely with Mallet. The inscription on the title page reads "To the Earl of Enniskillen with the author's...Learn More
HONG KONG. Geology of Sha Tin; [together with] Geology of Sai Kung and Clear Water Bay.Hong Kong : 1986 & 1990
First editions of these detailed reports, each designed to accompany sheets in the Geological Map Series of Hong Kong.Learn More
DUHAMEL DU MONCEAU, Henri-Louis. A Practical Treatise of Husbandry:London : 1759
First edition in English of this transformational text, translated by John Mills from the original French. Duhamel promotes the horse-hoeing husbandry of Jethro Tull and reports on his own agricultural experiments. This translation is "apparently collected from several publications by Duhamel du Monceau, with the addition of observations and...Learn More
ELLIS, William. The Timber-Tree Improved: or, the Best Practical Methods of Improving Different Lands with Proper Timber.London : 1742
A later edition of this popular agricultural tract, the third in four years. Ellis was a well-respected authority, and farmers from all around the country invited him to visit and advise on their holdings. He here discusses trees including oak, beech, elm, ash, and cherry.
"A shrewd man of business", Ellis (d. 1758) was commissioned by...Learn More
SHOVE, George A. Life Under Glass, Containing Suggestions Toward the Formation of Artificial Climates.Boston : 1874
First edition of this early exploration of engineered climate systems. Building on the Victorian fashion for greenhouses and ornamental horticulture, Shove outlines how enclosed environments can be controlled to ensure year-round access to beneficial plants and to support experimental cultivation.
The book is expanded from Shove's article...Learn More
NASA; APOLLO 8. Earthrise. Red number photograph AS8-14-2383.Houston, Texas : 1968
The first colour photograph of our planet taken by a human, photographed by William Anders on 24 December 1968 during the first manned voyage to orbit the Moon. It is considered the most influential environmental photograph ever taken. It is accompanied by two variant Earthrises, photographed moments later.
Anders, the lunar module pilot...Learn More
AGRICULTURE. The Scots Farmer: or Select Essays on Agriculture; adapted to the Soil and Climate of Scotland.Edinburgh : 1773-74
First edition of this successful journal, published during the early boom of Scottish agricultural writing. At 15 shillings, it was too expensive for most farmers, but its popularity reflects the increasing interest in scientific approaches to farming. The front pastedown of Volume II is annotated by a contemporary reader: "Page 396 to make hay...Learn More
MURRAY, Alexander. The True Interest of Great Britain, Ireland, and our Plantations: Or, a Proposal for Making Such a Union between Great Britain and and Ireland, and all our Plantations, as that already made betwixt Scotland and England.London : 1740-41
First editions of the True Interest and Apology, second of the Letter & Remonstrance: together a lavishly illustrated work advocating a system of canals and reservoirs across Scotland, written some 20 years before the great age of British canals.
Alexander Murray (c. 1684-1743) reports on the condensed network he had constructed in his own...Learn More
KNOX, Alexander. Notes on the Geology of the Continent of Africa. With an Introduction and Bibliography.London : 1905
First edition. The author, the long-serving map curator at the War Office, argues for an more thorough understanding of "military geology": a thorough understanding of terrain and rivers is the essential precursor to effective systems of military communications and expansion. The print-run numbered 500 copies.
Provenance: Humphrey...Learn More
FAMINE. Hunger bun marking the famine of 1816-17.[Germany] : 1817
This small "Hungersemmel", produced in German-speaking countries during the famine of 1816-17, illustrates the severity of the food shortage. It was kept as a memento of the hardship, as the accompanying note explains: "This 2-penny bun is from the expensive time of the year 1817, stored here as a memorial, on the 12th of July. Paid by Carl...Learn More
HUGHES, John Arthur. Garden Architecture and Landscape Gardening.London : 1866
First edition of this handbook to landscape architecture, covering various types of garden design, including the Italian, Dutch, French, Picturesque, and Natural styles.
"Since at least the 16th century, the creation and enjoyment of gardens had been leisure occupation of aristocrat, squire and rural cleric. The novelty of the 19th century,...Learn More
DAVY, Sir Humphry. Elements of Agricultural Chemistry, in a Course of Lectures for the Board of Agriculture.London : 1813
First edition of the earliest systematic application of chemistry to farming, by "one of the greatest proponents of the scientific method" (Ency. Brit.). It emphasizes the benefits that a standardized scientific method could bring to the growing English population, which was suffering from wartime food shortages. It remained the standard work for...Learn More
HYDRO-ENGINEERING IN CHINA. Guangdong shuili niankan ("Guangdong Hydroengineering Yearbook").Guangzhou : 1947
First edition of this report issued after an April 1947 meeting in Guangzhou of hydro-engineers from across China. Delegates discussed hydroelectric power, flood dykes, and the construction of spillways, all pressing topics during the country's post-war economic reconstruction.
The contents include a series of illustrated technical...Learn More
SUNG, Paul R. (ed.). Hankow Flood Review.Hankou : 1931
First edition of this pictorial record of the 1931 Hankow floods, among the worst natural disasters of the 20th century. After a summer of unprecedented rainfall, the Yangtse burst through the city's protective dyke on 1 August, submerging an area the size of England and killing tens of thousands. The floodwaters reached a level of 16 metres above...Learn More
CHINA, river management. Annual reports of the Yangtse River Commission for 1925, 1926, and 1927-8.Beijing & Shanghai : 1925-26-28
First editions of these invaluable technical publications, which record a wealth of data from gauging stations across hundreds of charts and diagrams. The Yangtse River Commission was formed by presidential order in December 1922, and the American engineer George Gottlieb Stroebe (1877-1965) served as the first head of its survey...Learn More
HYDRO-ENGINEERING. Large archive of photographs recording the construction of the Batang Padang hydroelectric scheme in Malaysia.Malaysia : 1964-67
A collection of well-composed photographs likely assembled by one of the project's contractors and here arranged chronologically with expert captions. The albums cover the period from June 1964, when the scheme was in its infancy, to the end of 1967, when construction had mostly finished.
Funded by a loan from the World Bank and involving...Learn More
SOMERVILLE, Mary. Physical Geography.London : 1848
First edition of the first textbook of physical geography in English. Her third work and one of her most successful, it "offers perhaps the clearest view we get of Somerville in her role as organic intellectual and as possessor of both scientific and moral authority" (Neeley, p. 159).
Somerville was awarded the Victoria Gold Medal of the...Learn More
NEW ZEALAND. Album presented to Captain Martin John Coucher de Meric following the Hawke's Bay Earthquake, 3-11 February 1931.Auckland : 1931
A photographic tribute to the Royal Navy and its response to New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster. Under the captaincy of de Meric (1887-1943), HMS Diomede sped to Napier with emergency supplies and medical personnel, and its crew took charge of clearing rubble, recovering bodies, distributing aid, and comforting survivors.
The...Learn More
