Susanne Schulz-Falster Catalogue Ten - Schulz-Falster Rare Books

The earliest Bibliography of Books on Technology
260 ROSENTHAL, Gottfried Erich. Litteratur der Technologie
das ist: Verzeichniss der Bücher, Schriften und Abhandlungen,
welche von den Künsten, den Manufakturen und Fabriken, der
Handlung, den Handwerkern und sonstigen Nahrungszweigen, als
auch von denen zum wissenschaftlichen Betriebe derselben erforderlichen
Kenntnissen aus dem Naturreiche, der Mathematik, Physik
und Chemie handeln. Berlin & Stettin, F. Nicolai, 1795. £1500
4to, pp. ii, 420; possibly lacking a half title; bound without endpapers;
very light browning to title page; contemporary half sheep, paste-paper
covered boards; sometime rebacked; corners worn with some loss of
leather covering.
First edition of the Wrst great bibliography of technology in which the author
lists about 20,000 books and articles. Rosenthal (1745–1814), a baker
at Nordhausen, was a member of several important scientiWc societies and
the author of numerous scientiWc works. The book is arranged by subject
and is particularly important as Rosenthal includes a very large number of
journal contributions, both well-known and obscure. A very valuable
source book for historians of science and technology.
The bibliography was also issued as the Wnal part of Jacobssons technologisches
Wörterbuch oder alphabetische Erklärung aller nützlichen mechanischen
Künste, Manufacturen, Fabriken und Handwerker (1781–1795).
Besterman 6020; Petzholdt, p. 727; PoggendorV II. 696–97.
261 ROSNATI, Bartolomeo Gabriele. Sui Mezzi più vantaggiosi al
Conseguimento ed alla Conservazione della Prosperità Wsica dell’
Uomo civilizzato. Considerazioni medico-WlosoWche. Milano,
Giovanni Bernardoni, 1821. £650
8vo, pp. 193, [2]; very faint damp-stain aVecting the upper corner of
the second half; uncut in the original pale blue wrappers.
First edition, uncommon, of this introduction to health and how to maintain
it. Rosnati, public health oYcial and surgeon, stresses the importance
of healthy living for general happiness. He Wrst discusses nourishment, giving
advice on food, drink, fresh air, heat, and light: he advises city dwellers
to regularly go into the country to combat the eVects of light and airless
living. The next section concentrates on excretions, followed by another on
the right balance of rest and exercise. For those of in sedentary occupations
he advises games and sport, to achieve the necessary exercise, citing for example
ice-skating practiced in northern countries, dancing, trampolining,
or (when funds permit) hunting. In particular he recommends the bene-
Wcial eVects of travelling, as it combines the physical exertions with intellectual
stimuli. The importance of regular and suYcient sleep is also stressed.
Apparently rare, no copy found in RLIN, or OCLC
susanne schulz-falster rare books catalogue ten
262 ROUSSEAU, Jean-Jacques. Del Contratto Sociale, ossia
Principi del Diritto Politico. Tradotto dal Citadino Niccolò Rota.
Venezia, Antonio Curti, 1797.
[bound with:] ROUSSEAU, Jean-Jacques. Discorso sopra
l’Economia Politica. Venezia, Antonio Curti, 1797. £1200
Two works bound in one volume, 8vo, pp. viii, 207, [1] blank; 68;
some occasional light foxing and spotting, else Wne; uncut in
contemporary marbled limp boards; spine label lettered in manuscript;
a good copy.
First edition in Italian of Rousseau’s important contribution to economics,
his Discours sur l’Oeconomie Politique, bound together with the second Italian
translation of the Contrat Social. It appears likely that both translations
are by Niccolò Rota, as the two are sometimes found bound together.
Economia Politica: Rousseau’s article on political economy, originally
written for publication in the Encyclopédie, remained his most explicit contribution
to the subject. His sustained argument against luxury and conspicuous
consumption of the rising European bourgeoisie implied a direct
criticism and rejection of the mercantilists. Taxation is ‘inevitable’, and he
suggests a tax on consumption, paid for by the buyer of non-essential items
or services, foreshadowing modern VAT. Most importantly his singleminded
opposition to economic inequality and his insistence that liberal
laissez-faire was no substitute for a theory of social relations, inXuenced
political reformers and political economists alike.
Contratto Sociale: First edition of this translation, but in fact the second
translation into Italian of Rousseau’s seminal work. Rousseau’s Contrat Social
had been Wrst published in 1762, and the Wrst Italian translation appeared
in 1796. ‘His fundamental thesis that government depends