NEW YORK, NY.- Swann Galleries will offer a diverse selection of Early Printed, Medical & Scientific Books at auction on Thursday, April 9.

A rich assortment of early printed books includes a single leaf from a paper copy of the 42-line Bible, aka the Gutenberg Bible, with the text of 2 Kings 21:3-23:3, Mainz, circa 1450-55, contained within a copy of A. Edward Newton’s A Noble Fragment, New York, 1921 (estimate: $40,000 to $50,000). A related item is Eusebius of Caesarea, Chronicon, Venice, 1483, a second edition of a synoptic world history first published circa 1475-76 that contains the third published reference to Johann Gutenberg as the inventor of printing ($6,000 to $9,000).

There is also an early 15th-century manuscript in Latin and Italian on vellum with Saint Aurelius Augustinus, Sermones ad heremitas and other texts ($15,000 to $25,000); a complete and well-preserved manuscript of Petrus Lombardus, Sententiarum libri IV, Bohemia, 1463 ($30,000 to $40,000); and Johannes Reuchlin, Vocabularius breviloquus [with Guarinus Veronensis, Ars diphthongandi and Johannes de Lapide, De arte punctandi and De accentu], Basel, 1486, a Latin dictionary first published in 1478 that appeared in some 20 editions by the end of the 15th century ($5,000 to $7,000).

From the 16th century are Ces presentes heures sont a lusaige de Romme toutes au long de requerir, Paris, 1534, a superbly illuminated printed Book of Hours on vellum ($15,000 to $25,000); an exceedingly scarce volume from the private library of Queen Elizabeth I, volume one (of three) of Cicero’s Orationum volumen primum, in contemporary calf with the queen’s badge, Paris, 1543 ($8,000 to $12,000) and Marcin Laterna, Harfa Duchowna, Krakow, 1596 ($800 to $1,200).

Among the significant scientific books are Guillaume Rondelet, Libri de piscibus marinis, Lyons, 1554-55, first edition of Rondelet’s massive treatise on aquatic life, which covered far more species than any earlier work in the field ($4,000 to $6,000); Aratus, Syntagma Arateorum, Leiden, 1600, first Grotius edition of the Phaenomena of Aratus, a 3rd-century B.C. poem on the constellations, celestial phenomena, and weather signs ($3,000 to $5,000); Conrad Gesner, Thierbuch; das ist, Ausführliche Beschreibung . . . aller vierfüssigen Thieren bound with his Fischbuch; das ist, Ausführliche Beschreibung . . . aller unnd jeden Fischen, Heidelberg and Frankfurt am Main, 1606 and 1598 respectively ($4,000 to $6,000); Sir Isaac Newton, A Treatise on the System of the World, London, 1728, first edition in English ($3,000 to $5,000); and Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology; being, An Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface, by References to Causes Now in Operation, London, 1830-32-33, first edition ($3,000 to $4,000).

Medical books of note include John Bulwer’s Pathomyotamia; or, A Dissection of the Significative Muscles of the Affections of the Minde, London, 1649 ($2,000 to $3,000); a nearly complete set of Johann Rudolph Glauber, Pharmacopoea Spagyrica . . . Pars Prima[-Septima], Amsterdam, 1654-68 ($800 to $1,200); a first edition in Latin of Glauber’s collection of medical preparations, lacking only the 2 supplements; Antonio Scarpa, Saggio di Osservazioni e d'Esperienze sulle Principali Malattie degli Occhi, Pavia, 1801, first edition of the first textbook of ophthalmology published in Italian; and W.T.G. Morton, Remarks on the Proper Mode of Administering Sulphuric Ether by Inhalation, Boston, 1847, first edition of a booklet containing complete instructions for administering ether ($800 to $1,200 each).

Among travel book highlights are a first edition of Samuel Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes, with Purchas His Pilgrimage, together five volumes, London, 1625 and 1626 ($30,000 to $50,000); Jerónimo Lobo, A Short Relation of the River Nile, London, 1669, first edition in English of an excerpt from the unpublished Portuguese original work on Ethiopia by Jesuit missionary Lobo ($2,000 to $3,000); and John Harris, Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca; or, A Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels . . . , London, 1744-48 ($3,000 to $5,000).

The auction will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 9. The books will be on public exhibition Saturday, April 4, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.; and Monday, April 6 through Wednesday, April 8, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.