The first selection from the Barry Yampol Library traces the evolution of scientific understanding from the dawn of printing to the rise of modern chemistry. As Selby Kiffer walks through the collection, the shift in thought is visible across centuries: encyclopedias that attempted to contain all known knowledge, early editions of Pliny and Aristotle, and the first printed maps that pictured the world before its true boundaries were known. These volumes reveal how thinkers tried to explain what the earth is made of, why volcanoes erupt, and how minerals form, marking the moments when speculation began to take shape as science.
Some works changed the way humanity could see altogether. Hooke’s Micrographia expands into dramatic plates of insects enlarged far beyond natural scale, while William Hamilton’s vivid studies of Vesuvius chart the power and mystery of an erupting volcano. Mendeleev’s early periodic table appears first as a modest page and later as a foldout that boldly leaves space for elements not yet identified. Together, these books form a record of knowledge growing across generations. The first selection from the Barry Yampol Library will be offered across a series of auctions at Sotheby’s in December 2025 as part of New York Luxury Week presented by EDITION Hotels.
