MONGE, Gaspar. Géometrie descriptive. Leçons données aux écoles normales, l'an 3 de la République.
Paris: Baudouin, An VII (1798-1799). First edition in book form.

A very nice and uncut copy of his masterpiece, first published in installments in the Les Séances des écoles normales recueilliées par des sténographes etrevues par des professeurs. “The Geometrie descriptive<(i> was conceived as an aid in military engineering, closely linked to his book on the manufacture of ordnance as well as to the new concept of polytechnic education, and it provided an entirely new approach to design and manufacture. In Monge’s method an object is represented by its plan and elevation, obtained by parallel projections to a (horizontal or vertical) plane by rays perpendicular to that plane (orthographic projection). Without Monge’s geometry “the wholesale spawning of machinery in the nineteenth century would probably have been impossible. Descriptive geometry is the root of all mechanical drawing and graphical methods that help to make mechanical engineering a fact.” (Bell: Men of Mathematics, p.183). Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics, Chapter 17; Norman 1536; Bibliotheca Mechanica p.228.

4to: 269 x 213 mm. Contemporary vellum (re-use of a partly erased leaf with 17th-century script). Owners signature to the front free end paper. (8), 132 pp. and 25 folding engraved plates by Delettre after Girard.

[Item #2200]

Price: €4,400.00