LAMBERT, Johann Heinrich. Die freye Perspektive, oder Anweisung, Jeden Perspektivischen Aufriß von freyen Stücken und ohne Grundriß zu verfertigen.
Zürich: Heidegger und Compagnie, 1759. First edition.

Lambert's second book was "intended for the artist wishing to give a perspective drawing without first having to construct a ground plan. It is nevertheless a masterpiece in descriptive geometry, containing a wealth of geometrical discoveries. In this work Lambert proved himself a geometer of great intuitive powers. In the generality of his outlook, as in certain specific aspects, his work resembles that of Monge later on, usually considered the founder of descriptive geometry as a distinct branch of mathematics. Lambert's investigations of possible constructions by the use of a simple ruler, for example, constructing an ellipse from five given points, was similar in spirit to the program of Poncelet and J. Steiner two generations later" (D.S.B.) "A qualitative leap was made by Lambert in his book Freye Perspective ... He tried to construct perspective pictures by using an implicit form of projective geometry, without a given plan and elevation of the scene. In some sense his Freye Perspective contains the most fruitful use of the plane as a model of space; that is, to work on the plane without projections of the spatial objects instead of the objects themselves. This idea was later developed by Gaspard Monge" (Grattan-Guinness: Companion Encyclopedia of the History and Philosophy of the Mathematical Sciences, p.1599). "In his Freye perspektive he not only discussed perspective drawing but also the intriguing problem of what geometric constructions can be made with a straight edge alone and only a fixed compass" (Gray: Ideas of Space, pp.72). See also 'The Geometry of an Art, by Kirsti Andersen, pp. 647-650 for a detailed account of this work. The work was published simultaneously in German and French (La perspective affranchie de l'embaras du plan géométral). A second edition was published in two volumes in 1774 by Orell, Gessner, Fuesslin.

A very nice copy in contemporary parchment. Small 8vo: 182 x115 mm. Some slight wear to spine and corners. (12),196 pp. and 6 folding plates. This copy is lacking the errata leaf. The misprints have however been added/corrected in old ink by an earlier owner.