Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little and Wilkins, 1829-1839.

The Bowditch family copy of his translation of Laplace’s masterpiece, the foundation of modern theoretical astronomy, termed ‘the eighteenth-century Almagest’ and ‘a sequel to Newton’s Principia’ (Horblit). This is the first edition in English, one of 250 copies printed, and the first significant work on physical science published in the United States.

In his Traite de Mecanique Celeste (1799-1825) Laplace, the ‘Newton of France’, codified and developed the theories and achievements of Newton, Euler, d'Alembert, and Lagrange. “Laplace maintained that while all planets revolve round the sun their eccentricities and the inclinations of their orbits to each other will always remain small. He also showed that all these irregularities in movements and positions in the heavens were self-correcting, so that the whole solar system appeared to be mechanically stable. He showed that the universe was really a great self-regulating machine and the whole solar system could continue on its existing plan for an immense period of time. This was a long step forward from the Newtonian uncertainties in this respect...Laplace also offered a brilliant explanation of the secular inequalities of the mean motion of the moon about the earth - a problem which Euler and Lagrange had failed to solve...He also investigated the theory of the tides and calculated from them the mass of the moon” (PMM).

Bowditch undertook the translation of Laplace’s great book in order to supply steps omitted from the original text, to incorporate later results into the translation, and to give credits omitted by Laplace, almost doubling the size of the original work in the process. Although he completed the manuscript for the work in 1818, it took another decade to arrange publication, “caused by the fact that in wishing to preserve his entire independence [he] declined both the suggestion to publish his work by subscription, and the offer of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to publish it at its own expense, and had to arrange his finances so as to have $12,000 available for publication expenses” (Dictionary of American Biography). “Outside of France, particularly in English-speaking countries, Bowditch’s edition, rather than the original, was often the means of learning about the mechanics of the heavens” (DSB II, 368).

Nathaniel Bowditch (1775-1838), the fourth of seven children, was born in Salem, Massachusetts. He left school at the age of ten to work in his father’s cooperage, before becoming indentured aged 12 as a bookkeeping apprentice. Bowditch began to study algebra at age 14, and two years later he taught himself calculus. He also taught himself Latin and French, which enabled him to read the important European scientific works.

In the course of several sea voyages beginning in 1795, Bowditch became intensely interested in the mathematics involved in celestial navigation. He worked initially with John Hamilton Moore’s London-published Navigator, but finding this to be full of errors Bowditch recomputed all of Moore’s tables, and rearranged and expanded the work. The result was published in 1802 as The New American Practical Navigator, which became the western hemisphere shipping industry standard for the next century and a half.

After returning to Salem in 1803 he resumed his mathematical studies and entered the insurance business. Bowditch’s mathematical and astronomical work during this time led to offers of chairs at several prominent academic institutions, including Harvard, but he turned them all down. By 1819, Bowditch’s international reputation had grown to the extent that he was elected a fellow of the Royal Societies of Edinburgh and London and the Royal Irish Academy.

The biography of Bowditch in Vol. IV, prepared by his son Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, remains the best to this day.

Provenance: Mary I. Bowditch (1781–1834), the author’s second wife (name stamped in gilt on the upper cover of Vol. I); other 20th century signatures on the front free endpaper and blank.

Babson 82; Dibner 14 (note); Horblit 63 (1st ed.); PMM 252 (note); Sotheran I 2444-2445.

Four volumes. 4to: 275x220 mm. Contemporary morocco gilt (neatly rebacked to style, light wear to corners and edges). Bound with a 2-page printed poem read at the dedication of a statue to Bowditch and a privately-printed account about Bowditch and President Quincy of Harvard (with a 1906 printed overslip noting that it had been found by Bowditch’s son Charles). 3 engraved portraits.

Item #6216

Price: $8,000.00