Paris: Moutard, 1782.

Extremely rare offprint (preceding the journal version by three years, i.e. Norman 526) of this celebrated memoire in which Coulomb created the science of friction. OCLC list just three copies worldwide: Harvard; Huntington; Strasbourg.

“Coulomb’s most celebrated study, one that brought him immediate acclaim, was Théorie des machines simples, his prize-winning friction study of 1781. He investigated both static and dynamic friction of sliding surfaces and friction in bending of cords and in rolling. From examination of many physical parameters, he developed a series of two-term equations, the first term a constant and the second term varying with time, normal force, velocity, or other parameters. In agreement with Amontons’s work of 1699, Coulomb showed that in general there is an approximately linear relationship between friction and normal force; but he extended the investigation considerably to show complex effects due to difference in load, materials, time of repose, lubrication, velocity, and other considerations. Coulomb’s work in friction remained a standard of theory and experiment for a century and a half, until the advent of molecular studies of friction in the twentieth century. To quote Kragelsky and Schedrov’s recent monograph (p. 52) on the history of friction: ‘Coulomb’s contributions to the science of friction were exceptionally great. Without exaggeration, one can say that he created this science’.” (C. Stewart Gillmor in DSB).

This true first printing of Coulomb’s famous memoire is extremely rare; the leading American scholar of Coulomb, C. Stewart Gillmor of Wesleyan University, does not list this 1782 publication of the Théorie des Machines in the DSB article or his monograph Coulomb and the Evolution of Physics and Engineering in the 18th-centuryFrance (p.118-138). According to Gillmor, and all other bibliographies that we have been able to find, the first published version of the present work appeared in 1785 on pages 161-332 of vol. X of the Mémoires de Mathématique et de Physique Présentés á L’Académie Royale des Sciences, Par Divers Savans. The upper half of the title page of the offered version is identical in printing with the title page to the 1785 journal version, however, the lower part continues (were the journal version ends) with a floral woodcut, the imprint of Moutard, and the date 1782. The journal version is paginated [161-163] 164-332 (with signatures xi-tt2) but our printing is separately paginated [1-3] 4-172 (with signatures a1-y2) and ends on the final page with ‘FIN’ – the journal version ends with a small woodcut of a building with two chimneys. The five plates, numbered ii-vi, are identical (plate i belongs to the preceding work, not by Coulomb, in the journal volume).

Separate printings of Coulomb’s memoires to the Academy are known, for example his Mémoires sur l’Électricité et le Magnétism (Horblit 31b; Dibner 58; Norman 527). Those printings, however, were most likely assembled after their appearance in journal form and issued by the printer as collections, with new title pages, from the leftover sheets for the journal volumes as they are not separately paginated. The offered item thus presents outstanding event of a true offprint preceding the journal form with several years.

4to (262 x 195 mm), 172 pp., 5 plates numbered ii-vi (fully complete), contemporary full sheep, gilt spine, red title label, capitals and corners worn, end papers, title page and following leaf with some darkening to the margin (probably due to the glue used for the front paste down), some occasional light spotting to some leaves, in all very good, large margined, and unrestored.

Item #6217

Price: $9,500.00