Paris: H. Estienne & W. Hopyl, 27 June 1503. First edition of this very rare collection of works, in an attractive Roger Payne binding. The individual works are all first editions with the exception of Lefèvre’s Epitome of Boethius’ De arithmetica (first, 1496) and an unattributed Opusculum de p[r]axi numerorum..... More
Item #3866

Paris: Boudot, 1705. First edition, first issue, of Leibniz’s invention of binary arithmetic, the foundation of the electronic computer industry. This is the second of Leibniz’s great trilogy of works on mathematics and computation, following Nova methodus pro maximis et minimis (1684), his independent invention of calculus, and preceding Brevis..... More
Item #4824

Paris: L’imprimerie Royale; Jean Boudot, 1696; 1700. A fine sammelband comprising the first editions of the first books on the differential and integral calculus, respectively. “In France it was through the Oratorian circle of Nicolas Malebranche that Johann Bernoulli introduced in 1691 the Leibnizian calculus. His lessons to the Marquis..... More
Item #2848

London: for William and John Innys, 1720. First edition, very rare in commerce, of Maclaurin’s first book, dedicated to Newton and bearing his imprimatur as president of the Royal Society; this is a presentation copy, inscribed by Maclaurin. Maclaurin is best known for his Treatise of Fluxions (1742), “the earliest..... More
Item #5250

Edinburgh: Printed by T.W. and T. Ruddimans, 1742. First edition, a very fine large and thick paper copy, of “the earliest logical and systematic publication of the Newtonian methods. It stood as a model of rigor until the appearance of Cauchy’s Cours d’Analyse in 1821” (DSB). The Treatise was written..... More
Item #4222

Hambourg [i.e., Leiden]: [Élie Luzac], 1753. First edition, rare, of this collection of pamphlets relating to the ‘König affair,’ the celebrated polemic on the principle of least action, “perhaps the ugliest of all the famous scientific disputes” (DSB VII: 442). This is an exceptional association copy, from the library of..... More
Item #5306

Messina: Pietro Spira, August 1558. First edition, ‘excessively rare’ (Sotheran), of this collection of works on ‘spherics’, the geometrical and trigonometrical techniques necessary for the description of the motion of the celestial bodies, including Maurolico’s Latin translations of works by four ancient Greek writers, Autolycus, Menelaus, Euclid and Theodosius, those..... More
Item #2881

Pesaro: Girolamo Concordia, 1579. First edition, very rare, the Jones-Macclesfield copy, signed by William Jones, of the first modern theoretical treatise on the planisphere, an instrument for representing the celestial sphere on a plane surface. Guidobaldo was one of the most prominent figures in the renaissance of the mathematical sciences..... More
Item #5426

Edinburgh: Andrew Hart, 1617. First edition, very rare, of one of the earliest mechanical calculating devices, using little rods of wood or ivory now known as ‘Napier’s bones’. Napier is best known today for his invention of logarithms, published in 1614 as Mirifici logarithmorum canonis decsriptio, the most important aid..... More
Item #5172

Cambridge; London: Typis Academicus; Benjamin Tooke, 1707. First edition of Newton’s treatise on algebra, or ‘universal arithmetic,’ his “most often read and republished mathematical work” (Whiteside). “Included are ‘Newton’s identities’ providing expressions for the sums of the ith powers of the roots of any polynomial equation, for any integer i...... More
Item #4639

Paris: De Bure l’aine, 1740. First edition in French of Newton’s first exposition of his fluxional calculus, translated with a long and important preface by the celebrated naturalist Comte de Buffon. Originally written in 1671, in Latin, this was Newton’s first comprehensive presentation of his method of fluxions which, according..... More
Item #5802

Pesaro: Girolamo Concordia, 1588. First edition of Pappus' Collection, translated with commentary by Federico Commandino, a princely copy from the notable collection of the great Papal family and patrons of learning, the Piccolomini, Dukes of Amalfi, thence by marriage to the German nobleman von Troilo. The Collection is “by far..... More
Item #5234

Cologne [Paris]: Pierre de la Vallée, [1656-]1657; 1659. First edition, and a beautiful copy, of Pascal’s 18 Provincial letters, bound with two extremely rare works relating to Pascal. “The Lettres Provinciales, as they are called, are the first example of French prose as we know it today, perfectly finished in..... More
Item #3426