Search results for: 'the works'
-
BERTHELOT, Claude-François. Le Mécanique appliquée aux arts, aux manufactures, à l'agriculture et à la guerre;Paris : 1782
First edition. Described on the title as "Ingénieur-Mécanicien du Roi", Berthelot (1718-1800) rose from humble origins to the professorship of mathematics in the Military School in Paris, where in 1763 he invented a famous gun carriage for use in coastal artillery, though the invention was generally credited to Gribeauval who was largely responsible... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 108958
-
NAGEL, Ernest. Principles of the Theory of Probability.Chicago : 1939
First edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed by the author to the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead on the front free endpaper: "To Professor A. N. Whitehead with the esteem of Ernest Nagel". The English philosopher Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) was a seminal figure in process philosophy, and together with Bertrand Russell, wrote... Learn More£2,750.00Stock Code: 132994
-
MORLAND, Sir Samuel. The description and use of two arithmetick instruments.London : 1673
First edition of the first book in English on a mechanical calculating machine, and the first separate work on the subject since Napier's Rabdologiae (1617). Nothing more of any significance was published in English on calculating machines until Babbage in the 19th century.
Morland (1625-1695) was at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he tutored... Learn More£20,000.00Stock Code: 63951
-
(RUSSELL, Bertrand.) RICHARDSON, Lewis F. Mathematical Psychology of War.Oxford : 1919
First edition of Richardson's first and pioneering paper on the subject, containing Russell's 20-line contribution, "Problem: To Produce in Two Nations a Mutual Will to War" (pp. 15-16). It was published at the author's own expense, costing him 35 for 300 copies total. In this fifty-page essay the mathematician and pacifist Lewis Fry Richardson (1881-1953)... Learn More£2,750.00Stock Code: 135563
-
HARRISON, John. The Principles of Mr. Harrison's Time-Keeper, with plates of the same.London : 1767
First edition of the primary account of the invention of the marine chronometer, which revolutionized the science of navigation. "There was no comparable advance in navigational aids until the development of radar in the twentieth century" (Norman).
In 1714, the Board of Longitude offered a substantial reward of 20,000 to anyone who could find... Learn More£100,000.00Stock Code: 138402
-
RUSSELL, Bertrand. On Some Difficulties in the Theory of Transfinite Numbers and Order Types.London : 1905
Original offprint, presentation copy, inscribed by the author in the upper margin of the first leaf, "James Ward from B.R." and with Ward's pencil annotations throughout. James Ward, philosopher and psychologist, was made a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1875, and in 1897 was appointed to the newly founded professorship of mental philosophy... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 99896
-
HUMBOLDT, Alexander von. Des lignes isothermes et de la distribution de la chaleur sur le globe.Paris : 1817
First separate issue, the work also being issued in periodical form in Mémoires de physique et de chimie de la societe Arcueil 3 (1817). The work is notable for containing the first map to show the use of isotherms, a term Humboldt coined for lines of equal average temperatures. The chart extends only across the northern hemisphere, from America to... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 90281
-
HUTTON, Charles, & Alexanger Ingram. A Complete Treatise on Practical Arithmetic and Book-Keeping, both by single and double entry, adapted to the use of schools.Edinburgh : 1811
"New edition" of a work that was extremely popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, first published as The School-Master's Guide: or, a Complete System of Practical Arithmetic. The first two printings do not appear to have survived, the earliest edition in ESTC and ICAEW being the third of 1771. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 105514
-
BUTLER, William. An Introduction to Arithmetic. Designed for the Use of Young Ladies. By William Butler, Private Teacher of Writing, Accounts, and Geography.London : [1806]
A reworking of the author's 1784 and 1788 publications, with a companion work of exercises. The first part has only 4 prefatory pages of letterpress dated November, 1806, in which Butler claims to have printed over 4000 copies of his text:
"In the course of nearly forty years attendance on ladies' schools, I have frequently observed, that their... Learn More£475.00Stock Code: 137843
-
QUETELET, Adolphe. Letters addressed to H. R. H. the Grand Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, on the Theory of Probabilities,London : 1849
First edition in English, originally published in French at Brussels in 1846, presentation copy from the translator, inscribed on the front free endpaper: "R. Biddulph Esq./ with the Translator's/ Respectful Compliments". A pioneering work on probability and social statistics by the Belgian astronomer and mathematician Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1874),... Learn More£1,100.00Stock Code: 96972
-
JEVONS, W. S. Pure Logic or the Logic of Quality apart from Quantity: with remarks on Boole's System and on the Relation of Logic and Mathematics.London : 1864
First edition of Jevons's first work on logic, one of two pamphlets (the other was The Substitution of Similars, 1869) in which he developed the calculus presented by Boole in An investigation of the laws of thought (1854). Jevons had already consulted Boole before sending him a copy; in a letter of 1863 he recorded,"I have written on the subject to... Learn More£2,750.00Stock Code: 114514
-
MACKAY, Andrew. The Theory and Practice of Finding the Longitude at Sea or Land:London : 1793
First edition of this important and scarce work. The Scottish teacher of navigation, Andrew Mackay (1758-1809), "corrected the latitude of Aberdeen, estimated the longitude by comparing timings of Jovian satellite phenomena with Greenwich, and rated chronometers. Meantime he earned his living teaching mathematics, geography, navigation with lunars,... Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 119448
-
![A beruházások matematikai programozása. [Mathematical Programming of Investments.]](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/4/140387.jpg)
KORNAI, János. A beruházások matematikai programozása. [Mathematical Programming of Investments.]Budapast : 1962
First edition, first impression, of one of the earliest economic publications to use the method of linear programming. WorldCat locates nine copies in total: three apiece in Hungary and the US, two in Germany, and one in Switzerland.
The Hungarian economist János Kornai (b. 1928) was the first economist behind the Iron Curtain to publish critical... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 140387
-
KRIPKE, Saul A. A Completeness Theorem in Modal Logic.New Brunswick, NJ : 1959
First edition, first impression of the author's first major work, published when he was only eighteen years old. Saul Kripke (1940- ) is one of the most original and influential logicians and philosophers of the present day. In 1977 the New York Times magazine described him as "one of the most penetrating minds of our time. His achievements span the... Learn More£1,700.00Stock Code: 86372
-
STEUART, Hew. A Plan of Mathematical Learning taught in the Royal Academy, Portsmouth.Portsmouth : 1796
A nicely finished example of the illustrated manuscript course book required of graduates of the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth. These meticulously produced, massive volumes offer excellent insights into the skill-set required of a prospective officer in the Nelsonian Era Royal Navy; this copy compiled by an officer who saw significant service during... Learn More£15,000.00Stock Code: 134319
-
MOIVRE, Abraham de; Roberto Gaeto, translator & prefator. La Dottrina degli azzardi applicata ai problemi della probabilitá della vita, delle pensioni vitalizie, reversioni, tontine, ec.Milan : 1776
First edition in Italian of part of de Moivre's early and important contribution to the calculus of games of chance and probability theory, one of the first instructional texts on the subject, which together with the works of Montmort and Bernoulli was one of the most important books written on the subject in the early eighteenth century. His introduction... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 133671
-
(FIBONACCI). BONCOMPAGNI, Baldassare. Della vita e delle opere di Leonardo Pisano matematico del secolo decimoterzo. Notizie raccolte.Rome : 1852
Original offprint, giving an account of the life and works of Leonardo Pisano, better known as Fibonacci (1170-1240), whose Liber abaci (1202) was the first European work to introduce Indian and Arabian mathematics. His name is known to modern mathematicians mainly because of the Fibonacci sequence, derived from a problem in the Liber abaci.
"Much... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 121647
-
AGNESI, Maria Gaetana - FRISI, Antonio Francesco. Elogio storico di Da. Maria Gaetana AgnesiMilan : 1799
First edition of "the most valuable source of information" (Mazzotti, p. 658) on the life of the Italian mathematician Maria Gaetana Agnesi, the first woman to publish a mathematical work. Written by her friend Antonio Frisi and published the year of her death, it is the earliest biographical work about her. Though relatively well represented institutionally... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 138353
-
ARAGO, François. Annuaire pour l'an 1842,Paris : 1842
Second edition, the only procurable one, presentation copy inscribed by Arago on the title page to "James Watt, de la part de son ami F. Arago". The recipient is James Watt (17691848), son of the renowned Scottish inventor of the same name for whom Arago wrote his Historical Eloge, which was read at the Academy of Sciences in 1834.
The... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 141018
-
HAWKING, Stephen. A Brief History of Time.New York : 1988
First US edition, second issue, of this masterpiece of scientific popularization; an impeccably provenanced copy, with Hawking's thumbprint signature on the title page and a typed letter signed on Hawking's Cambridge stationery from his assistant Andrew Dunn, gifting the book for Christmas 1989 and discussing textual differences between the printings... Learn More£17,500.00Stock Code: 137757
-
DIDEROT, Denis. Œuvres philosophiques et dramatiques.Amsterdam : 1772
First edition of Diderot's collected philosophical and theatrical works. It is rare to find a complete set as each volume has both a collective title page and its own, and could have been sold separately.
There were two editions of published in Amsterdam that year, the other being the octavo-format edition of Marc Michel Rey, though the present... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 141232
-
HAUTEFEUILLE, Jean de. Recueil des ouvrages de M. de Haute-Feuille. Contenant plusieurs Decouvertes & Inventions nouvelles dans la Physique & dans les Mechaniques.Paris : 1694
First collected edition of Hautefeuille's works, with some additional pamphlets bound in. The note at the front of the book reads as follows: "Mr Jean de Hautefeuille auteur de ce Recueil, ecclesiastique du Diocese d'Orleans, de l'Academie des Sciences, Belles Lettres, et arts de Bordeaux, Pensionnaire du Roy Louis XIV et Louis XV est mort le mercredi... Learn More£7,500.00Stock Code: 133476
-
MOORE, Sir Jonas. Modern Fortification: or, Elements of Military Architecture.London : 1673
First edition, uncommon, just five locations on Library Hub, WorldCat adds ten. As a boy Jonas Moore (1627-79) "became a clerk in Durham city" (Taylor), but resolved to follow a career in mathematics, in which ambition he was encouraged by the prominent local Shuttleworth family of Gawthorpe Hall. Brought to the attention of Charles I "when the king... Learn More£3,250.00Stock Code: 126903
-
GRAUNT, John. Natural and Political ObservationsLondon : 1665
Third edition, enlarged, first published in 1662. "The scientific study of the numbers, characteristics and territorial distribution of populations - today called demography - began with Graunt" (PMM). Graunt drew up his statistical tables from the birth and death records of parish clerks. From this he constructed the first tables of life expectancy,... Learn More£4,000.00Stock Code: 126999
-
TURING, Sara. Alan M. Turing.Cambridge : 1959
First edition, first impression, of this biography and memorial volume written by the mother of the great computer science pioneer. Uncommon, especially so in the jacket, and apparently issued in an edition of as little as 500 copies, it is an interesting work which strives to establish Turing's credentials without reference to his then still-classified... Learn More£1,950.00Stock Code: 132257
-
MARQUAND, Allan. A New Logical Machine.Boston : 1886
Original offprint of Allan Marquand's presentation of his new logical machine to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in November, 1885. A student of Charles Sanders Peirce, Marquand (1853-1924) graduated from Princeton in 1874 and obtained his Ph.D. in philosophy in 1880 from Johns Hopkins University, returning to Princeton in 1881 to teach Latin... Learn More£5,500.00Stock Code: 100212
-
TARSKI, Alfred. Cardinal Algebras.New York : 1949
First edition, first printing and a lovely copy of this "axiomatic study of cardinal numbers (including zero) under finite and countable addition an important axiomatic contribution to the foundations of set theory" in which "many noteworthy theorems about generalized cardinal algebras are proved" (Birkhoff, review, Bulletin of the American Mathematical... Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 88446
-
AUBERT, J. P. Kort, dog duidelyk onderwys van't Italiaansch boekhouden …Amsterdam : 1782
Revised and enlarged fourth edition, first published in 1760, of this guide to Italian book-keeping, teaching the basic principles, with a section relating to book-keeping for ship owners. The work contains an innovation by Aubert, a "Convoy book", which lists goods under the name of the Captain and the ship. The work also contains real-life accounts... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 104912
-
KIRKBY, John. Arithmetical Institutions.London : 1735
First and only edition of the first work of the unlucky Kirkby (c.1705-1754), who was appointed tutor to the young Edward Gibbon, only to be dismissed after accidentally omitting the name of George II in prayer. In 1748 he published The Doctrine of Ultimators, of which he presented two copies to the Royal Society in January 1752. He also published a... Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 131977
-
CLAVIUS, Christopher. Aritmetica Prattica.Venice : 1678
Later edition of the Italian translation, first published in Latin in 1583, with the Italian translation following in 1586. Christopher Clavius (1538-1612) was a German Jesuit astronomer and mathematician. "Clavius was an excellent teacher of mathematics, and his textbooks were models of good arrangement. This work is an attempt at a practical arithmetic.... Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 129127
-
LAPLACE, Pierre Simon. Essai philosophique sur les probabilités. Seconde édition, revue et augmentée par l'auteur.Paris : 1814
Second edition, first published the same year, of Laplace's Essai, a more mature and accessible summary of his work on probability theory. "Inevitably, Laplace's technical writings have come to have the same sort of relation to the later development of the discipline of probability that, for example, Newton's Principia mathematica had for the later... Learn More£850.00Stock Code: 133666
-
DASSIÉ, F. Le Pilote Expert.Havre de Grace : 1683
First edition. Uncommon, WorldCat locates copies at BnF, BL, Newberry, Wurttembergische Landesbibliothek, Paris Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, and the University of Rostock only. No copies recorded at auction. A comprehensive manual of marine navigation including a glossary of navigational terms, methods of establishing longitude, the... Learn More£9,750.00Stock Code: 90835
-
RUSSELL, Bertrand. Essai sur les fondements de la géométrie.Paris : 1901
First edition in French of Russell's Essay on the Foundations of Geometry, his second book and "first full-length philosophical work" (Richards, Essay on the Foundations of Geometry and the Cambridge mathematical tradition). The book was championed in France by the eminent mathematician Henri Poincaré, which led to Russell being invited to deliver... Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 75333
-
TANGRAM. Al gioco cinese chiamato il rompicapo. Appendice di figureFlorence : 1818
First edition of this uncommon and early work on Chinese tangrams, the Florentine issue. There was also an issue published in Milan the same year by Pietro and Giuseppe Vallardi (no priority established, though the Milanese issue appears to have had hand-coloured plates rather than sepia).
Both issues are scarce in commerce and institutions,... Learn More£3,000.00Stock Code: 134823
-
HUSSERL, Edmund. Philosophie der Arithmetik.Halle-Saale : 1891
First edition of Husserl's first book, the initial volume of his Philosophie der Arithmetik. Husserl (18591938) began his career as a mathematician, and it was in search of complete clarity respecting fundamental mathematical concepts that, with the encouragement of Franz Brentano, to whom this work is dedicated, he turned to the philosophy of mathematics.... Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 131952
-
(FIBONACCI.) GUGLIELMINI, Giovanni Battista. Elogio di Lionardo Pisano:[Bologna : 1813]
First edition of Guglielmini's lecture on Leonardo Pisano, better known today by his nickname Fibonacci, albeit a nickname which would not be invented by Guillaume Libri for another two decades. Fibonacci was the most influential of the Western mathematicians of the Middle Ages, popularising the system of Arabic numerals, and introducing to Europe what... Learn More£1,000.00Stock Code: 130611
-
(EULER.) COURNOT, Antoine Augustin. Lettres de L. Euler à une princesse d'Allemagne.Paris : 1842
First edition of Cournot's annotated version of Euler's Lettres à une princesse d'Allemagne, originally published in Saint Petersburg between 1768 and 1772. Euler, the great Swiss mathematician, studied under Johann Bernoulli, and was a member of the academies of Saint Petersburg and Berlin. Written in an absorbing and popular manner, his Lettres... Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 128948
-
GALILEI, Galileo. Le operazioni del compasso geometrico, et militare.Padua : 1649
Third edition of Galileo's first published work, originally privately printed in 1606 in an edition of 60 copies only. The second edition, the first with the plate, was published by Frambotto in 1640. Galileo's compass, invented in Padua in 1597, was a calculating instrument making use of the proportionality between the corresponding sides of two similar... Learn More£4,500.00Stock Code: 137602
-
BACHELIER, Louis. Le Jeu, la Chance et le Hasard.Paris : 1914
First edition. Louis Bachelier (1870-1946) was an eminent French mathematician and a pioneer in the study of financial mathematics. During his studies at the Sorbonne he wrote his famous thesis, Théorie de la speculation (1900), in which he defined Brownian motion, predating Einstein by five years, and discussed its application to the evaluation of... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 143405
-
EUCLID. Elementa Geometriae.Venice : 1482
First edition of "the oldest mathematical textbook still in common use today" (PMM) and one of the earliest printed books with geometrical figures. The text is the standard late mediaeval recension of Johannes Campanus of Novara, based on the 12th-century translation from the Arabic of Adelard of Bath. The text is preceded by a dedicatory letter by... Learn More£150,000.00Stock Code: 136914
-
PARETO, Raffaele. Del mal uso che si fa delle medie nelle scienze fisiche e sociali:Modena : 1869
First edition. Inscribed by the author on the title page: "All'egregio sig. Prof. Gilberto Gavi?". Father of the famous economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto, Raffaele Pareto (1812-1882) was a prominent civil engineer whose career began in France where he had sought exile following his involvement with Giuseppe Mazzini's movement for Italian unification... Learn More£425.00Stock Code: 114087
-
VON NEUMANN, John - BARGMANN, Valentine, Deane Montgomery, & John von Neumann. Solution of Linear Systems of High Order.[Washington, D.C.] : 1946
First edition of this report on computer-oriented numerical analysis, a key document in charting the early development of von Neumann's understanding of the work of Carl Friedrich Gauss. The statistician Harold Hotelling had discredited Gauss's approach to numerical analysis and "advocated using an iterative method to eliminate numerical instability... Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 118844
-
PRICE, Richard. Observations on Reversionary Payments; on Schemes for providing Annuities for Widows, and for Persons in Old Age;London : 1792
Fifth edition. Price was "working on this edition at the time of his death, and had seen the revised version of the first volume through the press, but it was left to his nephew, William Morgan, to complete the second and write the General Introduction. In his introduction to the fifth edition Morgan noted that it contains a new table for the life of... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 135492
