BERNOULLI, Johann Opera Omnia, tam antea sparsim edita, quam hactenus inedita... Lausanne and Geneva, M.M. Bousquet, 1742
vols, 4to (245 x 190 mm), pp [iv] xxiv 563; [ii] 620; [ii] 563; [ii] [4, including initial blank] 5-588; with engraved portrait of the author, another engraved portrait of Frederick III of Prussia, engraved vignettes on titles, 91 folding engraved plates, and engraved and woodcut headpieces; a few gatherings lightly browned as usual, a very attractive copy in contemporary mottled calf, spines with gilt floral tools and red and green morocco labels, a little rubbed. £3250
First edition, the collected writings, published and previously unpublished, of Johann Bernoulli (1667-1748), who along with his brother Jacob was a major figure in the development of mathematics, particularly calculus and probability theory, in the eighteenth century. ‘Both brothers were engrossed in infinitesimal mathematics and were the first to achieve a full understanding of Leibniz’ abbreviated presentation differential calculus. The extraordinary solution of the problem of catenaria posed by Jakob Bernoulli was Johann’s first independently published work, and placed him in the front rank with Huygens, Leibniz, and Newton... After Newton’s death in 1727, Bernoulli was unchallenged as the leading mathematical preceptor to all Europe’ (DSB).
His contributions to mathematics are so numerous and fundamental that there is no point in enumerating them here. DSB (II, pp. 51-55) gives a thorough survey.
£3250
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