Varia Opera Mathematica

Toulouse: Jean Peche, 1679

EXTREMELY RARE FIRST EDITION of Fermat's Collected Works, containing the first publication of most of his work.

"Fermat shares with Descartes the innovation of analytical geometry by applying algebra to geometry. He, independently, represented a curve by an equation defining its characteristic properties. He published little but, in the manner of his times, announced his discoveries in letters to other mathematicians. Among his discoveries was a general method of solving questions of maxima and minima, a method he used in 1629 and one in use today. He contributed basic concepts in the theory of numbers and probability. The above [Varia Opera], published after his death, first presented his work and correspondence" (Dibner 108).

Provenance: the Inner Temple Library, with small ink stamp on title and a few other leaves; English mathematician Francis Maseres's (1731-1824) copy with his signature on front flyleaf and annotations in text.

Folio, contemporary calf rebacked. With five engraved folding plates; engraved head and tailpieces, diagrams in text. Scarce portrait not present, as often. Occasional light browning and foxing. A very good copy.

offered by

[Theory of Continental Drift: Five Landmark First Editions]

FIVE FIRST EDITIONS DOCUMENTING THE INTRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF WEGENER'S THEORY OF CONTINENTAL DRIFTIf we are to believe in Wegener’s hypothesis we must forget everything which has been learned in the last 70 years and start all over again –Alexander du Toit, Our Wandering Continents (1937).From the mid-1920s to the mid-1960s most geologists worked within Permanentist or Contractionist frameworks. Few adhered to Drift. From the mid-1950s, two developments took place. First, some groups of geologists concentrated on new phenomena and geophysical data which had come to light since Wegener. Second, new versions of Drift were put forward... By the early 1970s the ‘modern revolution’ in geology was complete: the plate tectonics version of Drift, in which the surface of the earth was composed of slowly-moving slabs of crust, was firmly entrenched as the new orthodoxy. –Homer Eugene LeGrand, Drifting Continents and Shifting Theories Wegener, Alfred. "Die Entstehung der Kontinente" (Mitteilung aus Justus Perthes’ geographischer Anstalt 58 pp. 185–195, 253–256, 305–309, 1912)WITH: "History of Ocean Basins" by Harry H. Hess (Petologic studies: a volume in honor of A. F. Buddington. Geologic Society of America pp. 599-620, 1962)WITH: "Evidence from Islands on the Spreading of Ocean Floors" by J. Tuzo Wilson (Nature 197 no. 4867 pp. 536–538, 9 February 1963) WITH: "A new Class of Faults and their Bearing on Continental Drift" by J. Tuzo Wilson (Nature 207 no. 4995 pp. 343–347,24 July 1965)WITH: "Did the Atlantic close and then re-open?" by J. Tuzo Wilson (Nature 211 no. 5050 pp. 676–68, August 13, 1966); and "Seismology and the New Global Tectonics" by Jack Oliver et al. (Journal of Geophysical Research 73 No. 18 pp. 5855-5899, 1968).

$5,000

Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection

FIRST EDITION. Contains a series of Wallaceʼs essays on the topic of natural selection, some original and some reprinted (including the two papers he published prior to Origin of Species). This is Wallaceʼs first writing on the topic of natural selection with respect to man. His thesis was that natural selection alone cannot explain the evolution of man.Octavo, recent half-calf over marbled boards. Library stamps on recto and verso of title. A handsome copy.

$1,000

Allgemeine Morphologie der Gewächse

FIRST EDITION. "Hofmeister was a man of penetrating insight. He not only observed the constant changes in size, form and complexity that attended any embryological development: he also carried out physiological experiments and he constantly inquired: Hod does the observed form come to be? Here he had in mind the need to formulate explanations or interpretations, in general terms, incorporating mathematics and the physical sciences. These studies, which disclosed a new approach to morphology, were presented in ... Allgemeine Morphologie der Gewächse" –Claude Wilson Wardlaw, Essays on Form in Plants. Octavo, quarter cloth over original wrappers mounted on boards. (Bound upside-down and backwards). Generally clean. An attractive copy in original boards.,

$500

Ars Conjectandi

FIRST EDITION of Bernoulli's foundational work on probablility theory.Jakob Bernoulli's "great treatise (conjectandi means literally 'casting, sc. dice) was published posthumously. It was the first systematic attempt to place the theory of probability on a firm basis and is still the foundation of much modern practice in all fields where propability is concerned - insurance, statistics and mathematical heredity tables" (PMM 179)."Jakob Bernoulli’s pioneering work Ars Conjectandi (published posthumously, 1713; “The Art of Conjecturing”) contained many of his finest concepts: his theory of permutations and combinations; the so-called Bernoulli numbers, by which he derived the exponential series; his treatment of mathematical and moral predictability; and the subject of probability—containing what is now called the Bernoulli law of large numbers, basic to all modern sampling theory" (Britannica).Small quarto, contemporary full calf rebacked with original spine laid down; elaborately gilt-decorated spine; marbled endpapers, edges dyed red. Bookplate of Ch. Roulleau de la Roussiere on front free endpaper. Neat small contemporary ownership inscription on title. Light occasional foxing generally to margins, foxing heavier on first few and last few leaves. A very good copy in handsome contemporary binding.

$19,000

Nova Methodus pro maximis et minimis. IN: Acta Eruditorum.

FIRST EDITION of the first announcement of differential calculus. "The controversy with Newton on priority of invention of the calculus does not detract from the superiority of Leibniz' method of notation, one retained in modern use. He applied his new method to the solution of the cubic parabola and the inverse methods of tangents and many problems left unsolved by Descartes. Fifteen years after Newton's first work in fluxions and nine after his own independent discovery, Leibniz published [Nova Methodus], his first announcement of the differential calculus" (Dibner 109). "Leibniz was an almost universal genius whose place in the history of mathematics depends on his being an independent inventor of the infinitesimal calculus and on his contributions to combinatorial analysis which foreshadowed the development of modern mathematical analysis... The Acta Eruditorum was established in imitation of the French Journal des Scavans in Berlin in 1682 and Leibniz was a frequent contributor. Another German mathematician (E.W. Tschirnhausen) having published in it his paper on quadratures, based on researches that Liebniz had communicated to him, Leibniz at last decided in 1684 to present to the world the more abstruse parts of his own work on the calculus. His epoch-making papers give rules of calculation without proof for rates of variation of functions and for drawing tangents to curves... "The infinitesimal calculus originated in the 17th century with the researches of Kepler, Cavalieri, Torrecelli, Fermat and Barrow, but the two independant inventors of the subject, as we understand it today, were Newton and Leibniz... Although both Newton and Leibniz developed similar ideas, Leibniz devised a superior symbolism and his notation is now an essential feature in all presentation of the sibject.... With the calculus a new era began in mathematics, and the development of mathematical physics since the 17th century would not have been possible without the aid of this powerful technique" (PMM 160).IN: Acta Eruditorum, 1684-1685, pp. 467-73. The full volume offered, with volume title, index, and addenda. Thick quarto, contemporary half-calf with elaborately gilt-decorated spine; edges dyed red. Corners on binding bumped and worn. Text generally very clean with only ocassional light browning.

$21,500

An Account of a Female of the White Race of Mankind, Part of Whose Skin Resembles that of a Negro; With some Observations on the Causes of the Differences in Colour and Form Between the White and Negro Races of Men

FIRST EDITION. "The first statement of the theory of natural selection and an almost complete anticipation of Darwin's theory" – Garrison Morton"[What was done for animals artificially] seems to be done with equal efficiency, though more slowly, by nature, in the formation of varieties of mankind, fitted for the country which they inhabit. Of the accidental varieties of man, which would occur among the first scattered inhabitants, some one would be better fitted than the others to bear the dis- eases of the country. This race would multiply while the others would decrease, and as the darkest would be the best fitted for the [African] climate, at length [they would] be- come the most prevalent, if not the only race."Wells presented “An Account of a Female of the White Race...” to the Royal Society in 1813 but the work was not published until 1818, after his death, as a paper in the volume entitled Two Essays. In this paper, Wells describeshow the natural selection process applies to skin color in humans.Octavo.

$1,200

The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man

SECOND AMERICAN EDITION. Lyell uses the evidence of fossil remains to place the age of the human race in the context of other historical artifacts such as glaciers and extinct species of animals. This was much longer than previously supposed. Lyell also comments on the ideas of species and race, and on the evolution theories of Lamarck, Chambers, Darwin, and Wallace.“Though written by a single author, Antiquity of Man was substantively and symbolically the work of all the human antiquity investigators. It drew extensively on Prestwichʼs and Evansʼs work in the Somme Valley, Pengellyʼs excavation of Brixham Cave, Flaconerʼs investigations of caves throughout Europe, and a variety of recent archaeological stud- ies... His knowledge of post-Tertiary geology and his reputation as theorist meant that, in expressing his belief in men among the mammoths, he tacitly spoke for all the geolo-gists working on the human antiquity question.” - A. Bowdoin Van Riper, Men Among the Mammoths: Victorian Science and the Discovery of Human PrehistoryOctavo. Original pebbled cloth. An attractive copy in original cloth. Generally clean throughout; spine ends frayed with loss, corners rubbed, gilt somewhat dulled. Generally a handsome and sound volume.

$500

Television (Seeing by Wire or Wireless)

Dinsdale's Seeing by Wire or Wireless was the first book entirely devoted to subject of television. Dinsdale gives and account of the demonstration of John Baird's successful television system in January 1926, details similar previous experiments, and describes the mechanics of television. Overall, the history of television is well-documented in Dinsdale's work, and Baird's system paved the way for future developments in television, leading to the first high-definition broadcasting system in 1936. First edition. Original wraps, no dust cover; in clamshell box.

$1,700

Essay on the Theory of the Earth

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. “In paleontology, catastrophism reached an apogee in Georges Cuvierʼs... ʻEssay on the theory of the earth.” Cuvier did not present his Essay as a textbook of catastrophism, but as a statement about the roles that paleontology and geology should play in unravelling the history of the earth. Nonetheless, Cuvierʼs Essay exposes all characteristic features of catastrophism as a science, and illustrates the incompatibility of this geologi- cal approach with Darwinʼs prerequisites for natural selection as a chief agent of macro-evolutionary pattern.” - Stephen Jay Gould, The Structure of Evolutionary TheoryOctavo. Complete with half-title and 8 engraved plates. Modern 1/4 calf over early marbled boards. Scattered foxing; glean throughout. A handsome copy.

$700

Studies in the Theory of Descent

FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of Weismann's Studien zur Descendez-Theorie (1875-1876).Weismann described the seasonal dimorphism of butterflies and then first proposed his theory of the mechanism of heredity. This theory is now called “blastogenesis”. This theory holds that inheritance takes place exclusively through the germ plasm and that none of the other cells of the body pass genetic information to germ cells. This means that the characteristics acquired during life are not transmitted onto the next generation. This is in direct conflict with Lamarckian evolutionary theory and Darinʼs earlier theory of “pangenesis”. Charles Darwin was very supportive of Weismannʼs work and wrote the introduction to this book.Octavo. Two volumes, early half-calf over brown boards.

$600

On the Mechanical Performance of Logical Inference

FIRST EDITION of Jevons's explanation of his "logical piano"; a landmark in computer science.To the reader of the preceding paper it will be evident that mechanism is capable of replacing for the most part the action of thought required in the performance of logical deduction. Mental agency is required only in interpreting correctly the grammatical structure of the premises, and in gathering the purport of the reply... The machine is thus the embodiment of a true symbolic method or Calculus... Jevons invented a "logical piano" (so named because it resembled a small upright piano) that could perform, through a sequence of switches, various types of logical calculations. In doing so, he became "the first person to construct a machine with sufficient power to solve a complicated problem faster than the problem could be solved without the machine's aid" (Goldstine). "On the Mechanical Performance of Logical Inference," a paper Jevons read before the Royal Society on January 20, 1870, is his most detailed description of this early prototype of the modern computer. The logical piano now stands in the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford.In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London for the year 1870, pp. 497-518, Vol. 160, Part II (the complete volume). London: Taylor and Francis, 1870. Quarto, modern half-calf over marbled boards, with the original wrappers bound-in. A fine copy.

$1,500

The Scientific Basis for Evolution

FIRST EDITION.Octavo, original maroon cloth.The Scientific Basis of Evolution documents a series of lectures that Morgan gave at Cornell University in 1931 on the topic of the biology of evolution. A year later, Morgan was awarded the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

$125

FERMAT, PIERRE DE