Mathematical Memoirs Respecting a Variety of Subjects; with an Appendix containing Tables of theorems for the Calculation of Fluents. Vol. I & II
Printed for the Author. vi, 155p, vi, [2], 112p. Contemporary boards 19th century cloth spine and marbled boards. Complete with 11 foldout plates. Bound with vol II printed in 1789. Large quarto with untrimmed edges. Front board expertly rebacked preserving the original cloth spine. John Landen (1719-1790) was a celebrated mathematician who began his career as a surveyor and acted as a land agent to Earl Fitzwilliams 1762 1788. He became first known as a mathematician by his essays in the Ladies Diary for 1741 and in 1766, he was elected fellow of the Royal Society. John Landen was well acquainted with the works of the mathematicians of his own time and has been called the "English d'Alembert". His memoir (1775) on the rotatory motion of a body contains (as the author was aware) conclusions at variance with those arrived at by Jean le Rond, d'Alemert and Leonhard Euler in their research on the same subject. Landen reproduces and further develops and defends his own views in his Mathematical Memoirs. But Landen's capital discovery is that of the theorem known by his name and reproduced in the first volume of the Mathematical Memoirs for the expression of the arc of an hyperbola in terms of two elliptical arcs. His research on elliptical functions is of considerable elegance, but their great merit lies in the stimulating effect which they had on later mathematicians. (See The Encyclopedia Britannica, the 11th edition. Volume 16. p153). He also solved the problem of the spinning of a top and explained Newton's error in calculating the effects of precession. Sotheran Bibliotheca Chemico-Mathematica vol I #2425 & 2426.(Rare). Lowndes p1305. vol III, "The works of this eminent mathematician are held in considerable estimation". 19th century signature on the title page of John Tyrrell Baylee in neat brown ink as well as another but unclear signature also in old brown ink. A few occasional spots but otherwise remarkably clean. No damage to the fold out plates. Kept in a modern cloth covered protective clamshell box. A well-preserved copy complete in two volumes of a very important mathematical. Very rare. Item #2358
Price: $4,500.00