LAGRANGE, Joseph-Louis, comte de. Méchanique analitique. 1788.
LAGRANGE, Joseph-Louis, comte de.
Méchanique analitique.
Paris, Veuve Desaint, 1788.
Two 4to (253x198 mm), xii-512 pages. Interfolied with blank leaves at each page. binding : End of nineteenth century quarter sheep. Spines rubbed and fadded. Small tear in margin of page 419.
First edition of Lagrange's masterpiece, the foundation of modern mechanics, second in importance to Newton's Principia.
A precious copy that belonged to Gaspard de Prony (1755-1839), with his bookplate on the title page and on the first leaf of volume 2.
Following the death of Lagrange, who had already printed the first sheets, Gaspard de Prony was entrusted with overseeing the printing of the second volume of the second edition of the'Méchanique analitique'.
His copy of Lagrange's work was bound in two volumes, with a blank leaf added to each page.
Only the leaf following page 14 was used for taking notes. There are also a few rare notes in pencil directly onto the text.
Some notes were trimmed during the binding process (second half of the nineteenth century). (Writer unidentified).
references: Norman [1257 : "Lagrange's 'Méchanique analytique' extended and formalized Newton's work on mechanics"], D.S.B. ["With the appearance of the 'Mechanique Analytique' in 1788, Lagrange proposed to reduce the theory of mechanics and the art of solving problems in that field to general formulas, the mere development of which would yield all the equations necessary for the solution of every problem. The [work] united and presented from a single point of view the various principles of mechanics, demonstrated their connection and mutual dependence, and made it possible to judge their validity and scope"], En Francais dans le texte [p.179 : "il unifiera la mécanique ... dans son chef d'oeuvre, 'La Mécanique Analityque' ... [c'est le] sommet et [le] couronnement unificateur de tous les efforts des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles pour construire une mécanique rationnelle embrassant toutes les branches de cette science, statique et hydrostatique, dynamique et hydrodynamique, grâce au formalisme du calcul des variations "], Horblit [61 : "Discovery of the general equations of motions of any system of bodies"], Dibner [112], Evans [10, "perhaps the most beautiful mathematical treatise in existence. It contains the discovery of the general equations of motion, the first epochal contribution to theoretical dynamics after Newton’s Principia"].
Price : 6000 €
