BERNOULLI, Jacob I.

Ars Conjectandi, Opus Posthumum. Accedit Tractatus De Seriebus Infinitis, et Epistola Gallicè scripta de Ludo Pilae Reticularis.

1709. Woodcut device on title, two folding printed tables, & one folding woodcut plate. Diagrams in the text. 2 p.l., 306, 35, [1] pp. 4to, cont. speckled sheep (upper joint with short crack, bookplate on blank portion of title patched, minor foxing), spine gilt, red leather lettering piece on spine. Basel: impensis Thurnisiorum, Fratrum, 1713.

[bound with]:

BERNOULLI, Nicolaus I. Dissertatio Inauguralis Mathematico-Juridica. De Usu Artis Conjectandi in Jure. 56 pp. 4to. Basel: J.C. Mechel, 1709.

A most attractive sammelband.

I. First edition of “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 probability is concerned — insurance, statistics and mathematical heredity tables.”–Printing & the Mind of Man 179.

II. First edition. Nicolaus I (1687-1759), nephew of Jacob I and Johann I and editor of the Ars Conjectandi, obtained the degree of doctor of jurisprudence with this dissertation on the application of the calculus of probability to questions of law. I believe this to be an important contribution to probability.

Very good copies.

❧ I. Dibner, Heralds of Science, 110. D.S.B., II, pp. 46-51. Evans, Epochal Achievements, 8. Horblit 12. Sparrow, Milestones of Science, 21. II. D.S.B., II, pp. 56-57. Keynes, “Bibliography” in A Treatise on Probability, p. 435.