Four folding engraved plates. xxxviii, [2], 184 pp. 4to, cont. mottled calf, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Paris: David l’aîné, 1749.

First edition of one of Alembert’s most important books. “During the late 1740’s, d’Alembert, Clairaut, and Euler were all working on the famous three-body problem, with varying success. D’Alembert’s interest in celestial mechanics thus led him, in 1749, to publish a masterly work, the Recherches sur la Précession des Equinoxes…The precession of the equinoxes, a problem previously attacked by Clairaut, was very difficult. D’Alembert’s method was similar to Clairaut’s but he employed more terms in his... More

Numerous woodcut illus. & diagrams in the text. 4 p.l. (the last a blank), 334 (i.e., 332) pp. Folio, cont. limp vellum (title a bit soiled, last two leaves with some light dampstaining), ties gone. Pesaro: H. Concordia, 1588.

First edition and a very fine and fresh copy of this uncommon book; this edition, providing the complete extant text, was the final work to be edited by Commandino and completes his life's work of reviving Renaissance mathematics by making available the best mathematical writings of antiquity.

"In the silver age of Greek mathematics Pappus stands out as an accomplished and versatile... More