Dissertatio de gravitate aetheris
A very fine copy in its contemporary vellum, bringing together two important treatises by Bernoulli.
Comprises 2 works bound in 1 duodecimo volume of (8) leaves, 269 pp., (3) pp. and 4 folding plates; (4) leaves, 95 pp. and 9 plates, 2 of which are folding. Ivory vellum, calligraphed title on spine, marbled edges, vellum missing on spine.
155 x 97 mm.
Bernoulli, Jacob. Dissertatio de gravitate aetheris. Amsterdam, H. Wetstenium, 1683.
Followed by: Conamen novi systematis cometarum, pro motu eorum sub calculum revocando & apparitionibus praedicendis adornatum. Amsterdam, H. Wetstenium, 1682.
Contemporary binding.
Two important works by Bernoulli in first edition.
Two important first editions by Bernoulli.
I/ Dissertatio de gravitate aetheris.
Rare first edition of Bernoulli's theory of gravity influenced by René Descartes.
It contains 4 folding plates.
Mayerhöfer I, 430; Deutsches Museum, Libri rari, 36; DSB II, 49; Poggendorff I, 156.
“One of the earliest works of the great Basle mathematician and physicist.
It contains an explanation and enlargement of Descartes' theory of vortices and attempts to explain the cause of gravitation and capillarity” (Babson).
“Jacob Bernoulli was among the first to develop the calculus beyond the point at which it was left by Newton and Leibniz. Jacob was both a Cartesian and a Newtonian and did much to further the spread of Newton’s ideas in Europe. Some researches by Jacob, once regarded as curiosities are now found to have practical application to the construction of suspension bridges and in the transmission of high voltages” (PMM, 179).
Jacob Bernoulli studied mathematics and astronomy. He traveled throughout Europe from 1676 to 1682, learning about the latest discoveries in mathematics and the sciences. He became familiar with calculus through a correspondence with Gottfried Leibniz.
II/ Conamen novi systematis cometarum.
Rare first edition of this important treatise containing 9 plates.
“On his final return to Basel in 1682, he devoted himself to physical and mathematical investigations and published his essay on comets, Conamen Novi Systematis Cometarum, which was occasioned by the appearance of the comet of 1680. This essay, and his next publication, entitled De Gravitate Aetheris, were deeply tinged with the philosophy of Rene Descartes, but they contain truths not unworthy of the philosophy of Sir Isaac Newton's Principia. Jacques Bernoulli cannot be strictly called an independent discoverer; but, from his extensive and successful application of the calculus and other mathematical methods, he is deserving of a place by the side of Newton and Leibnitz” (Aaron Bernstein).
A nice, wide-margined copy containing 2 important works by Bernoulli in first edition kept in their contemporary vellum.
