60
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EULER, LEONHARD.
Methodus inveniendi lineas curvas maximi min-
imive proprietate gaudentes.
5 folding engraved plates. [4], 322, [1] pages, including
initial blank and final leaf of binder’s instructions. 4to, 238x193 mm, early 19th-century
1
/
4
sheep gilt, spine faded and rubbed; occasional toning of text, plates clean. 19th-century
Jesuit stamps (École Sainte-Geneviève, Paris, and Maison Saint-Louis, Jersey) on initial
blank and title.
Geneva: Marc-Michel Bousquet, 1744
[4,000/6,000]
FIRST EDITION
of the work in which Euler first formulated the principal problems of the calcu-
lus of variations and created general methods for their solution. Bibliotheca Mechanica 104;
Eneström 65; Grolier/Horblit 28; Norman 731.
59
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EULER, LEONHARD.
Mechanica; sive, Motus scientia analytice exposita.
31 (of 32) folding engraved plates; lacking plate 13 in Volume 2. [16], 480; [8], 500 pages. 2
volumes. 4to, 258x193 mm, contemporary calf gilt with unidentified arms on covers,
Volume 1 spine chipped at top; moderate foxing. 19th-century Jesuit stamps (École Sainte-
Geneviève, Paris, and Maison Saint-Louis, Jersey) on titles.
St. Petersburg: Typographia Academia Scientiarum, 1736
[1,500/2,500]
FIRST EDITION
.
“Euler developed the theory of the motions of two bodies in his Mechanica,
published in 1736, which he considered not only as an introduction to celestial mechanics, but
as the foundation of all mechanics as well. The novelty of this book is the use of analysis rather
than geometry to describe mathematically the free and constrained motions of point-like masses
in empty space as well as in resisting media”—BEA, pages, 346-48. Bibliotheca Mechanica,
pages 103-04. DSB IV, 480; Eneström 15.
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