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NEWTON Isaac?Livre Rare Book

?Optique de Newton

John Milton; Thomas NewtonBiblio.com

Paradise Lost and Paradise Regain'd

1753867P22London: C. Hitch and L. Hawes; J. Hodges; J. and R. Tonson; et al 1753-57. Leather. Good. 8.5" by 5.5". Not Stated. An early set of John Milton's important epic poems an illustrated set edited by biblical scholar Thomas Newton. ESTC citation numbers T132846 and T134240.The fourth Newton edition of 'Paradise Lost' and the second Newton edition of 'Paradise Regain'd'.With a comma after 'edition' to the title page of Volume II of 'Paradise Regain'd'.Volume I illustrated with a portrait frontispiece and six plates. Volume II illustrated with six plates. One leaf of adverts to the rear.Volume III illustrated with a frontispiece and two plates.Volume IV illustrated with three plates.Title pages of 'Paradise Lost' are cancels. Collated complete. Both of John Milton's epic poems bound in four uniform volumes 'Paradise Lost' and 'Paradise Regain'd'.'Paradise Lost' is an epic blank verse poem concerning the biblical Fall of Man with the temptation of Adam and Even and their subsequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The poem is considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever written.The sequel 'Paradise Regain'd' is likewise a blank verse poem though is much shorter than its predecessor being described as a brief epic.'Paradise Lost' includes a life of Milton. Written by John Milton a seventeenth century English poet who is best known for 'Paradise Lost'. He wrote during a period of political upheaval and religious flux in England with the English Civil War.Edited by Thomas Newton a clerical Bishop of Bishop and biblical scholar. In the original calf binding. Externally generally smart. Chip to the spine label to Volume IV. Bumping to the head and tail of the spines and to the extremities resulting in loss to the head of the spines heavier to Volume II. Spines are discoloured and a little rubbed with minor surface cracks. Minor marks to the boards and spines with a larger mark to the front board of Volume III. Crack to the head of the front joint of Volumes I and IV. Crack to the tail of the joints of Volume II. Internally firmly bound. Pages are lightly age-toned and generally clean with some scattered spotting. Title of Volume I has offset to the frontispiece. Ribbon marker of Volumes III and IV are detached but present. Good C. Hitch and L. Hawes; J. Hodges; J. and R. Tonson; et al hardcover

Rooke Books · Royaume-Uni1 600,00 £GB≈ 1 826,88 €

NEWTON Isaac 1643 1727 'sGRAVESANDE Willem Jacob 1688 1742.ABAA

Mathematical Elements of Natural Philosophy Confirm'd by Experiments: Or an Introduction to Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy. Written in Latin by the late W. James s'Gravesande. Translated into English by J. T. Desaguliers. The Sixth Edition greatly improved by the author.

1747RW1580London:: Printed by W. Innys T. Longman and T. Shewell C. Hitch and M. Senex 1747. 1747. 2 volumes. 4to. 4 lxxv 1 475 1; ii 389 33 pp. Original full calf raised bands calf gilt-stamped red & brown spine labels; joints cracked. Small rubberstamp on title. Very good. NICE CLEAN COPY. Sixth edition "greatly improved by the author" of 'sGravedande's extensive experimentation and instruction in Newtonian physics. The experiments range from basic physics to hydraulics optics electricity and astronomy. The entire work is profusely illustrated with folding engraved plates detailing among many other experiments and apparatuses a steam-powered Hero's Engine plate 78 a static electricity generator plate 79 the first magic lantern slide projector plate 109 the prismatic effect of a rainbow plate 120 and the known solar system plate 122. 'sGravesande "is the author of Elements de physique demonstres mathematiquement. . . ou introduction a la philosophie Newtonienne which was translated from the Latin and published at Leyden in 1746. In the second volume he gives a description of an electrical machine constructed on the plan of that of Hauksbee. It consisted merely of a crystal globe which was mounted upon a copper stand and against which was pressed the hand of the operator while it was made to revolve rapidly by means of a large wheel." Mottelay. / Willem Jacob 'sGravesande was a Dutch philosopher and mathematician. Born in 's-Hertogenbosch he studied law in Leiden and wrote a thesis on suicide. In 1715 he visited London and King George I. He became a member of the Royal Society. In 1717 he became professor in physics and astronomy in Leiden and introduced the works of his friend Newton in the Netherlands. He was ardently opposed to fatalists like Hobbes and Spinoza. In 1724 Peter the Great offered him a job in Saint Petersburg but 'sGravesande did not accept. His best remembered work is Physices elementa mathematica experimentis confirmata sive introductio ad philosophiam Newtonianam or Mathematical Elements of Natural Philosophy Confirm'd by Experiments Leiden 1720 in which he laid the foundations for teaching Newtonian physics. / 'sGravesande's chief original contribution to physics involved an experiment in which brass balls are dropped with varying velocity onto a soft clay surface. This demonstrated that a ball with twice the velocity of another would leave an indentation four times as deep that three times the velocity yielded nine times the depth and so on. He shared these results with Emilie du ChÃ¢telet who subsequently corrected Newton's formula E = mv to E = mv2. / 'sGravesande was also the owner of the oldest known magic lantern which was built around 1720 by Jan van Musschenbroek and is currently housed at the Museum Booerhave in Leiden. / "From the outset of his teaching both physics and astronomy 'sGravesande modeled his lectures on the example of Newton in the Principia and Opticks although in later years they incorporated other influences especially that of Boerhaave. Moreover he adopted from Keill and Desaguliers the notion of demonstrating to his classes the experimental proof of scientific principles accumulating an ever larger collection of apparatus as may be seen from successive editions of his Physics elementa mathematica experimentis confirmata. Sive introductio ad philosophiam Newtonianam Leiden 1720 1721. The scientific reputation of 'sGravesande is enshrined in this book which he constantly corrected and amplified in later editions. An 'official' English translation prepared by Desaguliers to whom copies of the Latin original were sent in haste was also issued in 1720 and 1721 and it passed through six editions. The booksellers Mears and Woodward printed a rival version under the name of John Keill. French translations appeared only in 1746 and 1747 but a critical review by L. B. Castel was published in the Memoires de Trevoux in May and October 1721. The book was at once welcomed by British and a number of German scholars." â€“ DSB V p. 510. References: Babson 70; Mottelay p. 181. Printed by W. Innys, T. Longman and T. Shewell, C. Hitch, and M. Senex, 1747. hardcover books

Jeff Weber Rare Books · Suisse2 250,00 $US≈ 1 903,73 €

NEWTON Isaac 1643 1727.ABAA

Optice: sive de Reflexionibus Refractionibus Inflexionibus et Coloribus Lucis libri tres. Latine reddidit Samuel Clarke . . . Editio novissima.

1740S13116Lausannae & Geneva: Marci-Michaelis Bousquet & Sociorum 1740. 1740. 4to. iv xxxii 363 1 pp. Half-title engraved frontispiece portrait of Newton engr. Jean-Louis Daudet after Vanderbank 12 engraved folding plates title vignette of 4 cherubs and a female figure each using an optical instrument representing learning optics/perspective drawn by Delamoncein and engraved by Daudet head & tail pieces and woodcut initial letters drawn by Papillon index; first 11 leaves browned. Contemporary full vellum green leather gilt-stamped spine label edges with decorative red freckling as designed by the binder; foot of spine with faint ink marking "11-". Paper unevenly browned. Verso of title with small ink annotation "=1135="; rear pastedown with another notation "Ã¡ 20.Luglio 1801." Very good. Third Latin edition edited by Bousquet with a dedication to Joannes Bernoulli. This edition contains the full array of 31 querries. / "Newton's contributions to the science of optics :: his discovery of the unequal refractions of rays of different color his theory of color and his investigations of 'Newton's rings' to mention only a few of the most noteworthy :: place him among the premier contributors to that science. . . . Today we recognize that his work on optics offers unique rewards in its exciting innovative conjunction of physical theory experimental investigation and mathematics and in the revealing glimpse that it provides of a crucial period in the evolution of experimental science." :: Alan E. Shapiro The Optical Papers of Isaac Newton: Volume 1 1984 p. xi. / Jean-Louis Daudet 1695-1756 who made the frontispiece and title vignette was an engraver and print publisher active in Lyon inherited business from his father Etienne Joseph Daudet. He flourished from 1722 till his death in 1756. Thereafter the business continued by his widow in association with his son-in-law Louis Martin Roch Joubert until 1773. / "Newton famously declared that it is not the business of science to make hypotheses. However it's well to remember that this position was formulated in the midst of a bitter dispute with Robert Hooke who had criticized Newton's writings on optics when they were first communicated to the Royal Society in the early 1670's. The essence of Newton's thesis was that white light is composed of a mixture of light of different elementary colors ranging across the visible spectrum which he had demonstrated by decomposing white light into its separate colors and then reassembling those components to produce white light again. However in his description of the phenomena of color Newton originally included some remarks about his corpuscular conception of light perhaps akin to the cogs and flywheels in terms of which James Maxwell was later to conceive of the phenomena of electromagnetism. Hooke interpreted the whole of Newton's optical work as an attempt to legitimize this corpuscular hypothesis and countered with various objections." / "Newton quickly realized his mistake in attaching his theory of colors to any particular hypothesis on the fundamental nature of light and immediately back-tracked arguing that his intent had been only to describe the observable phenomena without regard to any hypotheses as to the cause of the phenomena. Hooke and others continued to criticize Newton's theory of colors by arguing against the corpuscular hypothesis causing Newton to respond more and more angrily that he was making no hypothesis he was describing the way things are and not claiming to explain why they are. This was a bitter lesson for Newton and in addition to initiating a life-long feud with Hooke went a long way toward shaping Newton's rhetoric about what science should be. . ." / "The first edition of The Opticks 1704 contained only 16 queries but when the Latin edition was published in 1706 Newton was emboldened to add seven more which ultimately became Queries 25 through 31 when in the second English edition he added Queries 17 through 24. Of all these one of the most intriguing is Query 28 which begins with the rhetorical question "Are not all Hypotheses erroneous in which Light is supposed to consist of Pression or Motion propagated through a fluid medium" In this query Newton rejects the Cartesian idea of a material substance filling in and comprising the space between particles. Newton preferred an atomistic view believing that all substances were comprised of hard impenetrable particles moving and interacting via innate forces in an empty space as described further in Query 31." :: Newton's Cosmological Queries :: MathPages. / Grace K. Babson Sir Isaac Newton 1950 141; George J. Gray A Bibliography of the Works of Sir Isaac Newton 182; Wallis 182. See: Printing and the Mind of Man 172. Marci-Michaelis Bousquet & Sociorum, 1740. hardcover books

Jeff Weber Rare Books · Suisse2 750,00 $US≈ 2 326,78 €

NEWTON, Isaac (1643-1727).Biblio.com

Optice: sive de Reflexionibus Refractionibus Inflexionibus et Coloribus Lucis libri tres. Latine reddidit Samuel Clarke . . . Editio novissima.

1740S13116Lausannae & Geneva: Marci-Michaelis Bousquet & Sociorum 1740. 1740. 4to. iv xxxii 363 1 pp. Half-title engraved frontispiece portrait of Newton engr. Jean-Louis Daudet after Vanderbank title printed in red & black 12 engraved folding plates title vignette of 4 cherubs and a female figure each using an optical instrument representing learning optics/perspective drawn by Delamoncein and engraved by Daudet head & tail pieces and woodcut initial letters drawn by Papillon index; first 11 leaves browned. Contemporary full vellum green leather gilt-stamped spine label edges with decorative red freckling as designed by the binder; foot of spine with faint ink marking "11-". Paper unevenly browned. Verso of title with small ink annotation "=1135="; rear pastedown with another notation "a 20.Luglio 1801." Very good. Third Latin edition edited by Bousquet with a dedication to Joannes Bernoulli. This edition contains the full array of 31 querries. / "Newton's contributions to the science of optics :: his discovery of the unequal refractions of rays of different color his theory of color and his investigations of 'Newton's rings' to mention only a few of the most noteworthy :: place him among the premier contributors to that science. . . . Today we recognize that his work on optics offers unique rewards in its exciting innovative conjunction of physical theory experimental investigation and mathematics and in the revealing glimpse that it provides of a crucial period in the evolution of experimental science." :: Alan E. Shapiro The Optical Papers of Isaac Newton: Volume 1 1984 p. xi. / Jean-Louis Daudet 1695-1756 who made the frontispiece and title vignette was an engraver and print publisher active in Lyon inherited business from his father Etienne Joseph Daudet. He flourished from 1722 till his death in 1756. Thereafter the business continued by his widow in association with his son-in-law Louis Martin Roch Joubert until 1773. / "Newton famously declared that it is not the business of science to make hypotheses. However it's well to remember that this position was formulated in the midst of a bitter dispute with Robert Hooke who had criticized Newton's writings on optics when they were first communicated to the Royal Society in the early 1670's. The essence of Newton's thesis was that white light is composed of a mixture of light of different elementary colors ranging across the visible spectrum which he had demonstrated by decomposing white light into its separate colors and then reassembling those components to produce white light again. However in his description of the phenomena of color Newton originally included some remarks about his corpuscular conception of light perhaps akin to the cogs and flywheels in terms of which James Maxwell was later to conceive of the phenomena of electromagnetism. Hooke interpreted the whole of Newton's optical work as an attempt to legitimize this corpuscular hypothesis and countered with various objections." / "Newton quickly realized his mistake in attaching his theory of colors to any particular hypothesis on the fundamental nature of light and immediately back-tracked arguing that his intent had been only to describe the observable phenomena without regard to any hypotheses as to the cause of the phenomena. Hooke and others continued to criticize Newton's theory of colors by arguing against the corpuscular hypothesis causing Newton to respond more and more angrily that he was making no hypothesis he was describing the way things are and not claiming to explain why they are. This was a bitter lesson for Newton and in addition to initiating a life-long feud with Hooke went a long way toward shaping Newton's rhetoric about what science should be. . ." / "The first edition of The Opticks 1704 contained only 16 queries but when the Latin edition was published in 1706 Newton was emboldened to add seven more which ultimately became Queries 25 through 31 when in the second English edition he added Queries 17 through 24. Of all these one of the most intriguing is Query 28 which begins with the rhetorical question "Are not all Hypotheses erroneous in which Light is supposed to consist of Pression or Motion propagated through a fluid medium" In this query Newton rejects the Cartesian idea of a material substance filling in and comprising the space between particles. Newton preferred an atomistic view believing that all substances were comprised of hard impenetrable particles moving and interacting via innate forces in an empty space as described further in Query 31." :: Newton's Cosmological Queries :: MathPages. / Grace K. Babson Sir Isaac Newton 1950 141; George J. Gray A Bibliography of the Works of Sir Isaac Newton 182; Wallis 182. See: Printing and the Mind of Man 172. Marci-Michaelis Bousquet & Sociorum, 1740. hardcover

Jeff Weber Rare Books · Suisse2 750,00 $US≈ 2 326,78 €

John Milton; Thomas NewtonBiblio.com

Paradise Lost and Paradise Regain'd

1760838P7DBirmingham; London: John Baskerville; J. and R. Tonson 1760. Leather. Near Fine. 10" by 6.5". None. A beautiful Baskerville edition of John Milton's 'Paradise Lost' and 'Paradise Regain'd' both epic poems bound here in one volume. A Baskerville edition.Complete as two volumes bound in one.ESTC citation number T134228 and N11290 - 'Paradise Regain'd' with 'Life of Milton' paginated in Roman numerals.List of subscribers to the front of 'Paradise Lost'. Pages 69 231 235 262 and 330 misnumbered 96 131 135 268 and 230.Bound by BookEnds.Collated complete.Both of John Milton's epic poems bound in one volume 'Paradise Lost' and 'Paradise Regain'd'.'Paradise Lost' is an epic blank verse poem concerning the biblical Fall of Man with the temptation of Adam and Even and their subsequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The poem is considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever written.The sequel 'Paradise Regain'd' is likewise a blank verse poem though is much shorter than its predecessor being described as a brief epic.Written by John Milton a seventeenth century English poet who is best known for 'Paradise Lost'. He wrote during a period of political upheaval and religious flux in England with the English Civil War.John Baskerville was an important and pioneering printer and type designer who invented 'wove paper'.Prior owner's ink inscription to the verso of the front blank. Prior owner's ink inscription to the head of the title of 'Paradise Lost'. In a modern crushed morocco binding. Externally smart. A little very light rubbing to the extremities and a couple of very faint marks to the boards. Prior owner's ink inscription to the verso of the front blank. Internally firmly bound. Pages are lightly age toned and generally clean with the occasional spot. Tide mark to the gutter of the last few pages. Very small chip to the tail of the title page of 'Paradise Lost'. Prior owner's ink inscription to the head of the title of 'Paradise Lost'. Near Fine John Baskerville; J. and R. Tonson hardcover

Rooke Books · Royaume-Uni2 200,00 £GB≈ 2 511,96 €

NEWTON, Sir IsaacBiblio.com

La methode des fluxions translated by Georges Louis Le Clerc

17405802Paris: De Bure l'aine 1740. First edition. First edition in French of Newton's first exposition of his fluxional calculus translated with a long and impotant preface by the celebrated naturalist Comte de Buffon. Originally written in 1671 in Latin this was Newton's first comprehensive presentation of his method of fluxions which according to Hall 'might have effected a mathematical revolution in its own day' Philosophers at War pp. 65-6. It should properly be placed first in the great trilogy of Newton's major works: Fluxions Principia 1687 and Opticks 1704.. BUFFON'S TRANSLATION OF NEWTON'S EXPOSITION OF CALCULUS. First edition in French of Newton's first exposition of his fluxional calculus translated with a long and important preface by the celebrated naturalist Comte de Buffon. Originally written in 1671 in Latin this was Newton's first comprehensive presentation of his method of fluxions which according to Hall 'might have effected a mathematical revolution in its own day' Philosophers at War pp. 65-6. It should properly be placed first in the great trilogy of Newton's major works: Fluxions Principia 1687 and Opticks 1704. Newton's Methodus fluxionum remained unpublished until its English translation by John Colson in 1736. In it he presents a method of determining the magnitudes of finite quantities by the velocities of their generating motions. At its time of preparation it was Newton's fullest exposition of the fundamental problem of the calculus in which he presented his successful general method. Newton prepared this treatise just before his death. The autograph manuscript which survives in Cambridge University Library was entrusted to Henry Pemberton after Newton's death but he did not publish it. John Colson 1680-1760 based his translation on a copy of Newton's original manuscript made by William Jones. Both Newton's manuscript and Jones's copy lack a title page and it is unknown what title if any Newton gave to the manuscript. The title 'De methodus fluxionum' originates with Colson. In the preface Colson writes "I thought it highly injurious to the memory and reputation of our own nation that so curious and useful a piece should be any longer suppressed." Buffon translated Colson's edition in 1737 and added his lengthy preface the following year. The most interesting part of the preface is that dealing with the conception of the infinite and the metaphysical errors to which it leads. This includes a discussion of Berkeley's The analyst 1734 which oddly he criticizes although Berkeley's conclusions are very similar to his own. Provenance: Eugène Brand signature on title dated 1890. Newton wrote three accounts of the calculus. The composition of the first a tract entitled 'De analysi per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas' resulted from Newton's reception from Isaac Barrow in the early months of 1669 of a copy of Mercator's Logarithmotechnia a work which contained the series for log1 x. The work in which Newton demonstrated his much more general methods of infinite series was not published until 1711 when William Jones included it along with a number of other tracts in his Analysis per quantitatum series. In 'De analysi' however Newton "did not explicitly make use of the fluxionary notation or idea. Instead he used the infinitely small both geometrically and analytically in a manner similar to that found in Barrow and Fermat and extended its applicability by the use of the binomial theorem. . It will be noticed that although the work of Newton contains the essential procedures of the calculus the justification of these is not clear from the explanation he gave. Newton did not point out by what right the terms involving powers of o were to be dropped out of the calculation any more than Fermat or Barrow . His contribution was that of facilitating the operations rather than of clarifying the conceptions. As Newton himself admitted in this work his method is 'shortly explained rather than accurately demonstrated'" Boyer The Concept of Calculus p.191. It was first in 'Methodus fluxionum' that "Newton introduced his characteristic notation and conceptions. Here he regarded his variable quantities as generated by the continuous motion of points lines and planes rather than as aggregates of infinitesimal elements the view which had appeared in 'De analysi'. . In the 'Methodus fluxionum' Newton stated clearly the fundamental problem of the calculus: the relation of quantities being given to find the relation of the fluxions of these; and conversely" ibid. pp. 192-3. In Newton's third exposition De quadratura which was composed some twenty years after 'Methodus fluxionum' and published as an appendix to the Opticks "Newton sought to remove all traces of the infinitely small" ibid. "It was often lamented that the world had had to wait so many years to see Newton's masterpiece on fluxions. It is astonishing to realize that publication sixty years beforehand would have changed the history of the calculus and would have avoided for Newton any controversy over priority. In 1736 all the results contained in Newton's treatise were well known to mathematicians. However it was too concise for a beginner and Colson added almost 200 pages of explanatory notes. His commentary contributed to the establishment of a kinematical approach to the problem of foundations. In his explanatory notes Colson presents the 'geometrical and Mechanical Elements of Fluxions'. He writes: 'The foregoing Principles of the Doctrine of Fluxions being chiefly abstracted and Analytical. I shall here endeavour after a general manner to shew something analogous to them in Geometry and Mechanicks: by which they may become not only the object of the Understanding and of the Imagination which will only prove their possible existence but even of Sense too by making them actually to exist in a visible and sensible form'. "Colson was convinced that by using moving diagrams it is possible to exhibit 'Fluxions and Fluents Geometrically and Mechanically . so as to make them the objects of Sense and ocular Demonstration'. The motivation for using the geometrical and mechanical elements of fluxions is clearly that of guaranteeing an ontological basis to the calculus; in fact: 'Fluents Fluxions and their rectilinear Measures will be sensibly and mechanically exhibited and therefore must be allowed to have a place in rerum natura'. "Colson's approach to the calculus is representative of a whole generation of British mathematicians: his 'sensibly exhibited rectilinear measures' of fluxions are a naive anticipation of Maclaurin's kinematic definitions of the basic concepts of the calculus" Guicciardini The Development of Newtonian Calculus in Britain 1700-1800 pp. 56-57. "In his preface . Colson noted: 'The chief Principle upon which the Method of Fluxions is here built is. taken from the Rational Mechanicks; which is That Mathematical Quantity particularly Extension may be conceived as generated by continued local Motion; and that all Quantities may be conceived as generated after a like manner. Consequently there must be comparative Velocities of increase and decrease during such generations whose Relations are fixt and determinable and may therefore . proposed to be found.' "Thus a line or a curve was seen as generated by a continuously moving point a surface by the motion of a line and a solid by the motion of a surface. After defining fluxions fluents and moments Newton went on to show how within this framework significant results could be derived. Following an introduction in which it was shown how equations could be solved with the use of infinite series seven major problems were considered: From the Following Quantities fluents given to find their fluxions. From the given Fluxions to find the Flowing Quantities. To determine Maxima and Minima of Quantities. To draw Tangents to Curves. To find the Quantity of Curvature in any Curve. To find the Quality of Curvature in any Curve. To find any number of Curves that may be squared" Gjertsen Newton Handbook p. 158. "Buffon did start his scientific career as a Newtonian. He agreed that science should search for nature's laws and that those laws should be as simple and as universal as possible. Buffon's strong stance in favor of an orthodox Newtonianism was most obvious during his academic polemics with Alexis Clairaut. Buffon also published translations of two English books: Stephen Hales's Vegetable Staticks 1735 and Newton's Treatise on Fluxions 1740. The young man who wrote the prefaces to these books praised the experimental spirit of the English. But to what extent did these texts in fact express Buffon's supposed Newtonian position . "The case of the preface to Newton's Fluxions 1740 was a different matter since it appeared to be a sign of allegiance both to Newton and to mathematics in the guise of the calculus. But in fact Buffon's preface while acknowledging the perfect clarity of Newton's ideas developed a metaphysical critique of the concept of the infinite that had been closely tied to the practice of geometry. Buffon asserted that our daily experience by means of sensation is restricted to the limited the finite-and therefore that the arithmetical or geometrical infinite had no actual existence. The preface to the Fluxions far from being a sign of Buffon's loyalty to mathematical conceptions of science instead stressed the lack of reality of mathematical ideas. Some of these strong statements would later be developed near the end of the 'Premier discours' of the Histoire naturelle" Hoquet pp. 39-41. "In his preface Buffon rewrote the history of the calculus - drawing inspiration largely from a book that Fontenelle had published in 1727 Élémens de la géométrie de l'infini - in which he sided strongly with Newton against Leibniz. He was rightly criticized for his lack of objectivity and he became closely tied with English scholars whose point of view he blindly adopted. In France furthermore he became involved with Clairaut Maupertuis and Voltaire in a battle in defense of Newton. His translation and preface must be viewed from his perspective - historical objectivity was not his main concern . "The debate on infinity tells us something about Buffon's intellectual temperament . At the end of the seventeenth century a lengthy evolution of ideas had led to the Newtonian conception of an infinite time and space and therefore an infinite universe . Calculus gave a new topicality to this philosophical debate since it raised the question of whether the infinitely small quantities manipulated by the new calculus really existed. Leibniz did not believe so . In 1727 Fontenelle defended their real existence and Buffon seemed at first to have accepted his argument. He now attacked Fontenelle without naming him . "Buffon rejected Fontenelle's conclusion mainly because he did not differentiate between geometrical and metaphysical infinities. 'The idea of infinity' he said 'is only an idea of absence and has no concrete representation.' Even 'space time and duration are not real Infinities.' Likewise 'there is no number that is at present Infinite or infinitely small or smaller or bigger than an Infinity etc.' Because 'Numbers are no more than representations and never exist independently of the things they represent' they do not have a 'real existence' and things themselves cannot be infinite . "The direct consequence of this philosophy was that mathematics does not teach us anything about reality. More precisely - and here Buffon distanced himself radically from Fontenelle - mathematics does not have its own reality. Fontenelle gives an intellectual reality to numbers and geometrical figures independent of all physical and metaphysical reality. For Buffon there was only physical reality. Thus mathematics was only a tool practical even indispensable but nothing more . "The last argument in which Buffon intervened was the one that the idealistic philosopher Berkeley had provoked by attacking the metaphysical foundations of calculus .it is clear that Buffon addressed it only to defend his friend the English doctor and mathematician James Jurin. Regardless of what he said Buffon certainly had not read Berkeley's book The analyst 1734 attentively otherwise he would have seen that Berkeley's criticisms of the status of the infinitely small corresponded exactly to his own although they were based on an extremely different metaphysics. As with Leibniz the fundamental philosophical differences prevented Buffon from recognising what they had in common. His attack on Berkeley was more satire than philosophical discussion. By intervening so lightly into a serious debate Buffon exposed himself to criticism. The interesting thing about this episode is that it shows his friendship with James Jurin and suggest that it was Jurin who had advised him in the Leibniz-Newton controversy" Roger pp. 34-38. Babson 173; Macclesfield 1533; Wallis 236. Hoquet 'History without Time. Buffon's natural history as a nonmathematical physique Isis 101 2010 pp. 30-61. Roger Buffon: A Life in Natural History 1997. 4to 255 x 196 mm pp. xxx 4 errata and privilege 148 title printed in red and black woodcut figures in text. Contemporary quarter-morocco and marbled boards spine ruled and in gilt with red lettering-piece a little rubbed joints starting. De Bure l'aine unknown

SOPHIA RARE BOOKS · Danemark3 000,00 $US≈ 2 538,30 €

Newton

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