Lot 69
69
LA CONDAMINE, Charles Marie de (1701-1774). Journal du Voyage fait par ordre du roi a l'équateur, servant d'introduction historique a la mesure des trois premiers degrés du méridien, Paris: l'Imprimerie Royale, 1751, 4°, FIRST EDITION, 5 folding engraved plates (all detached), folding engraved map of Quito by M. d'Anville (detached, A1, X1 and folding table opposite p. 163 also detached, L2-3 detached); Mesure des Trois Premiers Degrés du Méridien dans l'Hémisphere Austral, Paris: l'Imprimerie Royale, 1751, 4°, FIRST EDITION, 3 folding engraved plates (all detached, 2M4 and 2N1 also detached), 2 works in one volume (both with library markings), contemporary calf (worn, spine broken) [Norman 1249 & 1250; Sabin 38479 & 38483] Provenance: JCL -- Jean-Baptiste Joseph DELAMBRE (1749-1822). Méthodes Analytiques pour la Détermination d'un Arc du Méridien, Paris: l'imprimerie de Crapelet, chez Duprat, an VII [1799], 4°, 2 folding engraved plates by Duruisseau, advertisement leaf at end (heavy browning, library markings) [Honeyman 843]; and volume I only of Schroeter's Selenotopographische Fragmente (Göttingen, 1791) with 43 folding engraved plates; the lot sold not subject to return. (3)

Details
LA CONDAMINE, Charles Marie de (1701-1774). Journal du Voyage fait par ordre du roi a l'équateur, servant d'introduction historique a la mesure des trois premiers degrés du méridien, Paris: l'Imprimerie Royale, 1751, 4°, FIRST EDITION, 5 folding engraved plates (all detached), folding engraved map of Quito by M. d'Anville (detached, A1, X1 and folding table opposite p. 163 also detached, L2-3 detached); Mesure des Trois Premiers Degrés du Méridien dans l'Hémisphere Austral, Paris: l'Imprimerie Royale, 1751, 4°, FIRST EDITION, 3 folding engraved plates (all detached, 2M4 and 2N1 also detached), 2 works in one volume (both with library markings), contemporary calf (worn, spine broken) [Norman 1249 & 1250; Sabin 38479 & 38483] Provenance: JCL -- Jean-Baptiste Joseph DELAMBRE (1749-1822). Méthodes Analytiques pour la Détermination d'un Arc du Méridien, Paris: l'imprimerie de Crapelet, chez Duprat, an VII [1799], 4°, 2 folding engraved plates by Duruisseau, advertisement leaf at end (heavy browning, library markings) [Honeyman 843]; and volume I only of Schroeter's Selenotopographische Fragmente (Göttingen, 1791) with 43 folding engraved plates; the lot sold not subject to return. (3)

Lot Essay

La Condamine was among the scientists whom the Académie des Sciences sent to Peru in order to measure several degrees of meridian at the equator, and thus, in conjunction with a similar expedition to Lapland, settle the controversy between the Cartesians and Newtonians as to whether the earth was flattened or elongated at the poles. The expedition embarked for South America in 1735, and reached it the following year, but their geodetic measurements were hampered by the terrain and not completed until 1743.

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