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Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche, intorno a due nuove scienze attenenti alla mecanica & i movimenti locali. Leiden: Elzevier Press, 1638.
Details
GALILEI, Galileo (1564-1642).
Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche, intorno a due nuove scienze attenenti alla mecanica & i movimenti locali. Leiden: Elzevier Press, 1638.
First edition of 'the first modern textbook of physics, a foundation stone in the science of mechanics' (Grolier/Horblit). One of the finest copies to come on the market: finely bound in contemporary olive morocco with the Bourbon-Condé arms, thereby placing it close to the international scientific circles of Galileo himself.
Forbidden to publish in Italy due to his heretical support for heliocentrism, Galileo managed to have a manuscript copy of the present work smuggled out of the country to France, from where it was brought to the Elzeviers in Holland. Galileo adopts the dialogue format, as he did in the previous Dialogo (1632), to introduce his two new sciences: ‘the engineering science of strength of materials and the mathematical science of kinematics’ (DSB). Subject matter includes uniform and accelerated motion, parabolic trajectories, the constitution of matter, the nature of mathematics, the role of experiment and reason in science, the weight of air, the nature of sound and the speed of light, among other things. The Discorsi ‘underlies modern physics not only because it contains the elements of the mathematical treatment of motion, but also because most of the problems that came rather quickly to be seen as problems amenable to physical experiment and mathematical analysis were gathered together in this book with suggestive discussions of their possible solution’ (DSB). ‘Mathematicians and physicists of the later seventeenth century, Isaac Newton among them, rightly supposed that Galileo had begun a new era in the science of mechanics. It was upon his foundations that Huygens, Newton and others were able to erect the frame of the science of dynamics, and to extend its range (with the concept of universal gravitation) to the heavenly bodies’ (PMM).
The most likely candidate for the contemporary ownership is Henri II de Bourbon (1588-1646), Prince de Condé. His personal physician from 1619 was Guy de La Brosse (1586-1641), before La Brosse assumed that role for Louis XIII. Physician, medical botanist pharmacist, and creator of the royal botanical garden (today’s Jardin des Plantes), La Brosse was familiar with Gassendi and Mersenne who, in turn, were closely involved with Galileo. Both scientists were especially engaged in investigating Galileo’s law of falling bodies, with Gassendi conducting an experiment in Marseille in 1640 to test the principle of inertia (inspired by Galileo’s Dialogo, 1633). The armorial has also been attributed to Louis-Emmanuel de Valois, Comte d’Alais, patron and close associate of Gassendi, who played a role in the Marseille experiment. Carli and Favaro 162; Cinti 102; Dibner Heralds of Science 141; Grolier/Horblit 36; Norman 859; PMM 130; Riccardi I, 51612⁄1; Roberts & Trent Bibliotheca Mechanica, pp. 129-30; Sparrow Milestones of Science 75; Wellcome 2648; Willems 2648.
Quarto (196 x 141mm). Errata leaf at end, printers' woodcut device on title, numerous woodcut illustrations and diagrams in text, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces (minor marginal paper flaw / short tear in R4). Contemporary French olive morocco gilt, sides with the arms of Bourbon Condé at centre [very similar to Olivier 2622 fer 8], decorative spine, speckled edges. Provenance: Henri II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé (1588-1646 ; binding).
Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche, intorno a due nuove scienze attenenti alla mecanica & i movimenti locali. Leiden: Elzevier Press, 1638.
First edition of 'the first modern textbook of physics, a foundation stone in the science of mechanics' (Grolier/Horblit). One of the finest copies to come on the market: finely bound in contemporary olive morocco with the Bourbon-Condé arms, thereby placing it close to the international scientific circles of Galileo himself.
Forbidden to publish in Italy due to his heretical support for heliocentrism, Galileo managed to have a manuscript copy of the present work smuggled out of the country to France, from where it was brought to the Elzeviers in Holland. Galileo adopts the dialogue format, as he did in the previous Dialogo (1632), to introduce his two new sciences: ‘the engineering science of strength of materials and the mathematical science of kinematics’ (DSB). Subject matter includes uniform and accelerated motion, parabolic trajectories, the constitution of matter, the nature of mathematics, the role of experiment and reason in science, the weight of air, the nature of sound and the speed of light, among other things. The Discorsi ‘underlies modern physics not only because it contains the elements of the mathematical treatment of motion, but also because most of the problems that came rather quickly to be seen as problems amenable to physical experiment and mathematical analysis were gathered together in this book with suggestive discussions of their possible solution’ (DSB). ‘Mathematicians and physicists of the later seventeenth century, Isaac Newton among them, rightly supposed that Galileo had begun a new era in the science of mechanics. It was upon his foundations that Huygens, Newton and others were able to erect the frame of the science of dynamics, and to extend its range (with the concept of universal gravitation) to the heavenly bodies’ (PMM).
The most likely candidate for the contemporary ownership is Henri II de Bourbon (1588-1646), Prince de Condé. His personal physician from 1619 was Guy de La Brosse (1586-1641), before La Brosse assumed that role for Louis XIII. Physician, medical botanist pharmacist, and creator of the royal botanical garden (today’s Jardin des Plantes), La Brosse was familiar with Gassendi and Mersenne who, in turn, were closely involved with Galileo. Both scientists were especially engaged in investigating Galileo’s law of falling bodies, with Gassendi conducting an experiment in Marseille in 1640 to test the principle of inertia (inspired by Galileo’s Dialogo, 1633). The armorial has also been attributed to Louis-Emmanuel de Valois, Comte d’Alais, patron and close associate of Gassendi, who played a role in the Marseille experiment. Carli and Favaro 162; Cinti 102; Dibner Heralds of Science 141; Grolier/Horblit 36; Norman 859; PMM 130; Riccardi I, 51612⁄1; Roberts & Trent Bibliotheca Mechanica, pp. 129-30; Sparrow Milestones of Science 75; Wellcome 2648; Willems 2648.
Quarto (196 x 141mm). Errata leaf at end, printers' woodcut device on title, numerous woodcut illustrations and diagrams in text, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces (minor marginal paper flaw / short tear in R4). Contemporary French olive morocco gilt, sides with the arms of Bourbon Condé at centre [very similar to Olivier 2622 fer 8], decorative spine, speckled edges. Provenance: Henri II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé (1588-1646 ; binding).
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Eugenio Donadoni
International Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts