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Details
VEGA, Georg Freiherr von (Baron Jurij Bartolomej Vega, 1754-1802). Autograph letter signed ('Vega. Major') to the Weidmann publishing house, Villingen, 13 October 1795.
In German, 1½ pages, 211 x 173mm, bifolium, address panel on verso of integral blank. Remnant of signet seal in red wax. Docketed by the recipient. Provenance: Stargardt, 20 November 1988, lot 549; collection of Albin Schram (1926-2005); his sale at Christie's, 3 July 2007, lot 566 (part).
On sending a manuscript for his logarithmic tables in the midst of a campaign against the French. Vega writes to inform his publishers that whilst on the march from Mannheim he had sent them a packet containing the continuation of the manuscript for the second volume of his Logarithmische Tafeln, and he is anxious to be reassured that this has arrived safely. 'My eyes are now, praise God, much better through the change of air. And I will strive to complete the remaining parts for the second volume together with the introduction'.
Vega's work on logarithms is one of his major contributions to the advancement of science. Remarkably, he completed the second edition of his Logarithmische, trigonometrische, und andere zum Gebrauche der Mathematik eingerichtete Tafeln und Formeln whilst playing an active role in the French Revolutionary Wars as an artillery officer in the Austrian army. He took part in the Siege of Mannheim (which began a few days after this letter) and the Battle of Mainz on 29 October. It was also around this time that he devised a new type of heavy mortar, with a range of 3km, almost double what was previously possible. Very rare: according to ABPC/RBH only this letter has appeared at auction in recent decades.
In German, 1½ pages, 211 x 173mm, bifolium, address panel on verso of integral blank. Remnant of signet seal in red wax. Docketed by the recipient. Provenance: Stargardt, 20 November 1988, lot 549; collection of Albin Schram (1926-2005); his sale at Christie's, 3 July 2007, lot 566 (part).
On sending a manuscript for his logarithmic tables in the midst of a campaign against the French. Vega writes to inform his publishers that whilst on the march from Mannheim he had sent them a packet containing the continuation of the manuscript for the second volume of his Logarithmische Tafeln, and he is anxious to be reassured that this has arrived safely. 'My eyes are now, praise God, much better through the change of air. And I will strive to complete the remaining parts for the second volume together with the introduction'.
Vega's work on logarithms is one of his major contributions to the advancement of science. Remarkably, he completed the second edition of his Logarithmische, trigonometrische, und andere zum Gebrauche der Mathematik eingerichtete Tafeln und Formeln whilst playing an active role in the French Revolutionary Wars as an artillery officer in the Austrian army. He took part in the Siege of Mannheim (which began a few days after this letter) and the Battle of Mainz on 29 October. It was also around this time that he devised a new type of heavy mortar, with a range of 3km, almost double what was previously possible. Very rare: according to ABPC/RBH only this letter has appeared at auction in recent decades.
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