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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).
Remarkable copy from the library of Henri II de Bourbon-Condé (1588-1646), whom personal physician from 1638 was, Pierre Michon, the Abbey Bourdelot.
Before joining the Prince of Condé, Bourdelot, Pierre Michon Bourdelot, Theodore Beza’s grandson, spent two years in Rome from 1634 to 1636 as a secretary to the French ambassador to the Holy See, François de Noailles, who had personally taken physics lessons under Galileo in 1603 and who is also mentioned as a student by Galileo in his accounts book. Back to Rome, Noailles and Galileo got back in contact and Noailles actively attempted to obtain his pardon from the Pope, without success.
in 1636, on his way back to Paris, Noailles was allowed to visit Galileo in Poggibonsi, whereupon Galileo gave him the manuscript for his Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche, which could not be published in Italy. Noailles then arranged for it to be published in Leiden, in 1638. Bourdelot met Galileo personally on this occasion.
Once at the service of the Prince de Condé, Bourdalot created an informal circle of scholars who organized public lectures and stood under the patronage of the Prince of Condé, that would become the Académie Bourdelot, that can be considered one of the most important scientific circles of 17th-century France. The academy, which originated in around 1640, quite obviously absorbed influences from Italian academies and had a direct personal connection to Galileo through its founder, who brought the first edition of Galileo’s Discorsi to the Prince de Condé who had it beautifully bound.
During one of the lectures, in February 1644, at the request of Bourdelot, Blaise Pascal presented his arithmetic machine to the Prince de Condé.
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).
Remarkable copy from the library of Henri II de Bourbon-Condé (1588-1646), whom personal physician from 1638 was, Pierre Michon, the Abbey Bourdelot.
Before joining the Prince of Condé, Bourdelot, Pierre Michon Bourdelot, Theodore Beza’s grandson, spent two years in Rome from 1634 to 1636 as a secretary to the French ambassador to the Holy See, François de Noailles, who had personally taken physics lessons under Galileo in 1603 and who is also mentioned as a student by Galileo in his accounts book. Back to Rome, Noailles and Galileo got back in contact and Noailles actively attempted to obtain his pardon from the Pope, without success.
in 1636, on his way back to Paris, Noailles was allowed to visit Galileo in Poggibonsi, whereupon Galileo gave him the manuscript for his Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche, which could not be published in Italy. Noailles then arranged for it to be published in Leiden, in 1638. Bourdelot met Galileo personally on this occasion.
Once at the service of the Prince de Condé, Bourdalot created an informal circle of scholars who organized public lectures and stood under the patronage of the Prince of Condé, that would become the Académie Bourdelot, that can be considered one of the most important scientific circles of 17th-century France. The academy, which originated in around 1640, quite obviously absorbed influences from Italian academies and had a direct personal connection to Galileo through its founder, who brought the first edition of Galileo’s Discorsi to the Prince de Condé who had it beautifully bound.
During one of the lectures, in February 1644, at the request of Bourdelot, Blaise Pascal presented his arithmetic machine to the Prince de Condé.
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
Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts