Details
LAGRANGE, Joseph Louis (1736-1813). Mchanique analitique. Paris: chez la Veuve Desaint, 1788.
4o (261 x 200 mm). Contemporary pink mottled boards, lettering piece on spine (spine faded, minor wear to extremities). Provenance: Some contemporary calligraphic marginalia on advertissement leaf at beginning.
FIRST EDITION OF LAGRANGE'S FOUNDATION WORK ON ANALYTICAL MECHANICS. Lagrange's masterpiece, the Mchanique analitique, was an extension on Newton's work on mechanics. In it he moulded theoretical mechanics into a system from which fundamental equations describing the motions of any systems of bodies could be derived. To achieve this Lagrange combined the principle of virtual velocities with d'Alembert's principle (see lot 242). He thereby set down the principle of virtual velocities as applied to mechanics. In his preface, Lagrange draws attention to the absence of diagrams in the book, which he believed the lucidity of his own presentation had rendered superfluous. "With the appearance of the Mecanique analytique in 1788, Lagrange proposed to reduce the theory of mechanics and the art of solving problems in that field to general formulas, the mere development of which would yield all the equations necessary for the solution of every problem ... [it] united and presented from a single point of view the various principles of mechanics, demonstrated their connection and mutual dependence, and made it possible to judge their validity and scope" (DSB). Dibner Heralds of Science 112; Grolier/Horblit 61; Norman 1257.
4o (261 x 200 mm). Contemporary pink mottled boards, lettering piece on spine (spine faded, minor wear to extremities). Provenance: Some contemporary calligraphic marginalia on advertissement leaf at beginning.
FIRST EDITION OF LAGRANGE'S FOUNDATION WORK ON ANALYTICAL MECHANICS. Lagrange's masterpiece, the Mchanique analitique, was an extension on Newton's work on mechanics. In it he moulded theoretical mechanics into a system from which fundamental equations describing the motions of any systems of bodies could be derived. To achieve this Lagrange combined the principle of virtual velocities with d'Alembert's principle (see lot 242). He thereby set down the principle of virtual velocities as applied to mechanics. In his preface, Lagrange draws attention to the absence of diagrams in the book, which he believed the lucidity of his own presentation had rendered superfluous. "With the appearance of the Mecanique analytique in 1788, Lagrange proposed to reduce the theory of mechanics and the art of solving problems in that field to general formulas, the mere development of which would yield all the equations necessary for the solution of every problem ... [it] united and presented from a single point of view the various principles of mechanics, demonstrated their connection and mutual dependence, and made it possible to judge their validity and scope" (DSB). Dibner Heralds of Science 112; Grolier/Horblit 61; Norman 1257.