Fontenelle, Bernard Le Bouvier deBiblio.com
Elements de la Geometrie de l'Infini. Suite des memoires de l'Academie Royale des Sciences.
1727réf. RW1716Paris:: L'Imprimerie Royale 1727. 1727. 4to. xxvi 548 pp. Title-page vignette tailpieces headpieces 1 engraved chapter vignette 1 engraved initial 1 engraved folding plate occasional light foxing or browning. Full contemporary mottled calf blind-ruled covers raised bands red and brown leather spine labels gilt decorated spine all edges red marbled end papers leather separation at top of spine all edges red marbled end-papers; leather separation at top of spine hint of worming but strong lightly rubbed. A very clean and tight copy. Fine. FIRST EDITION of an extensive treatise on the principles of calculus by Bernard Fontenelle the distinguished French philosopher and scientist who is famous for his book on the plurality of worlds. Through his friend Varignon Fontenelle made the acquaintance of the Parisian scientific circle and became friends with Nicolas de Malezieu and l'Hopital. Fontenelle wrote the preface to l'Hopital's Analyse des infiniment petits pour l'intelligence des lignes courbes 11690. "In it he displayed his interest in the notion of infinity and his talent as a historian; in a few pages he retraces the history of the mathematical study of curved lines from Archimedes to Newton and Leibniz . . . In 1727 he published his Elements de la geometrie de l'infini which he had worked on for a long time probably since the period of his preface to the Analyse des infiniment petits . . . According to Fontenelle none of the geometers who had invented or employed the calculus of infinity had given a general theory to it; that is what he proposed to do. The work is divided into a preface relating to the history of this branch of calculus and into two main part . . . 'the infinite series or in progression of numbers' and then examines 'the infinite in straight and curved lines . . . " DSB. / Bernard Fontenelle was born at Rouen and pursued a literary career. Fontenelle dabbled in poetry and writing for the stage but it is better known for his work as secretary to the Academy of Sciences. Among his published works are Entretiens sur la pluralite des mondes 1686 the Histoire du renouvellement de l'Academie des Sciences 1708-1722 and a number of eloges of the members. REFERENCES: DSB V pp. 57-63; Poggendorf 1 col. 770 Zeitlinger 1360. L'Imprimerie Royale, 1727. hardcover
