L'HOSPITAL, G(uillaume)-F.-A. de (1661-1704) / STONE, M. (Edmund, about 1700-1768):
Reference : 98444aaf
1) A Paris, Chez François Montalant, / 2) A Paris, Julien-Michel Gandouin et Pierre-François Giffart, 1715 / 1735, in-4°, XV (+ 1 table) + 181 p. (+ 1 privilège) + 11 planches gravées dépl. / 2) CIV (=104 p.) + 162 p. + 1 f. (fautes à corriger) + 4 planches gravées dépl., petite tache d’eau marginale au début de l’ouvrage (sans gravité), reliure en plein veau d’époque, dos à 5 nerfs richement orné en or, tranches rouges, gardes en papier dominoté originales, bel exemplaire en parfait état.
1) Seconde édition après l’édition originale du premier manuel de calcul différentiel, impr. à Paris, par l’Imprimerie Royale, en 1696. La seconde édition est purgée de ses fautes typographiques. Cette oeuvre principale de Guillaume de L'Hospital, à la fois précise et simple d'utilisation, fut longtemps une référence dans son domaine, et connut un vif succès à travers le XVIIIe siècle.2) Première édition en français du traité de Edmund Stone, publié en 1730 en anglais. Très rare.1) Second edition of this textbook (first edition printed in 1696: “the influence of which dominated most of the eighteenth century” (Boyer).“The «Analyse des infiniment petits» was the first textbook of the differential calculus. The existence of several commentaries on it attests its popularity. ... L'Hospital was a major figure in the early development of the calculus on the continent of Europe. He advanced its cause not only by his scientific works but also by his many contacts, including correspondance with Leibniz, with Jean Bernoulli, and with Huygens. Fontenelle tells us that it was L'Hospital who introduced Huygens to the new calculus” (DSB).The «Analyse des infiniment petits» “includes the original publication of ideas originated and developed by Leibniz and the Bernoullis. ... (for example) the ninth chapter of this textbook contains what is now know as ‘L'Hospital's rule’ for finding the limiting value of a fraction whose numerator and denominator tend to zero; however, this rule was actually the work of Bernoulli, who included it in his letter to L'Hospital of 22 July 1694” (Norman).2) Very rare first French edition, first published in 1730 in the English language.‘Edmund Stone was born sometime around 1700, the son of a gardener of the Duke of Argyll. He first learned to read at the age of eight and was completely self-taught. He mastered both French and Latin in order to read mathematical works. At the age of eighteen, Stone came to the attention of the duke when the latter found Stone's copy of Newton's Principia in his grounds and assumed that it had been removed from his library. Impressed by the young man, the duke "placed him in a position which afforded him opportunity to pursue his studies".Stone translated works of the Marquis de l'Hospital on conic sections (1720) and Bion on scientific instruments (1723). In 1725, he was admitted as a fellow of the Royal Society in 1725 and published A New Mathematical Dictionary. In 1730, he published The Method of Fluxions, both direct and Inverse: the first part is a translation and reworking in Newtonian notation of De l'Hospital's Analyse des infinement petits (in fact, written by Johann Bernoulli), and the second part is Stone's own.In 1736, he independently found two species of lines of the third order which had been overlooked by Newton and Stirling, but these had been discovered by others a few years earlier. He also published some other mathematical works.Following the death of the Duke of Argyll in 1743, Stone's situation deteriorated and he spent the latter part of his life in poverty’.Article on Edm. Stone by: Alex D D Craik, University of St Andrews. Barbier I/167f; DSB VIII/304-5; Poggendorff I/1146-7; Norman Collection 1345; cf. Cantor III/222 ff. und 244 ff.; Honeyman Collection 2006-7; Boyer 460-1; Struik 312-3; Kline 383; Hoefer NBG XXI/101ff; Quérard: La France Littéraire IX, 271; Poggendorff 1/II 1018. Image disp.
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