Of surprising rarity

POINCARÉ, Henri.

Lecons sur la théorie mathématique de la lumière - Professées pendant le premier semestre 1887-1888.

Paris: Georges Carré, Éditeur, 1889.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003058

8vo (235 x 156 mm). iv, 408 pp., including half-title. Bound in polished half-calf over marbled boards, spine ruled and lettered in gilt and with paper sticker (extremities rubbed, slight wear to corners). Text with light even browning and scattered foxing throughout. Illegible pencil signature on half-title and ink shelf number on title. Provenance: Giancarlo Beltrame Library. Very good copy. ----
br>Sotheran I, 3671 (2nd edition only); DSB XI, pp. 51-61. EXCEPTIONALLY RARE FIRST EDITION of Poincaré's lectures course on the mathematical theory of light. Another course of lectures in mathematical physics by Poincaré, on the same subject, was published in 1892 under the title Théorie mathématique de la lumière II. "The development of mathematics in the nineteenth century began under the shadow of a giant, Carl Friedrich Gauss; it ended with the domination by a genius of similar magnitude, Henri Poincaré . . . For more than twenty years Poincaré lectured at the Sorbonne on mathematical physics; he gave himself to that task with his characteristic thoroughness and energy, with the result that he became an expert in practically all parts of theoretical physics, and published more than seventy papers and books on the most varied subjects, with a predilection for the Théories of light and of electromagnetic waves." (DSB XI, p.51, 58). This book is surprisingly rare. We can trace only two copies in US libraries (Huntington Library and NY Public Library) and only one at auction (Sothebys, May 12, 1969, lot 463). All other entries concern E-books (reproduced either from the Huntington Library or the Bibliothèque Nationale de France copy). - Visit our website for additional images and information.

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