Milestones of Science Books

DIONIS DE SEJOUR, Achille Pierre.

Essai sur les phénomènes relatifs aux disparitions périodiques de l'anneau de Saturne.

Paris: Valade (de l'imprimerie de Gueffier), 1776.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003598

8vo (197 x 124 mm). [4], xxxii, 444 pp. Including half-title, title with printer's device, woodcut head- and tailpiece, 1 folding engraved plate bound at end. Late 19th century half calf, dark-blue marbled boards, spine decorated and lettered in gilt, yellow-dyed edges, new endpapers. Text little browned, few gatherings a bit stronger, occasional minor spotting. A very good copy. ----

Roller-G. 325; DSB IV, 107 f.; Poggendorff I, 574. RARE FIRST EDITION of this monograph on the periodic disappearances of Saturn's ring by Dionis de Sejour. "From 1764 to 1783 he wrote a series of important memoirs on the application of the most recent analytic methods to the study of the principal astronomical phenomena (eclipses, occultations, reductions of observations, determination of planetary orbits, etc.) . . . All these works are dominated by an obvious concern for rigor and by a great familiarity with analytical methods . . . their reexamination in the light of present possibilities of calculation would certainly be fruitful" (DSB). Voltaire, in a letter of compliments to the author, writes: "il est bien beau que de petits animaux de 5 pieds et demi aient enfin calculé des phénomènes si étonnants, à trois cent trente millions de lieues de chez eux" (it is very beautiful that small animals of five and a half feet have finally calculated such astonishing phenomena, three hundred and thirty million leagues from home). (Correspondence, 1821, p.216). - Visit our website to see more images!

Price: 2,800 €  *  convert currency