Second edition, published shortly after the first on the same date. A folding frontispiece depicting a mausoleum, piled dead soldiers and generals.
Contemporary full red morocco binding with long grain. Richly decorated spine with five raised bands, a central fleuron, 2 other small fleurons and several fillets. Red morocco title-label. Covers decorated with 3 frames with corner fleurons. Fillet on leading edges and board-edges. All edges gilt. One wormhole on the upper joint at foot. Foxing. A very handsome copy.
History of the French campaigns from 1792 to 1815.
First edition.
Contemporary half navy blue sheep bindings, smooth spines decorated with quintuple gilt fillets, gilt friezes at tail, small lacks to headcaps of both volumes and to spine of second volume, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, corners of second volume bumped, speckled edges, contemporary bindings.
Some light foxing.
Rare.
First edition, illustrated with a title vignette, 6 folding maps and 2 folding plates (sun and moon positions, diagrams); a map of the coasts of Acadia and Isle Royale, one of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, plan of Canseau harbor, the southeastern coasts of Isle Royale, plan of Chibouctou harbor, southeastern point of Acadia,
Presentation copy with the cipher and arms of Louis XV.
Contemporary binding in full marbled and glazed brown sheep. Spine with raised bands decorated with the repeated cipher of Louis XV. Red morocco title label. Boards stamped with the gilt arms of Louis XV. Triple gilt fillet frame on boards. 2 compartments restored partially effacing the cipher. One restoration at foot. Restorations to joints and corners.
The work is the most precise hydrographic survey of the eastern coasts of North America that had ever been accomplished. Chabert was appointed to carry out a precise survey of the coasts of Acadia whose contemporary maps were erroneous.
The first part is an account of the voyage from Brest to Louisbourg and of Chabert's 4 expeditions to coasts foreign to France, to Newfoundland and neighboring islands. The second part contains the observations and astronomical surveys for which the work was highly esteemed and recommended to navigators by the Academy of Sciences. Following the success of the voyage, Chabert was promoted to knight of the Order of Saint-Louis
Rare French first edition in the translation by Esprit Pézenas, illustrated with 2 title vignettes and 78 folding plates representing instruments used for physics demonstrations.
Armorial copy with unidentified coat of arms.
Contemporary full porphyry sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Beige calf title label, brown sheep volume label. One lack to foot of volume I. Light lack to head compartment of volume II and to foot compartment. Split to upper joints at foot of both volumes, 1cm. Corners with leather losses, as well as to edges. The use of acid to achieve the porphyry marbling has caused certain alterations to the leather, notably on the spine, where the gold appears in relief and some epidermures to the boards. Nevertheless a good copy.
Principal exposition of Newtonian physics of which Desaguliers propagated the ideas in his work, ideas both scientific and philosophical and political. He was the first to perceive the magnitude of the Newtonian revolution both for physics and for the representation of the world. He assisted Isaac Newton, who became his friend, in his experimental work from 1713 to 1727 as demonstrator of the Royal Society, the year of Newton's death. A skilled experimenter, he then opened his own private course which the royal family attended. The prefaces of the two volumes expose the challenges of 18th century physics: the development of experimental physics alongside analytical mechanics in the first, the preliminary debates to the birth of the concept of energy in the second. Desaguliers explains that he conducts experiments, not to show curiosities but to demonstrate laws, in the manner of mathematicians, but without using mathematical formalism which repels many people. His method, copied from that of Keill, consists of building his lessons by reasoning in stages: starting from simple propositions, proving them by experiments and not by demonstrations, then elaborating more complex propositions which are then confirmed by experimentation. It is appropriate not to present experiments as "so many curious phenomena" but to "make use of them to prove a sequence of philosophical propositions in a mathematical order" in other words, not to make a "Course of Experiments" but a "Course of Experimental Physics". Desaguliers' lessons deal with mechanics and hydrostatics. The lessons concerning hydrostatics are illustrated by very precise descriptions of varied devices and diverse uses: diving bells, the Marly machine or Mr Richard Newsham's machines for extinguishing fires (which are found in the plates). An auditor of Desaguliers' courses, Abbé Nollet drew inspiration from them to write his lessons in experimental physics, but which, however, dealt more with electricity and optics.
