Principes sur le mouvement et l'equilibre, pour servir d'introduction aux mécaniques & à la physique

The rare first edition illustrated with 25 folding plates of diagrams.

Contemporary full brown sheep binding. Richly decorated spine with raised bands. Brown morocco title-label. Headcap partly split for 1.5 cm. A lack at foot, another at the upper joint at foot. Lower joint cracked at foot. 2 holes along the lower joint. Corners slightly bumped. Boards rubbed.

Trabaud identifies what he calls mathematical physics with the Science of Movement, the subject of his book, defining it as that which aims to "determine the laws that govern the movements that exist in this universe". As the subtitle indicates, this involves providing the "principles" for developing a discourse on Mechanics and Physics, the latter dealing with everything that belongs to the sensible universe resulting from a combination of matter and movement. "Mechanics" manifestly refers to machines. Thus, Trabaud notes that "most Sciences & Arts" such as astronomy and navigation "presuppose" the Science of Movement, or form part of it, like Mechanics. He also takes as synonymous Statics or the Mechanics of solids. The bipartition between movement alone and equilibrium is one of the principles of physics in this first half of the 18th century. (This analysis borrows passages from Christophe Schmidt's article MECHANIQUE, STATIQUE, DYNAMIQUE. Distribution of knowledge and definitions in the Encyclopédie, in Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie, N049, 2014.)