Histoire des sciences mathématiques en Italie, depuis la renaissance des lettres jusqu'à la fin du dix-septième siècle

First and only edition, with a tumultuous publishing history: the first volume had been printed as early as 1835 by Paulin, but the entire edition was destroyed in the fire on rue du Pot-au-Fer. The author subsequently revised his work and published a new version in 1838, simultaneously with the second volume.

Minor marginal defects to spines and covers; the second volume is bound in a temporary plain wrapper (lacking the printed covers); scattered foxing.

An important work, based on numerous manuscript sources, including correspondence by Galileo, Fermat, and Descartes (which would later be revealed to have been stolen from the Laurentian Library while Libri was teaching in Italy). It was also the first work to highlight the significance of Leonardo of Pisa (referred to by the author as Leonardo Fibonacci).

At the time, Count Libri (1803–1869) was still considered the brilliant mathematician whom the French literary world was proud to have welcomed, and who was teaching at the Faculty of Sciences in Paris—not yet the swindler and professional thief who managed to embezzle thousands of books and autograph documents from French libraries (including the Royal Library, the Arsenal, the Observatory, and the Inguimbertine, among the most affected collections), and who fled to England after the discovery of his misdeeds.