The Library of James Stirling, Mathematician Auction

PAST AUCTION

23 October 2025 from 13:00 BST

The Library of James Stirling, Mathematician

Sale Number: 878

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SPECIALIST

Cathy Tait

Head of Sale

SPECIALIST

Dominic Somerville-Brown

Books & Manuscripts Specialist

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James Stirling: Mathematician of the Newtonian Age

Discover more about one of the leading mathematicians in Europe in the early 18th century.

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LOTS (160)

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LOT 1

Newton, Sir Isaac

Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica

£42,840

LOT 2

Newton, Sir Isaac

Optice

£2,772

LOT 3

Newton, Sir Isaac

Opticks

£4,536

LOT 4

Newton, Sir Isaac

Lectiones opticae

£4,536

LOT 5

Newton, Sir Isaac

Analysis per quantitatum series, fluxiones, ac differentias

£100,800

LOT 6

Newton, Sir Isaac

A Treatise of the Method of Fluxions and Infinite Series

£6,930

LOT 7

Newton, Sir Isaac

Genesis curvarum per umbras

£3,528

LOT 8

Newton, Sir Isaac

Two Treatises of the Quadrature of Curves

£9,450

LOT 9

Newton, Sir Isaac

De mundi systemate

£13,860

LOT 10

Newton, Sir Isaac

Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John

£2,016

LOT 11

Newton, Sir Isaac

The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended

£1,134

LOT 12

Pemberton, Henry

A View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy

£530

LOT 13

Bedford, Arthur

Animadversions upon Sir Isaac Newton's Book intitled The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended

£252

LOT 14

Voltaire

The Elements of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy

£945

LOT 15

Maclaurin, Colin

An Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries

£1,197

LOT 16

Maclaurin, Colin

A Treatise of Fluxions

£7,560

LOT 17

Maclaurin, Colin (1698-1746)

Ten autograph letters signed to James Stirling

£35,280

LOT 18

Maclaurin, Colin (1698-1746)

Autograph letter signed on the priority dispute with George Campbell over the impossible roots of equations

£8,190

LOT 19

Gravesande, Willem Jacob 's

An Essay on Perspective

£882

LOT 20

Euler, Leonhard (1707-1783)

Two autograph letters signed to James Stirling

£23,940

LOT 21

Cramer, Gabriel (1704-1752)

Ten autograph letters signed to James Stirling

£6,930

LOT 22

Klingenstierna, Samuel (1698-1765)

Autograph letter signed to James Stirling, with additional mathematical demonstrations

£1,008

LOT 23

Castel, Louis-Bertrand (1688-1757)

Autograph letter signed to James Stirling

£580

LOT 24

Poleni, Giovanni (editor) - Sextus Julius Frontinus

De Aquaeductibus Urbis Romae Commentarius

£328

LOT 25

Galilei, Galileo

Opere

£8,190

LOT 26

Bacon, Francis

Opera omnia quae extant

£693

LOT 27

Bernoulli, Johann

Opera omnia

£1,260

LOT 28

Nebel, Wilhelm Bernard

Dissertatio physica de Mercurio lucente in vacuo

£3,780

LOT 29

Bernoulli, Nicolaus (1687-1759)

Three autograph letters signed to James Stirling

£20,160

LOT 30

Campailla, Tommaso (1668-1740)

Autograph letter signed to James Stirling

£630

LOT 31

Mathematics and geometry

Collection of works, 18th century

£2,772

LOT 32

Du Hamel, Jean-Baptiste

Regiae Scientiarum Academiae Historia

£252

LOT 33

Mariotte, Edme

Oeuvres

£378

LOT 34

Cuming, Sir Alexander (c.1690-1775)

Autograph letter signed to James Stirling

£1,008

LOT 35

Simpson, Thomas

Essays on several Curious and Useful Subjects, in Speculative and Mix'd Mathematicks

£555

LOT 36

Simson, Robert

Sectionum conicarum libri v

£1,008

LOT 37

Simson, Robert (1687-1768)

Autograph letter signed to James Stirling

£2,016

LOT 38

Gardiner, William

Tables of Logarithms, for all Numbers from 1 to 102100

£378

LOT 39

Halley, Edmond (editor) - Apollonius of Perga

Conicorum libri octo

£4,284

LOT 40

Euclid

[Opera] quae supersunt omnia

£3,024

LOT 41

Bacon, Roger

Opus majus ad Clementem Quartum Pontificem Romanum

£8,190

LOT 42

Simpson, Thomas

The Doctrine and Application of Fluxions

£693

LOT 43

Stewart, Matthew

Some General Theorems of Considerable Use in the Higher Parts of Mathematics

£882

LOT 44

[Montmort, Pierre Rémond de]

Essay d'analyse sur les jeux de hazard

£1,764

LOT 45

Moivre, Abraham de

The Doctrine of Chances

£6,930

LOT 46

Moivre, Abraham de

The Doctrine of Chances

£3,024

LOT 47

Moivre, Abraham de

Annuities upon Lives

£8,190

LOT 48

Moivre, Abraham de

Annuities on Lives

£378

LOT 49

Simpson, Thomas

The Doctrine of Annuities and Reversions

£530

LOT 50

Taylor, Brook

Methodus incrementorum directa et inversa

£4,788

LOT 51

Stirling, James (1692-1770)

Mathematical notebooks

£37,800

LOT 52

Stirling, James (1692-1770)

'Methodus Differentialis sive Tractatus de Summatione et Interpolatione Serierum Infinitarum'

£50,400

LOT 53

Stirling, James (1692-1770)

Methodus Differentialis sive Tractatus de Summatione et Interpolatione Serierum Infinitarum

£45,360

LOT 54

Stirling, James

The Differential Method

£5,292

LOT 55

Stirling, James (1692-1770)

Diploma of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences

£1,071

LOT 56

Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de

Discours sur les différentes figures des astres

£7,560

LOT 57

Dortous de Mairan, Jean-Jacques

Traité physique et historique de l'aurore boréale

£2,520

LOT 58

Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de

La figure de la terre

£5,292

LOT 59

Bouguer, Pierre

La figure de la terre

£1,386

LOT 60

Agricola, Georgius

De ortu et causis subterraneorum lib. v.

£12,600

LOT 61

Agricola, Georgius

De re metallica libri xx

£6,300

LOT 62

Stirling, James (1692-1770) - The Scots Mining Company

Archive of letters and paperwork relating to the management of Leadhills Mine

£23,940

LOT 63

[Geodesy]

Group of works on the figure and history of the earth, 18th century

£1,260

LOT 64

Bradley, James (1693-1762)

Autograph letter signed to James Stirling

£6,048

LOT 65

Clairaut, Alexis (1713-1765)

Autograph letter signed to James Stirling

£3,024

LOT 66

Machin, John (1680-1751)

Two autograph letters signed to James Stirling

£5,796

LOT 67

Woodward, John

An Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth, and Terrestrial Bodyes, especially Minerals

£378

LOT 68

Priestley, Joseph

The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments

£2,268

LOT 69

Black, Joseph

Experiments upon Magnesia Alba, Quick-Lime, and Other Alcaline Substances

£5,796

LOT 70

Science and medicine

Collection of works, 18th century

£1,386

LOT 71

Hutton, James

The Theory of the Earth, from the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

£25,200

LOT 72

Stirling, James (1692-1770)

Collection of manuscript notebooks on weights and measures

£23,940

LOT 73

Stirling, James (1692-1770)

'Treatise on Weights and Measures and Coinage'

£3,780

LOT 74

Stirling, James (1692-1770), his copy, with annotations

A Report from the Committee appointed to Enquire into the Original Standards of Weights and Measures

£1,386

LOT 75

Greaves, John

Miscellaneous Works of Mr. John Greaves, Professor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford

£630

LOT 76

Weights and Measures, Coinage, Currency

Collection of works, 18th century

£1,890

LOT 77

Clarke, William

The Connexion of the Roman, Saxon, and English Coins

£240

LOT 78

Agricola, Georgius

De mensuris et ponderibus Romanorum atque Graecorum lib v.

£630

LOT 79

Plato

Apanta ta sozomena

£2,520

LOT 80

Aristotle

Opera omnia quae extant

£882

LOT 81

Strabo

Geographikon bibloi 17

£252

LOT 82

Xenophon

Ta euriskomena

£315

LOT 83

Archimedes

Panta Sozomena

£1,386

LOT 84

Cato, Marcus Porcius, & others

Libri de re rustica

£378

LOT 85

Dioscorides

Tou anazarbeos ta sozomena hapanta

£328

LOT 86

Suidas

[Opera] nunc primum integer Latinitate donatus

£328

LOT 87

Vitruvius Pollio, Marcus

De architectura libri decem

£1,512

LOT 88

Stirling, James (1692-1770), his copies

Classical literature, a group of works from his library, 17th-18th century

£2,016

LOT 89

[Justinian]

'In Quatuor Libro Institutionum Justiniani Annotationes Inchoates'

£504

LOT 90

Continental books

Collection of works, 17th-18th century

£882

LOT 91

Greek historians

Collection of folio editions, 17th-18th century

£693

LOT 92

Greek authors

Collection of folio editions, 17th-18th century

£1,071

LOT 93

Greek and Latin authors

Collection of works, 17th-18th century

£630

LOT 94

Classical literature

Collection of British editions of Greek and Latin authors, 17th-18th century

£2,772

LOT 95

Classical literature

Collection of works, continental imprints, 16th-18th century

£2,772

LOT 96

Plutarch

The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes

£3,780

LOT 97

Stukeley, William

Stonehenge

Estimate: £500 - £800

LOT 98

Antiquarian literature

Collection of works, mainly 18th century

£756

LOT 99

British history

Collection of works, mainly 18th century

£1,134

LOT 100

Prideaux, Humphrey

Marmora Oxoniensia, ex Arundellianis, Seldenianis, aliisque conflata

Estimate: £200 - £300

Books & Manuscripts

Photographs