Name: Auction: Brass circular protractor 18th century
Brand: Lyon & Turnbull
Price: 1386 GBP
Availability: OutOfStock

The Library of James Stirling, Mathematician achieved an impressive total of nearly £820,000 (including premium), with an exceptional 90% selling rate and bidders participating from six continents.Among the standout results were <a href="/auctions/books-and-manuscripts-878/lot/5">Isaac Newton’s Analysis Per Quantitatum Series, Fluxiones, ac Differentias</a>, <a href="/auctions/books-and-manuscripts-878/lot/153">a rare 18th-century microscope</a> and Stirling’s own mathematical manuscripts, offering remarkable insight into the mind of an Enlightenment scholar.Cathy Tait, Head of Rare Books &amp; Manuscripts at Lyon &amp; Turnbull, commented:<blockquote>“We are absolutely delighted with the results of today’s auction of the library of James Stirling. Stirling was one of the most influential Scottish mathematicians of the 18th century, and corresponded with the most important scientists and mathematicians of the Enlightenment. It has been an honour to work with his books and the manuscripts in the sale.”</blockquote>James Stirling was one of the foremost mathematicians of eighteenth-century Europe and a protégé of Sir Isaac Newton and played a pivotal role in the Newtonian revolution in mathematics. Renowned for his contributions to infinitesimal calculus and infinite series, he gives his name to two major discoveries in Stirling’s formula and the Stirling numbers. &nbsp;Stirling’s principal work, the Methodus Differentialis&nbsp;(1730), is present in the library in three remarkable forms: his holograph manuscript, his personally corrected first edition, and a first edition in English with autograph letters from the translator. His notebooks, covering subjects from infinite series to the figure of the earth and ancient weights and measures, are complemented by a selection of landmark works by his contemporaries, including a large-paper copy of Newton’s Principia Mathematica and a first edition of Colin Maclaurin’s Treatise on Fluxions&nbsp;(to which Stirling contributed), alongside presentation copies of works by Brook Taylor, Abraham de Moivre and Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis. The library also contains a spectacular collection of letters to Stirling from peers including Leonhard Euler, Nicolaus Bernoulli, and Gabriel Cramer. A selection of scientific instruments, believed to have been used by Stirling, completes this extraordinary collection.

Cathy Tait | Head of Books & Manuscripts | Lyon & Turnbull Auctioneers

Dominic Somerville-Brown - UK Books & Manuscripts Specialist

Dominic-Somerville-Brown.jpg

878stirling overview.jpg

878 Stirling feature.jpg

Browse a selection of lots from our forthcoming sale.

Specialists' Selection

The Library of James Stirling, Mathematician Auction

large_2025-07-14 L&T Books 86808112.jpg

medium_2025-07-14 L&T Books 86808112.jpg

small_2025-07-14 L&T Books 86808112.jpg

thumbnail_2025-07-14 L&T Books 86808112.jpg

xlarge_2025-07-14 L&T Books 86808112.jpg

878 Header 2

small_MicrosoftTeams-image-removebg-preview.png

thumbnail_MicrosoftTeams-image-removebg-preview.png

Logo with add text

Lyon & Turnbull | Online Auction Specialists  

large_Placeholder-for-Blog.jpg

medium_Placeholder-for-Blog.jpg

small_Placeholder-for-Blog.jpg

thumbnail_Placeholder-for-Blog.jpg

xlarge_Placeholder-for-Blog.jpg

Placeholder-for-Blog.jpg

5 ¾ inches, engraved with 0-360 degree scale, unsigned, 15cm diameter

Brass circular protractor

18th century

Description