Name: Auction: Stirling, James (1692-1770) Diploma of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences
Brand: Lyon & Turnbull
Price: 1200 GBP
Availability: InStock

James Stirling, one of the foremost mathematicians of eighteenth-century Europe and a protégé of Sir Isaac Newton, 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, a first edition of Newton’s Analysis&nbsp;Per Quantitatum&nbsp;series, fluxiones, ac differentias, 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.Buyer's Guide:&nbsp;

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

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The Library of James Stirling, Mathematician Auction

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Berlin, 14th February 1747, engraved document on vellum, 27.5 x 35.4cm, with decorative border and calligraphic text, Stirling's name added in manuscript ('Stirling'), signed lower right by Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759) as president of the Academy, countersigned by Johann Heinrich Samuel Formey (1711-1797) as secretary, red wax seal detached but present. Together with a letter signed to James Stirling from Martin Folkes (1690-1754) as president of the Royal Society, London, 10th June 1747, enclosing the diploma with personal congratulations, and sharing news of acquaintances including de Moivre ('whom we dined with the other day on the occasion of his compleating his eightieth year'), a few chips to edges, short split to edge of transverse fold, a few spots, the letter possibly autograph (2)

Diploma of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences

Stirling, James (1692-1770)

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Stirling, James (1692-1770)

Diploma of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences

Description

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