Name: Auction: Stirling, James (1692-1770), his copies Classical literature, a group of works from his library, 17th-18th century
Brand: Lyon & Turnbull
Price: 600 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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Juvenal & Persius. Satirae … editio tertia. London: R. Clavell [and others], 1707. 8vo, contemporary panelled calf, ownership inscription ‘Ja: Stirling 1729’ and mathematical calculations to front pastedown, front free endpaper annotated with the genealogy of Christ in an 18th century hand (probably Stirling's), small tear to corner of A3;&nbsp; Lucretius. De rerum natura. Oxford: e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1695. 8vo, contemporary panelled calf, ownership inscription ‘James Stirling 1729’ to front pastedown,&nbsp;damp-staining; &nbsp; Sallust. [Opera] cum veterum historicorum fragmentis]. Leiden: ex officina Elzeviriana, 1634. 24mo, contemporary mottled calf, ownership inscription and purchase note ‘Ja: Stirling pr 2s 6d July 1726’ to front pastedown.&nbsp; Together with 15 others, generally 18th-century British editions of Greek and Latin authors, with the ownership inscriptions of later members of the Stirling family (not the original James) (18)

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

Stirling, James (1692-1770), his copies

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Stirling, James (1692-1770), his copies

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

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