This October, Lyon & Turnbull is proud to present the extraordinary collection of James Stirling, one of the foremost mathematicians of eighteenth-century Europe and a protégé of Sir Isaac Newton.
Renowned for his pioneering work on infinitesimal calculus and infinite series, and immortalised in Stirling’s Formula and the Stirling Numbers, he played a pivotal role in the Newtonian revolution in mathematics.
At the heart of this collection lies his Methodus Differentialis (1730), represented in three exceptional forms: Stirling’s holograph manuscript, his personally corrected first edition, and an English translation accompanied by autograph letters from the translator.
Alongside these are Stirling’s mathematical notebooks, covering everything from infinite series to the figure of the earth, and an outstanding group of contemporary works by his peers, including a large-paper copy of Newton’s Principia Mathematica, first editions by Newton, Maclaurin, Brook Taylor and de Moivre, and presentation copies from figures across Enlightenment Europe.
Completing this remarkable archive is a collection of letters from Leonhard Euler, Nicolaus Bernoulli, and Gabriel Cramer, as well as a selection of scientific instruments believed to have been used by Stirling himself. Join us in our Broughton Place saleroom to view items in person. No appointment is required.
