1749: CONFIRMED ISSAC NEWTON ON THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH

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HIGHLY IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC WORK THAT SUPPORTED ISSAC NEWTON'S HYPOTHESIS ON THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH THE FAMOUS BOUGUER EXPEDITION TO PERU IN 1749. COMPLETE WITH 9 PLATES. This is an original antiquarian work offered for consideration starting at $1 and no reserve. : As always, if you are not fully satisfied with your purchase, you may return it for any reason. Please see my other auctions this week. The Book: Pierre Bouguer. La figure de la terre, déterminée par les observations de Messieurs Bouguer et de La Condamine... envoyés par ordre du Roy au Pérou pour observer aux environs de l'équateur, avec une relation abrégée de ce voyage qui contient la description du pays dans lequel les observations ont été faites, par M. Bouguer. Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert, 1749. 4to. COMPLETE WITH Errata leaf and 9 engraved folding plates , woodcut title-vignette by Papillon after Charles-Nicolas Cochin, 18th century Calf, worn as depicted, hinges exposed but holding strong, two blank flyleaves present but detached, marginal browning to t.p., light chipping to margins of right edge of one plate. Overall, a good and COMPLETE copy of a work that rarely appears at auction. Sabin 6876; Honeyman 446. Provenance: Armorial book-plate of the Hopetoun family with motto TRIA JUNCTA IN UNO AT SPES NON FRACTA, possibly purchased by General Sir John Hope (1765-1823) as 4th Earl. The 4th Earl had a distinguished military career. He completed the evacuation of British troops from Corunna after the death of Sir John Moore and commanded one of Wellington's divisions in the Peninsular War. FIRST EDITION of Bouguer's highly important work from the famous Peruvian expedition of 1735-1744, where he was sent to conduct measurements to determine the shape of the Earth. Newton theorized that the nature of matter and gravitation would conspire to produce not a perfect sphere, but rather an oblate spheroid (flattened at the poles). Contradictory evidence from pendulum studies pointed to an alternate theory: an elongated spheroid. The French Academy sent two expeditions to resolve this, Boucher to Peru and Maupertuid to Lapland, whose combined careful measurements along a single meridian found that the length of a degree decreased towards the Poles and thus confirmed Newton's hypothesis. "In 1731 Bouguer was made an associate geometrician of the Académie Royale, and in 1735 he became a full Academician. In the same year he was sent, with Charles Marie de La Condamine, Louis Godin, and Joseph de Jussieu, on the celebrated expedition to Peru that was to measure an arc of the meridian near the equator. Bouguer’s work on this expedition, from which he did not return until 1744, was of high quality. Apart from the main geodetic program, he did an astonishing amount of other scientific work, measuring the dilatation of various solids by making use of the large range of temperatures found in the Cordillera, investigating the phenomena of atmospheric refraction and the measurement of heights with the barometer, devising a new type of ship’s log, and undertaking a number of other researches, in spite of the very difficult physical conditions under which the geodetic measurements had to be carried out. The results of these measurements were published formally in 1749 as La figure de la terre, déterminée par les observations de Messieurs De la Condamine el Bouguer…." [DSB] Last Copy in the ABPC auction Database: Bouguer, Pierre, 1698-1758 - La Figure de la terre.... Paris, 1749 - 4to, - later half calf - joints cracked, extremities worn - With 9 folding plates - R. S. Webb's annotated copy. Frank Streeter copy - Christie's New York, Apr 16, 2007, lot 58, $3,200 - Sabin 6876; Brunet 8292 read more

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