TRAITÉ ÉLÉMENTAIRE D'HYDRODYNAMIQUE: Ouvrage dans lequel la théorie et l'expérience s'éclairent ou se suppléent mutuellement ; avec deux notes sur plusieurs endroits qui ont paru mériter d'être appronfondis. Two Volumes.
Paris: Chez Claude-Antoine JOMBERT, Fils ainé, Libraire, re Dauphine, près le Pont-Neuf. MDCCLXXV (1775). First Edition (& 1st printing). FIRST EDITION, SECOND ISSUE. Originally issued in 1771 by Chardon; unsold copies were re-issued in 1775 by Jombert with new title-pages and an additional leaf of errata at the end of volume 1 paginated 395/6. Octavo, two volumes, bound in contemporary full calf, the spines with raised bands and small gilt rules, contrasting red leather title label lettered in gilt. [i], ii-xxxvii]; 396 + 444 pp., 16 large folding engraved plates (nine plates to rear of Vol 1, seven bound in at rear of Vol. 2); complete with both half-title leaves. Neat, scholarly marginalia done in ink by a contemporary hand to the margins of 21 pages throughout; ink signature "H. White" to front endpaper of Vol. 1; light staining and mild wear to the bindings but sound and clean, the hinges tight and holding (uncracked); a very nice clean set. Item #313884
¶ Charles Bossut (1730 -1814), professor of mathematics at the engineering school at Mezières. In 1768 he was elected member of the Académie, and a chair of hydrodynamics was then created for him at the Louvre. In 1771 he published this work which went through several editions and won wide acceptance from the 1770s until until the early 19th century. Although its title was hydrodynamics, its subject matter was essentially hydraulics. The texts of Bossut and Etienne Bézout best represent the emergence in the eighteenth century of a standardised, rigorous system of engineering physics textbooks. "Bossut wrote a series of textbooks that won wide acceptance from the 1770's until the early years of the Empire. The texts of Bossut represent the emergence in the eighteenth century of standardized, rigorous system of engineering, physics text-books. In 1761, 1762 and 1765, Bossut won or shared prizes given by the Academy for memoirs on mechanics applied to the operation of ships and on the resistance of the ether in planetary motions. He won additional prizes for his mechanics memoirs.". (DSB II, pp. 334/335). "This work is essentially an outgrowth of the hydrodynamics part of Bossut's course in mathematics. The first volume provides an excellent picture of the state of knowledge at Bossut's time. The experimental data presented in the second volume were largely new, and noteworthy even today are his comments on the difficulty of large-scale experiments versus the falsity of those on too small a scale". (Bibliotheca Mechanica).
Price (CAD): $500.00