first edition leather_bound
1738 · London
by Cotes, Roger
London: S. Austin printed for the Editor, 1738. First edition. leather_bound. Contemporary full brown calf, double gilt border panels, rebacked, red leather spine label printed in gilt. Very good. 243 pages, [A8-Q8, R7]. 20 X 13 cm. Preface (12), Index (6), and four pages of publisher adverts. Five copper engraved fold-out plates, plate four in photocopy. Errata list. Cotes, an English mathematician who edited the second edition of Newton's PRINCIPIA, made advances in the theory of logarithms, the integral calculus and in numerical methods, particularly interpolation. His quadrature formulas known as Newton-Cotes formulas and first introduced what is known today as Euler's formula. He was the first Plumian Professor and Cambridge University from 1707 until his death at the age of thirty-three. This work was held in great estimation. Cotes genius earned encomiums from his contemporaries and successors; Sir Isaac Newton said, "If Mr. Cotes had lived, we should have known something." Two inked signatures at title page; two ownership stamps, text and plates clean, slight loss back cover upper corner. (Inventory #: 18206)