Beschreibung:

LEIBNIZ, Gottfried Wilhelm von (1646-1716). "Nova methodus pro maximis et minimis, itemque tangentibus, quae nec fractas, nec irrationales quantitates moratur, & singulare pro illis calculi genus" pp. 467-473. In: Acta Eruditorum Anno MDCLXXXIV [- Anno MDCLXXXV ]. Leipzig: Christopher Günther for Johann Gross and J.F. Gleditsch, 1684-1685. A fine copy of the first announcement of differential calculus. "The infinitesimal calculus originated in the 17th century with the researches of Kepler, Cavalieri, Torrecelli, Fermat and Barrow, but the two independent inventors of the subject, as we understand it today, were Newton ... and Leibniz. The subsequent controversy in the early part of the 18th century as to the priority of their discoveries—one of the most notorious disputes in the history of science—led to an unfortunate divorce of the English from the Continental mathematics that lasted until the end of the first quarter of the 19th century ... With the calculus a new era began in mathematics, and the development of mathematical physics since the 17th century would not have been possible without the aid of this powerful technique" (PMM). The Acta eruditorum was established in imitation of the Journal des Savans in 1682 in Berlin. Leibniz contributed regularly, and his "Demonstratio Geometrica regulae apud Staticos receptae de momentis gravium in planis inclinatis" is included in the 1685 volume, pp. 501-505. This is a particularly handsome copy, well-margined and attractively bound. Dibner 109; Grolier/Horblit 66a; Norman 1326; PMM 160. Two volumes bound in one, quarto (205 x 168mm). 29 engraved plates, including one for Leibniz's paper (occasional mild offsetting to plates, mostly the folding ones). Contemporary vellum over boards, blue-speckled edges, spine lettered in manuscript.