Wallis, A treatise of algebra, London, 1685, contemporary panelled calf

WALLIS, JOHN

A treatise of Algebra, both historical and practical (Cono-cuneus, or, the shipwrights circular wedge; A treatise of angular sections; A defense of the treatise of the angle of contact; A discourse of combinations, alternations, and aliquot parts; CASWELL, John. A brief (but full) account of the doctrine of trigonometry, both plain and spherical). London: by John Playford for Richard Davis, 1685 (1684)

folio (318 x 187mm.), woodcut initials and headpieces, woodcut diagrams, 10 folding engraved plates, contemporary English panelled calf, lacking portrait frontispiece, small rust hole in b2, small paper flaw in P2 and z1, a few leaves slightly browned, joints cracked

"[Wallis's] last great mathematical work, A Treatise of Algebra, both Historical and Practical (1685) in 100 chapters, combined technical and historical exposition... The historical account was heavily biased towards English achievements and went as far as to claim that Descartes had gained knowledge in algebra from Thomas Harriot. The Algebra also included a discussion of the methods of exhaustion, of indivisibles, and of infinite series. Moreover, the work included the first printed account, expanded in the later edition, of some of Newton's achievements (Domenico Bertoloni Meli, ODNB).

LITERATURE:

Wing W613

PROVENANCE:

Lord Sandys, armorial bookplate