Opera Omnia, tam antea sparsim edita, quam hactenus inedita. by BERNOULLI, Johann (1667-1748) - 1742

Lausanne & Geneva:: M. M. Bousquet, 1742., 1742. 4 volumes. Large 4to. Engraved frontis., engraved title vignettes, 91 engraved folding plates, titles printed in red and black. Fine contemporary mottled vellum over boards, spines gilt; minor binding defects, very slight worming to final leaves of index of vol. 4. Small Jesuit library stamp on titles. Near fine. First edition, a lovely set. Bernoulli rose to fame, along with his brother Jakob, for his investigations into the then-new fields of differential and integral calculus. Most of Bernoulli's writing appeared only in the journals of the time, and remained uncollected until the present edition. / "His chief discoveries are the exponential calculus, the treatment of trigonometry as a branch of analysis, the conditions for a geodesic, the determination of orthogonal trajectories, the solution of the brachistochrone, the statement that a ray of light traversed such a path that Smds [in Greek] is a minimum, and the enunciation of the principle of virtual work . . . The general adoption on the continent of the differential rather than the fluxional notation was largely due to his influence." – Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, p. 368. / ". . .the first edition of [Johann] Bernoulli's collected works brings together 189 of his papers and 59 of his lectures. The first volume is primarily devoted to problems in geometry and the early calculus, but also contains papers on muscular mechanics, the resistance of solids, and a geometrical demonstration of the motion of pendulums and projectiles in resisting and unresisting media. Volumes two and three are almost totally devoted to problems of mechanics, the first of these containing his theoretical essay on the maneuvering of vessels and related papers, as well as numerous contributions on the analysis of trajectories. His discourse on the laws governing the communication of movement opens volume three, which also contains his essay on celestial mechanics. The last volume contains contributions on the curvature of elastic plates, his mecanico-dynamical propositions, and problems in dynamics. Most important, its appearance in this volume represents the first printing of the Hydraulica, which was written in competition with his son, Daniel." – Bibliotheca Mechanica, pp. 367-37. REFERENCES: Roberts & Trent, Bibliotheca Mechanica pp. 36-37; DSB; Honeyman; 293; Norman 217; Poggendorff I 157-59.