Paris, Academie des Sciences, 1827. 4to (25.5 x 20.0 cm). In a fine contemporary full calf binding. Spine with five raised bands, red and black morocco title vignettes and gilt floral patterns; boards with dentelles; lightly red-speckled edges.

Two large and very important papers by Augustin Louis Cauchy (1789-1857), contained in the first volume of the Mémoires des Savans Étrangers. The most important paper is Cauchy's cornerstone essay on definite integrals. It is essential in the history of mathematics, partly laying the basis for the Cauchy-Riemann equations. "In 1814 he submitted to the French Academy the treatise on definite integrals that was to become the basis of the theory of complex functions. In 1816 he won a prize contest of the French Academy on the propagation of waves at the surface of a liquid; his results are now classics in hydrodynamics." (DSB) Cauchy's method was significant because of his departure from the traditional use of geometry to treat the definite integral. The theory was read to the Academy by Cauchy in 1814, but only published in 1827 in this volume (pp. 599-799) and includes the rapport, introduction, parts 1 and 2, and two supplements. The second paper, on the "propagation des ondes a la surface" is on pp. 3-313. This volume also contains a memoir on the "theorie de la lune" by Damoiseau. Provenance: pictorial bookplate of the Radcliffe Observatory (the astronomical observatory of the University of Oxford from 1773 until 1934) on the front pastedown. Some small, skilful repairs, doing justice to an unusually fine and elegant contemporary binding. DSB III, pp. 137-138.