Maupertuis, P. [L. M.] de et al.
The figure of the Earth, determined from observations made by order of the French king, at the polar circle: By messrs De Maupertuis, Camus, Clairaut, le Monnier; the Abbé-Outhier, correspondent of the Academy, and Mr. Celsius, Professor of Astronomy at Upsal. Translated from the French of M. de Maupertuis.
London, Cox, Davis, Knapton, and Millar, 1738. Small 8vo (19.5 x 12.6 cm). vii, 232 pp.; one folded engraved "Mapp of the Country where the Arc of the Meridian was measured" (i.e. today's border between Sweden and Finland in Lapland) and nine folded engraved plates. Contemporary style full calf. Spine with gilt lines and black morocco label with gilt title.
Written by the French astronomer Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759) who also published the famous Venus Physique in 1745. This is the rare first English translation of this important work, providing the first confirmation of Newton's prediction that the earth is flattened at the poles; hence the great interest in this work in Great Britain in a time when science was subordinate to nationalism. De Maupertuis was one of the first in France to support the Newtonian theory at a time when all other French scientists adhered to Descartes, who claimed that the earth was flattened at the equator. The French edition was published in the same year. Ward and Carozzi only quotes the French edition. Astronomical bookplate from the Saul Moskowitz library of "Historical Technology" on the front pastedown, tiny chip in the lower margin of the map, not reaching the image, otherwise a very good, clean copy. DSB IX pp. 186-89; Ward and Carozzi, 1521.
