COTES, HARMONIA MENSURARUM, CAMBRIDGE, 1722

FIRST EDITION, 4to (242 x 190mm.), half-title, diagrams in the text, folding engraved table, contemporary calf, title repaired and with erased signature, binding rebacked and slightly worn

bought from Chaucer Head, Presteigne, UK, 1988, Catalogue 41, item 27

Tomash & Williams C184; ESTC T100930

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Cotes was the first Plumian professor of astronomy and experimental physics at Cambridge. Newton is said to have remarked that, "If Cotes had lived, we had known something". But Cotes died at the age of thirty-three, three years after he had seen the second edition of Newton's Principia through the press, in 1713 (he also provided the preface). His writings were collected and published half a dozen years after his death as the Harmonia mensurarum. The integration of rational fractions is an important part of this work.