EULER. Methodus inveniendi Lineas Curvas.

4to. 243x190 mm. Legatura coeva in cartonato, titolo manoscritto sul dorso. Pagine [2], 322, [2] con le istruzioni per il legatore]. Frontespizio in rosso e nero con vignetta incisa, 5 tavole incise in rame ripiegate. Piccole macchiette, qualche brunitura, buon esemplare marginoso.

Prima edizione dell'opera in cui compare per la prima volta il calcolo delle variazioni. Cajori: “[This book, which displayed] an amount of mathematical genius seldom rivalled, contained his researches on the calculus of variation to the invention of which Euler was led by the study of the researches of Johann and Jakob Bernoulli … The study of isoperimetrical curves, the brachistochrone in a resisting medium and the theory of geodesics, previously treated by the elder Bernoullis and others, led to the creation of this new branch of mathematics, the Calculus of Variations. His method was essentially geometrical, which makes the solution of the simpler problems very clear.” Norman: “Euler was the first to formulate the principal problems of the calculus of variations and to create general methods for their solution”. Roberts & Trent: “For the purposes of mechanics, the significance of this work lies in the appendix, which deals with geometrical forms of elastic curves … The present work illustrates the first solution to the problem of the buckling of a column.” DSB: “Euler was the first to formulate the principal problems of the calculus of variations and to create general methods for their solution". Horblit: “creation of the calculus of variations".

Cajori, A History of Mathematics, p. 234; DSB IV, p. 479; Horblit 28; Dibner 111. D.S.B., IV, p. 479.; Roberts & Trent, Bibliotheca Mechanica, p. 104; Honeyman Coll. 1060.