FOSSOMBRONI, VITTORIO. Memoir on the principle of virtual speeds. Florence, print. Grand Ducal, 1820.

In 4°, 24 cm, beautiful contemporary violet morocco binding embossed in gold and embossed on the plates and spine, gilt edges, fine collector's item. Pp. 191, with an engraved plate at the end. Very fine  amateur copy, fresh, with margins and on strong paper.



Second edition, rarer than the first, of this physical-mathematical memoir which explores research into virtual velocities from Galileo to Lagrange, from whose "Mecanique Analytique" the author draws inspiration. Fossombroni's main effort is to translate Galileo's formulation of virtual velocities into Lagrange's algebraic language and to apply them to practical hydraulic problems, also providing the first exact demonstration of Galileo's principle. The work also contains exhibitions on Bernoulli's hydrodynamics, on the hydraulic studies of d'Alembert and Euler and on Prony's "New Hydraulic Architecture".

Honeyman Collection, n. 1351. Poggendorff, I, 779. Cini, Scienziati aretini dal '400 al '700", n. 68:"Edizione originale e unica di un'opera di rilevante interesse per la storia delle matematiche".