Newton, Isaac

Matematicheskiya nachala natural'noi filosofii [First Russian translation of Principia mathematica]

Publisher Information: Petrograd: M. M.Stasiulevicha, 1915-16.

Newton, Isaac (1643-1727). Matematicheskiye nachala natural’noy filosofii. Translated from Latin with notes and explanations by A[leksei] N. Krylov. 2 vols. vi, 276; [4], 277-620pp. 36 plates. Petrograd: M. M. Stasyulevich, 1915-16. Original printed wrappers, spines restored, edges of wrappers repaired, front wrapper of Vol. 1 a bit creased, a few tiny chips. Library stamps on titles and last pages of both volumes, some ink lines in the margins. Very good.

First Edition in Russian of Newton’s Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (1687), made by Russian naval engineer and applied mathematician Aleksei Nikolaevich Krylov (1863-1945), who became internationally famous for his works on magnetic compasses, ship floodability, hydrodynamics and computational mathematics. He built the first machine in Russia for integrating ordinary differential equations, and in 1931 published a paper on what is now called “Krylov subspace,” dealing with computation of the characteristic polynomial coefficients of a given matrix.

The first volume of Krylov’s translation of the Principia, unlike many Russian books of the period, was printed on good-quality paper; the second volume, however, was printed on paper of lesser quality. The edition does not include information on the number of copies printed, but it was likely a small edition. OCLC cites four copies in Western libraries—Stanford, Huntington, University of Oklahoma and Paris-BIUSJ-Mathematiques. Not in A Descriptive Catalogue of the Grace K. Babson Collection of the Works of Sir Isaac Newton.

Book Id: 46310

Price: $7,500.00