‎LAPLACE (M.)‎
‎Exposition du système du monde -- EDITION ORIGINALE -- 2 VOLUMES (COMPLETE SET) -- BEL EXEMPLAIRE BIEN COMPLET DE SES 2 FEUILLETS D'ERRATA‎

‎P., Cercle-Social, An IV (1796), 2 volumes in 8 reliés en demi-veau à coins, dos ornés de filets dorés, (reliures postérieures dans le gout de l'époque), (quelques rousseurs), T.1 : 314pp., (3 feuillets non chiffrés - soit 6 pages : table des matières et errata), T.2 : 312pp., (3 feuillets non chiffrés - soit 6 pages : table des matières et errata)‎

Reference : 5496

‎---- EDITION ORIGINALE ---- BEL EXEMPLAIRE BIEN COMPLET DES DEUX FEUILLETS D'ERRATA - EX-LIBRIS Marcel BEKUS ---- "This book proved to be one of the most successful popularizations of science ever composed... The Système du monde appeared in 1796. The two volume work consists of five books. Book I begins with what any attentive observer may see if he will open his eyes to the spectacle of the heavens on a clear night with a view of the whole horizon. Book II sets out the real motions of planets, satellites and comets and gives the dimensions of the solar system. Book III is a verbal précis of the laws of motion as understood in eighteenth-century rational mechanics, with special reference to astronomy and hydrostatics. In book IV Laplace in effect summarized his own work in gravitational mechanics. The topics are perturbations in planetary motions, the shape of the earth, the attraction of spheroids and the rings of Saturn, motions of the tides and atmosphere, the moons of Jupiter, precession and lunar motions. Book V contains material that Laplace had not written up in technical form or pre-supposed. It gives an overview of the history of astronomy and concludes with the speculation since called the nebular hypothesis and another on the nature of the universe in outer space. Laplace kept his book alive and abreast of his thinking and work throughout his life...". (DSB Suppl. p. 343)**5496/ARM2A‎