Theory of the Heavenly Bodies Moving About the Sun in Conic Sections: A Translation of Gauss's "Theoria Motus." With an Appendix. By Charles Henry Davis...
Boston: Little, Brown, 1857. First edition in English of Gauss' chief work on celestial mechanics, in which he introduced the principle of curvilinear triangulation and the four formulae in spherical trigonometry known as "Gauss’s Analogies," by which he was able to accurately calculate and predict orbit location. With eight engraved plates of diagrams. Corners lightly worn, old donor's inscription on a preliminary blank. An unusually fine copy, largely unopened. Publisher's brown cloth, partially faded. Covers and spine blocked in blind, spine lettered in gilt. Quarto. xvii, [3, blank], 326, 39 (tables), [1, list of constants], Item #16042
Gauss's (1777-1855) work originally appeared in 1809. It is here translated by Charles Henry Davis (1809-1877), Commander and later Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and Superintendent of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac. Davis notes in the preface that only parts of Gauss's great work had been previously translated, and he felt it would bee helpful in his work on the American Ephemeris to undertake a complete translation.
For discussions of the first edition, see Norman 879, Printing and the Mind of Man, 257n. Dibner, Heralds, 144n, Houzeau and Lancaster 11897.
Price: $1,500.00