MAUPERTUIS, Pierre-Louis Moreau of La figure de... Lot 1056

MAUPERTUIS, Pierre-Louis Moreau of La figure de la terre, determined by the observations of Messieurs de Maupertuis, Clairaut, Camus, Le Monnier, of the Académie Royale des Sciences, & M. l'Abbé Outhier [...], accompanied by M. Celsius [...] made by order of the King at the polar circle. New edition [...]. Paris s.n. 1739 8vo: xxiv-[4]-208 pp.; 1 map (handwritten notes on endpapers and throughout). Contemp. calf, gilt spine on 5 raised bands, red polished edges, marbled endpapers (sl. rubbed, lower endband missing). 2nd ed. (1st: 1738) of the French Geodesic Mission to Lapland to determine the shape of the earth. P.L. Maupertuis (1698-1759) confirmed Newton's prediction that the earth was Oblate, thus contradicting Jacques Cassini's statement regarding the earth's prolate shape. 1 map representing the arc of the meridian measured and many in-texts. Ref. Polak no. 6540 (ed. 1738). - Honeyman 2174-2175 (id.). Prov. mod. bookpl.