1691 - Delambre, J.B.J.

Delambre, J.B.J. Analytical Methods for Determining an Arc of the Meridian. Preceded by a treatise on the same subject by A.M. Legendre. Paris, Crapelet for Duprat "An VII" (= 1799). 4°. With 2 folded copper plates. XV, 176 pp., 8 leaves of tables, 6 pp., 1 leaf of colophon. 19th-century binding with library labels. Poggendorff I, 539. DSB IV, 14 ff. Honeyman 843. First edition. - Delambre (1749–1822) was admitted as a member of the newly established 'Bureau des Longitudes' in 1795 and became permanent secretary of the institute in 1803. In 1807, he was appointed professor at the Collège de France in Paris. Together with Pierre Méchain, he measured the distance between Dunkirk and Barcelona between 1792 and 1798, as described in this book. The result served as the basis for the definition of the meter. - Partially stained and browned, otherwise in good condition.