Author: Martin, T. H.
Title: Recherches sur la vie et les ouvrages d'Héron d'Alexandrie, disciple de Ctésibius, et sur tous les ouvrages mathématiques grecs, conservés ou perdus, publiés ou inédits, qui ont été attribués à un auteur nommé Héron.
Description: Paris, l'Institut Impériale de France, 1854. 4to (24.3 x 18.8 cm). Title page and two half-titles; 488 pp. Contemporary full cat paw calf. Spine with five raised, gilt-lined bands; compartments with gilt floral corner-pieces and central vignettes. Marbled endpapers. Marbled edges. = Written by the French archaeologist, historian, and hellenist, Thomas-Henri Martin (1813-1884). Hero of Alexandria (active around 62 AD) ("...was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria in Egypt during the Roman era. He is often considered the greatest experimenter of antiquity and his work is representative of the Hellenistic scientific tradition. Hero published a well-recognized description of a steam-powered device called an aeolipile (sometimes called a "Hero engine"). Among his most famous inventions was a windwheel, constituting the earliest instance of wind harnessing on land. He is said to have been a follower of the atomists. In his work Mechanics, he described pantographs. Some of his ideas were derived from the works of Ctesibius. In mathematics he is mostly remembered for Heron's formula, a way to calculate the area of a triangle using only the lengths of its sides. Much of Hero's original writings and designs have been lost, but some of his works were preserved including in manuscripts from the Eastern Roman Empire and to a lesser extent, in Latin or Arabic translations" Wikipedia). Martin's work gives a complete review of Hero's works. This is the complete fourth volume of the Mémoires présentés par divers savants à l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres de l'Institut de France. Première série, Sujets divers d'érudition. Provenance: The Oxford and Cambridge University Club Library (their armorial bookplate on both pastedowns), and stamp on title page verso. Boards aged, with the leather a bit tired, the spine abraded, with one label perished, the other detached; internally, however, very good.

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