Fourier (Jean Baptiste Joseph) Theorie Analytique de la Chaleur, first edition, half-title, 2 engraved plates, occasional light spotting and browning, uncut in original wrappers, paper spine label with small chip, spine ends chipped, [Dibner, Heralds of Science 154; En francais dans le texte 232; Honeyman 1358; Norman 824; Sparrow, Milestone of Science 68], 4to, Paris, chez Firmin Didot, 1822.

⁂ Exceptional large-paper copy of the first edition in the original wrappers, of the most important and influential work by the French mathematician and physicist Fourier (1768-1830), which represents a landmark in the history of physics, founding the study of heat diffusion on analytical or mathematical principles. "Fourier's application of new methods of mathematical analysis to the study of heat extended rational mechanics to fields outside of those defined in Newton's Principia, enabling the systematization of a wide range of phenomena. To further his study of heat, Fourier introduced the Fourier series and Fourier integrals. Fourier's mathematics are most widely used in problems of vibration such as in heat, sound and fluid motion" (Norman).

Fols. 3/4 (with cancel and cancelled leaf), 4/3, 53/4, 59/3, 63/2, 64/3, 64/4, 65/1 are cancels.