[WOMEN]. Traités Élémentaires de Calcul Différentiel et de Calcul Intégral. Traduits de l’Italien de Mademoiselle Agnesi; avec des Additions

8vo.  195 x 120 mm., [7 ¾ x 4 ¾ inches].  iv, 500 pp.  Illustrated with 6 folding plates with numerous diagrams.  Bound in contemporary mottled calf, lightly rubbed at the edges.  A sound and attractive copy.

First in French, originally published in Milan in 1748 in two quarto volumes under the title Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana,.  It is considered the first book on differential and integral calculus written by either a man or a woman and its publication brought Agnesi international recognition.  Although the title suggests that the book was written for the “use of Italian youth” it was a highly sophisticated and detailed presentation including algebraic equations, and thermos of finite and infinitesimal quantities.  The six plates illustrate her ideas.  This French edition was translated by P. T. d’Antelmy, with additions by Charles Bossut.  It was followed in England in 1801, translated by John Colson, the Lucansian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. 

Maria Agnesi (1718-1794) was born into a wealthy family in Milan. She was identified as a child prodigy and her father encouraged her to study and introduced her to many of the most prominent thinkers in Milan. By her teen years she was fluent in seven languages.  While maintaining her father’s household, she pursued her studies at the University of Bologna, where after the publication of her book was the first women appointed to the faculty. After the death of her father in the 1750's she dedicated herself and her income to the poor of Milan and was recognized by the city fathers for her contributions.

Dictionary of Scientific Biography I. pp. 75.  Essay by Edna Kramer.  Riccardi, Biblioteca mathematica Italiani, I, p. 83.