Cours de Mathematiques, a l'Usage des Gardes du Pavillon et de la Marine, Bezout, 1768-1789

Étienne Bézout — Cours de Mathématiques, à l'Usage des Gardes du Pavillon et de la Marine.

Paris: Various publishers (Delatour, Musier fils, Ph. D. Pierres), 1768–1789
Six volumes, complete.

A complete set of Bézout’s influential naval mathematics course, designed for the training of French naval and artillery cadets during the late 18th century. Étienne Bézout (1730–1783), a member of the Académie Royale des Sciences and Examiner of the Gardes du Pavillon et de la Marine, developed this curriculum to integrate theoretical and applied mathematics for military use, aligning with Enlightenment ideals of scientific education in service of the state.

The six volumes cover arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, algebra, mechanics, and navigation. Vol. III (Algebra) was first published in 1768 by J.B.G. Musier fils and Delatour and forms part of Bézout’s earlier work, frequently bound into full sets. The sixth volume, dated 1789, was issued posthumously, based on Bézout’s manuscripts, and includes extensive tables for navigation and logarithmic calculations.

The set is uniformly bound in contemporary half leather with tan polished calf spines and corners, raised bands, gilt tooling, and red and black morocco spine labels. Marbled paper over boards. With rubbing, bumping, and wear to extremities, but soundly bound and complete with folding plates as called for. Some light, mainly marginal, damp staining to a few volumes, not affecting legibility. Text clean and bright throughout. A well-preserved and highly usable example of this foundational military mathematical course.

This complete set comprises:

Vol I; Elemens d'Artithmetique, Published Ph. D. Pierres, Premier Imprimeur Ordinaire du Roi, Paris, 1787, xvi + 256pp; 

Vol II; Contenant les Elemens de Geometrie, la Trigonometrie rectiligne & la Trigonometrie Spherique, Published Ph. D. Pierres, Premier Imprimeur Ordinaire du Roi, Paris, 1782, viii + 357pp + VI fold-out plates within text, and a further fold-out plate on blue paper added to the last free endpaper (presumable a later addition); 

Vol III; Contenant l'Algebre & l'application de cette Science a l'Artithmetique & a la Geometrie, Published J.B.G. Musier fils, Paris. De l'Imprimerie de L.F. Delatour, 1768, xii + 489pp + IV fold-out Plates; 

Vol IV; Contenant les Principes generaux de la Mechanique, precedes des Principes de Calcul qui fervent d'introduction aux Sciences Physico-Mathematiques,  Published Ph. D. Pierres, Premier Imprimeur Ordinaire du Roi, Paris, 1784, viii + 432pp + V fold-out plates; 

Vol V; Contenant l'application des Principes generaux de la Mechanique, a differents cas de Mouvement & d'Equilibre, Published Ph. D. Pierres, Premier Imprimeur Ordinaire du Roi, Paris, 1784, viii + 479pp + I fold-out plates; and; 

Vol VI; Contenant Le Traite de Navigation , Published Ph. D. Pierres, Premier Imprimeur Ordinaire du Roi, Paris, 1789, vi (with half title) + 319pp +  fold-out plates + 'Tables a l'Usage de la Navigation); (2) + Tables + XX 'Tables de Logarithmes' (70 unnumbered pages).

Published 1768-1789. Scarce 18th Century set, complete. Although Volume III appears to have been published/printed by a different establishment, the design style is consistent with the other volumes. These are all scarce early volumes - the 6th volume likely to be the first printing to include the extensive tables.

Provenance: Signed to title by Anthony Murray. The small private library labels to spine, also match known examples of his library books. 

He resided in Crieff in Scotland, and was known within the family as "Auld Dullerie" (or sometimes "Dullary"), was born in 1676. Like many intellectually curious Scots of his time, he journeyed to the Netherlands to pursue his studies at the University of Leiden. He lived a long life, passing away in 1761 at the age of 85—remarkably, he outlived his son, also named Anthony, who took part in the Jacobite Rising of 1745 and was killed at the Battle of Culloden. The family’s enduring pattern of travel—whether in search of education or in the service of war—carried on through later generations. Among them were a student at the Scots College in Douai in the late 1700s, two soldiers who served during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and a descendant who became a director with the Geological Survey of Newfoundland.

Text in French.

Approximate dimensions: Each volume 204mm x 134mm x c. 25-32mm.

Weight: Approximately 3kg (the set - unpacked).