La figure de la terre, déterminée par les observations de Messieurs de Maupertuis, Clairaut, Camus, Le Monnier, de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, & de M. l'Abbé Outhier [...], accompagnés de M. Celsius [...] faites par ordre du Roy au cercle polaire. Nouvelle édition [...].

8vo: xxiv-[4]-208 pp.; 1 map (handwritten notes on endpapers and throughout).

Contemp. calf, gilt spine on 5 raised bands, red polished edges, marbled endpapers (sl. rubbed, lower endband missing).

2nd ed. (1st: 1738) of the French Geodesic Mission to Lapland to determine the shape of the earth. P.L. Maupertuis (1698-1759) confirmed Newton's prediction that the earth was oblate, thus contradicting Jacques Cassini's statement regarding the earth's prolate shape. Engr. ill.: 1 map representing the arc of the meridian measured and many in-texts.
Ref. Polak n° 6540 (éd. 1738). - Honeyman 2174-2175 (id.).
Prov. Mod. bookpl.