1754. 8vo, pp. [iii]-viii, 233, [11] including table of contents, approbation, privilege and errata; with appealing woodcut title-page vignette, woodcut head- and tail-pieces, and four folding engraved plates; small nick affecting fore-edge of pp. 9-11, insignificant minor worm-trail at tail of pp. 221-232, minor ink staining to plate I, and some occasional light foxing and spotting; otherwise clean and crisp; in contemporary full mottled sheep, spine in compartments with raised bands, tooled in gilt with morocco label, slight nick to spine at tail, upper cover a little scuffed and scratched, extremities lightly bumped and rubbed; with contemporary book-label of ‘Me. Lespinasse, Avocat’ on front pastedown; an appealing copy. First edition of this attractively printed practical elementary work on calculus and geometry, by Pierre Anastase Torne (1727-1797). Though at the time a priest in Tarbes, and a professor at the town college, Torné had long held an interest in mathematics and geometry, and according to the Biographie Nouvelle des Contemporains, was in correspondence with both Jean le Rond d’Alembert (1717-1783) and Joseph Lagrange (1736-1813) who were willing for him to share their teachings, presumably in the present work, although there appear to be no obvious citations. The work was to have some success however and was well received.
Torné was to later become a canon at Orléans Cathedral, and in 1774 delivered the funeral oration of Louis XV, having previous gained a reputation for his oratory and preaching. In 1789 he enthusiastically embraced the revolution, and travelled to Paris to join the Jacobins. He was elected constitutional Bishop of Cher in 1791. Not only politically engaged, he maintained an active correspondence with leading figures and maintained a correspondence with Rousseau. He was to later leave the priesthood and marry at the age of 66, although the marriage proved to short-lived. He eventually returned to Tarbes where he obtained a position as the librarian at the École Centrale, which allowed him to save a number of manuscripts from the revolutionary turmoil. He retained his links with the Jacobins, but died having been rejected by his family, the revolutionary bishop now somewhat forgotten.