Mathematical Recreations and Essays.

handsome tree calf

A handsomely bound copy of the fifth edition, a prize binding with the crest and Latin motto of the Shrewsbury School.

Walter William Rouse Ball (1850-1925) was a Cambridge mathematics professor who 'wrote several histories and monographs about the history of mathematics. He also wrote the comprehensive Mathematical Recreations (2nd edn, 1892) which had reached its 13th edition by 1987 and which is probably the work for which he will be generally remembered. It deals with mathematical puzzles and problems, such as cryptanalysis, map colouring, and the calculation of the position of shuffled playing cards, as well as other imaginative mathematical problems associated with magic tricks' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).

Fifth edition; 8vo (18.5 x 12 cm); diagrams within the text, 4-page errata list dated 1911, 14-page integral ads at rear, small pencilled book ticket to front pastedown, a few small spots but overall contents clean and fresh; contemporary tree calf prize binding by the Oxford Bindery, red morocco label, spine elaborately gilt in compartments, floral roll and crest of the Shrewsbury School to boards gilt, marbled endpapers and edges, boards a little rubbed and faded, excellent condition; 506pp.