Mathematical Recreations and Essays.

handsome tree calf

A handsomely bound copy of the third edition, awarded as a prize for achievement in mathematics by the Merchant Taylor's 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).

Third edition; 8vo (18 x 12 cm); illustrations and diagrams within the text, prize bookplate, contents slightly toned; contemporary tan calf prize binding, brown morocco label, spine elaborately gilt in compartments with floral tools, double gilt fillets and crest of the Merchant Taylor's School to boards, marbled endpapers and edges, a little wear at the corners and ends of spine, some rubbing and slight scuffing of the calf, excellent condition; 276pp.