Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838), a leading mathematician of the young American Republic, authored numerous works in mathematical astronomy. As a reader of Pierre-Simon de Laplace, he translated and annotated with rich commentary the first four volumes of Laplace’s Mécanique céleste (1799-1825), which were published in Boston between 1829 and 1839. At a time when mathematical practice had little institutional support in the United States, Bowditch contributed to the dissemination of mathematical knowledge produced in France since the Revolution, particularly the works in analysis and mathematical physics by Laplace, Lagrange, or Legendre, which he deemed insufficiently known on his side of the Atlantic.
This article studies Bowditch’s library, which contained over 1,000 documents acquired between 1788 and 1838. The study comprises three movements that analyze the mathematical part of the library from different perspectives. Firstly, we characterize the books and periodicals held by Bowditch in terms of content, publication date and geographical origin. Doing so, we highlight the great diversity of thematic contents – from analysis to mathematical astronomy – and the central place occupied by very contemporary European (especially French) documents in the library. The second result highlights the material and intellectual dynamics that guided the constitution of the library throughout Bowditch’s life. Finally, the article demonstrates how the library’s works were used by its owner in his scholarly productions and supports the thesis of a library for practical use.
In the study of the processes of mathematical heritage, the article contributes to understanding the role of private libraries in the constitution and circulation of a body of knowledge in a territory still marked by great institutional precariousness in scientific practice.
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