74. Bolyai Farkas: Jelentés.

(M. Vásárhelyt, 1855. Kali Simon ny.) 8p.
The last work of the world-famous mathematician to appear during his lifetime. Strangely enough, about a year and a half before his death, in the spring of 1855, he wrote his own funeral oration. In fact, he bids farewell to earthly life, sometimes in strikingly moving sentences—thanks also to his literary past. As a sample, here are the opening lines: „A következő életre megértt csecsemő, 9-dik honapban (1-re tíz évet számolva) megszületvén; a’ nyolcz×alatt sok x-et irt tanár, azon felsőbb tábláhaz, melyen az elébbin esmeretlen maradott x-ek megfejtetnek, örömmel menyen tanulónak.” (The infant matured for the next life, born in the ninth month [reckoning ten years for one]; the teacher who under eight Xs wrote many x’s, goes joyfully as a student to that higher blackboard where the x’s left unknown before are solved.)
According to contemporary sources, the author distributed the work among his acquaintances. At his death it was reissued together with his obituary. It could hardly have been printed in a large number of copies, and today it has almost completely fallen into oblivion. To our knowledge it has never appeared at auction.
Unbound.
 
Starting price: 200 000,-