B chapter.indd - Charles Babbage Institute - University of Minnesota

Erwin Tomash Library 

Babbage, Charles Babbage, Charles 

Blagrave, Mathematical jewel, 1585 

B 1 

Babbage, Charles (1791–1871) 

On the action of ocean-currents in the formation of the 

strata of the earth (Abstract). 

See any biographical dictionary for details on Babbage’s 

life and the entry Macrosty and Bonar, Annals of the 

Royal Statistical Society, 1934, for a photographic 

portrait. 

While Charles Babbage may be considered to be the 

grandfather of the modern computer, his work was limited 

to mechanical technology. Though electrical technology 

(particularly telegraph and relay technology) was being 

developed towards the end of his life, he seems not to 

have considered them for any of his engines. Despite this 

he was able to design mechanical machines that were the 

functional equivalent of the modern electronic computer. 

Today all encyclopedias will have some mention of him 

or his achievements—a situation that only arose after the 

development of the modern computer. He was essentially 

forgotten, or at least relegated to an obscure corner of 

the history of mathematics, before his involvement with 

calculating machines came to be appreciated. Interested 

in all aspects of science, he made contributions to areas 

as diverse as mathematics, geology, chemistry, statistics, 

astronomy, railroads and lighthouses. Short introductions 

to each of Babbage’s publications can be found in The 

Works of Charles Babbage, edited by Martin Campbell- 

Kelly, published in London by Pickering and Chatto in 

1989. Many of the remarks in the Babbage entries of this 

work are adapted from the introductions by Campbell- 

Kelly. 

See entry for Works of Charles Babbage, M.A., F.R.S., &c. 

[A Collection of seventeen items by or about Babbage]. 

B 2 


Addition to the memoir of M. Menabrea on the 

analytical engine. In The London, Edinburgh and 

Dublin Philosophical Magazine, and Journal of 

Science. Third Series. Vol. 23, No. 151, September 

1843. 

Year: 1843 

Place: London 

Publisher: Taylor and Francis 

Edition: 1st 

Language: English 

Binding: original paper wrappers; unopened 

Pagination: pp. 235–239 

Size: 223x140 mm 

Reference: Van S CBCP, #55; Ran ODC, p. 405; MCK CBCW, 

v. 3, pp. 83–88; Not in Babb CBLP 

This paper was published anonymously a few weeks after 

the Ada Lovelace translation of the Menabrea paper on 

the Analytical Engine appeared (see Menabrea, Luigi 

Federico; translated by Byron, Augusta Ada, Lady 

Lovelace, Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by 

Charles Babbage, Esq. … with notes by the translator, 

extract from the “Scientific Memoirs” vol. III, 1843). 

The attribution to Babbage was by the editors of 

Astronomische Nachtrichen, who reprinted the paper in 

1844 and learned of the author’s identity through David 

Brewster. 

In this paper Babbage presents his side of the dispute 

with the British government over financial support for 

the Difference Engine. Babbage evidently intended the 

paper be published as an addendum to the Lovelace 

translation, but both the translator and the publishers 

were reluctant to involve themselves in the controversy. 

Babbage then turned to his friend and admirer David 

Journal cover, B2 

67

68 



Brewster, an editor of the Philosophical Magazine. 

The paper also appears in Babbage, H. P.; Babbage’s 

calculating engines, being a collection of papers relating 

to them, their history and construction, London, 1889, 

under the title Statement of the circumstances attending 

the invention and construction of Mr. Babbage’s 

calculating engines. 

Illustrations available: 

Cover page: 

B 3 


An analysis of the statistics of the clearing house during 

the year 1839. 

See Babbage, Charles; Works of Charles Babbage, 

M.A., F.R.S., &c. [A Collection of seventeen items 

by or about Babbage]. 

B 4 


On the application of analysis to the discovery of local 

theorems and porisms. In Transactions of the Royal 

Society of Edinburgh, vol. 9. 

Year: 1823 

Place: Edinburgh 

Publisher: Royal Society of Edinburgh 

Edition: 1st (offprint) 


Binding: extract; paper wrappers 


Reference: Van S CBCP, #21; Babb CBLP #14; Ran ODC, p. 

405; Dub MWCB, p. 231 

This journal extract is a technical mathematical paper. 


First page: 

B 5 


Autograph letter. 

Year: 1820 or 1826 

Place: London 

Edition: manuscript 


Pagination: 1 page 

Dated 24 April, Babbage sends invitations to Mrs. Butler 

and Miss Kemble (likely the celebrated actress Fanny 

Kemble), via Mrs. Milman, for one of his gatherings. 

The text mentions Saturday, April 29, and Saturday, 

May 6, and these dates are a Saturday in both 1820 and 

B 5 

1826. Mrs. Milman was a poet and scholar, according to 

a notation by the seller. 


Letter 

B 6 



Year: 1838 

Place: London 



Pagination: 2 pages 

A letter from Babbage to an anonymous recipient dated 

10 January 1838. Babbage says he cannot come out 

because he is having a hot water apparatus installed and 

cannot leave the workmen. 


Letter (2) 

B 7 



Year: 1862 

Place: London 




A letter from Babbage to a Mrs. Robinson dated 25 

August 1862. It mentions the excitement of the Exhibition 

and the fact that Babbage was writing a book that will 

gain his revenge over those who used all the small 

power and wit they possess to destroy the Analytical



Engine. He presumably means Passages from the life of 

a philosopher, which was first published in 1864. 


Letter (2) 

B 8 


Carte de visite. 

Year: n/d 

Place: London 

Edition: photograph and autograph 



This bears a photograph of Babbage with his autograph 

on the verso. 


Card 

B 9 


A chapter on street nuisances. 

Year: 1864 

Place: London 

Publisher: John Murray 

Edition: 2nd 


Binding: paper wrappers 

Pagination: pp. 32 

Reference: Van S CBCP, #76; Ran ODC, p. 405; MCK CBCW, 

v. 11; Not in; Babb CBLP 

This is an offprint from Passages from the life of a 

philosopher (misnoted on the title page as Passages in 

the life of a philosopher). 


Title page 

Charles Babbage, B 8 

B 10 


B 9 

A comparative view of the various institutions for the 

assurance of lives. 

Year: 1826 

Place: London 

Publisher: J. Mawman 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 1 folding table 

Binding: three-quarter leather over marbled boards 

Pagination: pp. xxxii, 170, [28] 

Collation: A–N 8 O 3 


Reference: Van S CBCP, #26; Babb CBLP, #30; Ran ODC, p. 

405; MCK CBCW, v.6 

This volume is illustrative of Babbage’s broad range of 

interests and grew out of his experience as an actuary 

for the Protector Life Assurance Society. The insurance 

business was in its infancy at the time, and many 

companies were being formed in England. The Protector 

did not, in fact, issue any policies. It was within a few 

days of opening its doors when, for reasons still not clear, 

the directors unexpectedly decided to cease business. 

Rather than a book for the insurance industry, Babbage 

aimed this volume at the interested layman. In 1827 it 

was translated into German. 

This book carries the signature of Henry P. Babbage 

(Charles’ son) as well as being a presentation copy 

69

70 

Inscription, B 10 



from Richard H. Babbage (Charles’ great-grandson 

who lived in Montreal) to Richard Bedford Bennett, a 

Canadian lawyer and politician. Bennett later (1930) 

became Prime Minister of Canada. Richard Babbage’s 

inscription reads: 

Presented to R. B. Bennett K.C. MP by Richard H. 

Babbage M.C. Great grandson of the Author as a 

small token of gratitude for many kindnesses Dec. 

1919 

Richard Babbage was correct in addressing Bennett as 

a King’s Counsel (K.C.); however, Bennett was not, at 

the time, a Member of Parliament (MP). Bennett was an 

MP from 1911 until 1917, then was not elected again 

until 1925. 

A review of this work by David Brewster (see entry for 

Babbage; Works of Charles Babbage, M.A., F.R.S., &c. 

[A Collection of seventeen items by or about Babbage]) 

is also available in the collection. 


Title page 

Inscription 

B 11 


On currency, on a new system of manufacturing and 

on the effect of machinery on human labour. Being 

three chapters extracted from the third edition of “The 

Economy of Machinery and Manufactures.” 

B 10 

Year: 1833 

Place: London 

Publisher: Charles Knight 

Edition: 1st (Separate) 


Binding: original paper wrappers 



Reference: Van S CBCP, #70; Babb CBLP, #71, #73; Ran 

ODC, p. 405; MCK CBCW, v. 8 

This is an extract from one of Babbage’s most important 

works. 


Title page 

B 12 


Demonstration of a theorem relating to prime numbers 

In The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, 

June 1819. 

Year: 1819 


Publisher: Archibald Constable 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: half bound over marbled boards 




ODC, p. 405; MCK CBCW, v. 1, pp. 279–282; Dub 

MWCB, p. 230

Babbage, Charles 

This is one of Babbage’s earlier mathematical papers. 

It is simply an extension of one relating to which 

mathematical forms are divisible by n when n is a prime 

number but not otherwise. Babbage’s theorem extends 

the situation to include n 2 . 


First page 


B 11 

Journal cover, B 13 

B 13 



Demonstrations of some of Dr. Matthew Stewart’s 

general theorems; to which is added, an account of 

some new properties of the circle. In the Journal of 

Science and the Arts Vol. I, Art II,1817. 

Year: 1816 

Place: New York 

Publisher: James Eastburn 

Edition: 1st (U. S.) 


Figures: 4 engraved plates 

Binding: Cloth spine over paper boards 


Collation: A 4 B–I 8 K 7 L–X 8 Y 4 Z 2 


Reference: Van S CBCP, #5; Babb CBLP, #5; MCK CBCW, 

v.1, pp. 194–212; Dub MWCB, p. 230 

This is a prime example of Charles Babbage’s early 

mathematical work. After graduation from Cambridge 

in 1814, Babbage sought to establish his career as a 

mathematician, a calling in which he was both talented 

and prolific. From 1813 to 1827, Babbage, according 

to his own List of works, wrote no less than thirty-three 

books and papers. 


Title page 

B 14 


On the determination of the general term of a new class 

of infinite series In The Philosophical Magazine and 

Journal, Vol. 67, No. 336, April 1826. 

Year: 1826 

Place: London 

Publisher: Richard Taylor 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: half-bound leather over marbled paper boards 




ODC, p. 405; MCK CBCW, v.1, pp. 61–68 

This is another of Babbage’s early mathematical papers. 


None 

B 15 


Sulla economia delle macchine e della manifatture. 

Year: 1834 

Place: Florence 

71


72 

Publisher: Presso Guglielmo Piatti in Vacchereccia – Luigi 

Casini in Via Martelli e al Gabinetto Scientifico 

Lettrario di Vieusseux 

Edition: 1st (Italian) 

Language: Italian 

Binding: original paper wrappers; untrimmed 

Pagination: pp. [8], 311, [1], [7], [1] 

Collation: π 4 1–20 8 




See the entry for Babbage, Charles; On the economy of 

machinery and manufactures, 1832. 


Title page 

B 16 


On the economy of machinery and manufactures. 

Year: 1832 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 


Binding: later buckram boards 

Pagination: pp. xvi, 320 

Collation: A–X 8 




Babbage’s work on his calculating engines aroused his 

keen interest in the workshops and factories of Great 

Britain and Europe. His observation and study of their 


B 15 B 16 


methods during his visits led him to write this classic 

treatise, one of his major works, and its publication 

established him as a major figure in the economics field. 

It is due to this study that Babbage is sometimes referred 

to as the founder of the field of Operations Research. 

This remarkable work considers not only the productive 

function of machines and processes but also their 

administration and control. Babbage referred to the 

subject as the domestic economy of the factory. As was 

his usual predilection, Babbage sought to establish the 

governing general principles based on scientific analysis 

of the subject at hand. Hence, it is not surprising that in 

this work he covers a broad range of topics, including 

process control, production efficiency, plant location and 

labor incentives (profit sharing). 

Many of the contents were first published in the 

introduction to Peter Barlow’s long essay on 

manufacturing and machinery in Great Britain (see that 

entry) in the Encyclopedia Metropolitana in 1829 and a 

few years later as this volume. The book went through 

several editions and was translated into all the major 

European languages. Babbage added minor items from 

one edition to the next, but essentially all the material is 

present in this first edition. 

This first edition had two issues: a presentation version, 

of which a small number were printed in large paper 

format, and three thousand copies in the standard octavo 

size usually encountered. 


Title page


B 17 



B 17 


Year: 1832 

Place: Philadelphia 

Publisher: Carey & Lea 

Edition: 1st (U.S.) 


Binding: later leather 

Pagination: pp. xx, 15–282, [36] 

Collation: π 4 1–23 6 24 2 χ 18 




This is the American edition of Babbage’s major work, 

published in the same year as the British first edition. 


Title page 

B 18 



Year: 1832 

Place: London 


Edition: 2nd 


Figures: steel engraved title page 

Binding: contemporary leather; spine gilt; gilt edges 


B 18 

Pagination: pp. xxiv, 388 

Collation: a 8 b 4 B–2B 8 2C 2 




This is the second edition of Babbage’s work—published 

in the same year as the first. 


Title page 

B 19 



Year: 1833 

Place: London 


Edition: 3rd 



Binding: original moiré grained buff cloth boards; gilt spine 

Pagination: pp. xxiv, 392, [4] 

Collation: a 8 b 4 B–2B 8 2C 4 2D 2 




This third edition of Babbage’s major work features a 

new preface. 


Title page 

73


B 20 



74 

Year: 1835 

Place: London 


Edition: 4th 



Binding: original cloth boards 

Pagination: pp. iii–xii, [2], xiii–xxiv, 408 

Collation: a 8 b 4 B–2B 8 C–E 4 




This is the fourth edition. The work was a popular 

success, with four editions in a little over two years. 


Title page 

B 21 


On electrical and magnetic rotations. In Philosophical 

Transactions of the Royal Society for the year 

MDCCCXXVI. 

Year: 1826 

Place: London 

Publisher: Royal Society of London 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 19 engraved plates (5 folding) 


Pagination: pp. 494 –528. 

Collation: 3Sv 4 –3V 4 3Y 2 



ODC, p. 405 

This is a paper on the magnetic properties of matter. See 

the entry Babbage, Charles; On a method of expressing 

signs, 1826, for an illustration of the title page of this 

volume of the Philosophical Transactions. 


Title page (see above) 

B 22 


An examination of some questions connected with 

games of chance. 

Year: 1821 

Place: London 

Publisher: Royal Society of Edinburgh 

Edition: 1st 



Babbage title page, B 23 


Binding: disbound extract 


Size: 272x215 mm. 


5; MCK CBCW, v. 1, pp. 327–343; Dub MWCB, p. 231 

This is an extract of one of Babbage’s technical 

mathematical papers. 


First page 

B 23 


Examples of the solutions of functional equations. 

b/w: Herschel, J. F. W.; A collection of examples of the 

applications of the calculus of finite differences. 

Year: 1820 

Place: Cambridge 

Publisher: J. Smith for J. Deighton et. al. 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: one engraved plate 

Binding: green cloth boards 

Pagination: pp. vi, 172, [iv], 42 

Collation: *a 3 *A–*X 4 *Y 2 * 2 A–E 4 F 1 


Van S CBCP #70; Babb CBLP #71, #73; Ran ODC, p. 405; 

MCK CBCW, v. 1, pp. 283–326; Dub MWCB, p. 230 

While undergraduate students at Cambridge in 1812, 

Charles Babbage and his two friends George Peacock 

and John Herschel, formed the Analytical Society to 

bring mathematics teaching in England up to the standards 

of the European continent. Their first undertaking 

was to translate into English a French calculus book 

by Sylvestre François Lacroix (Traité du calcul


Herschel title page, B 23 

Peacock title page, B 23 

différentiel et du calcul integral, 1797–1800) (see entry 

for [Babbage, et al., translators] – Lacroix, Sylvestre 

François; An elementary treatise on the differential and 

integral calculus. Translated from the French with an 

appendix and notes, 1816). 

This volume consists of a large set of examples of the 

applications of the calculus of differences, initially 

intended to accompany that translation but ultimately 

published separately. It contains examples (171 pp.) 

by Herschel for the calculus of finite differences 

and Babbage’s smaller (42 pp.), eighty-three worked 

examples of the calculus of functions. 

The printer, J. Smith, printer to the University, issued 

the work in two forms. One was in two volumes, the 

first containing the work of Peacock and the second 

containing the work of Babbage and Herschel. Smith 

also produced an issue containing the work of all three 



authors. A copy of this later edition is available in the 

collection. 

Peacock (1791–1858) held the Lowndean chair of 

astronomy and geometry at Cambridge from 1836 to 

1858 but stopped lecturing there when he became Dean 

of Ely Cathedral in 1839. 

The translation became very popular and was used for 

many years as a calculus text in British universities. 


Title page of Babbage section 

Title page of Herschel section 

Title page from Peacock’s section (from the second copy) 

B 24 


The exposition of 1851; or, views of the industry, the 

science, and the government of England. 

Year: 1851 

Place: London 

Publisher: London 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: original cloth boards; spine and cover gilt stamped 

Pagination: pp. xvi, 290, [4], 16 

Collation: A–T 8 U 3 χ 8 




Martin Campbell-Kelly, editor of The works of Charles 

Babbage (London, 1989), describes this as a vitriolic 

volume. It was written after Charles Babbage was not 

invited to take part in the organization of the International 

Exposition of 1851. The exhibition, held to celebrate 

progress in arts and manufactures, was opened by Queen 

Victoria and took place in Hyde Park in Joseph Paxton’s 

newly erected, eye-catching Crystal Palace. In the 

Dictionary of National Biography, the work is described 

as the diatribe of a disappointed man. Babbage had sought 

permission from the organizing committee to display the 

model of his Difference Engine and had been refused. 

In this polemic, Babbage not only criticized the policies 

of the organizers of the exhibition but also broadened 

his censure to include the low estate to which science 

in Great Britain had fallen. To remedy the Exposition 

Committee’s failure to recognize the importance and 

value of the Difference Engine, Babbage included a 

chapter on the machine and its history (pp. 173–188) in 

the main body of the text. In an appendix he provided 

a copy of a previously published (1849) pamphlet 

containing articles by Charles Weld and Augustus 

DeMorgan that present Babbage and his work on the 

Difference Engine in an objective and factual light. 

75


76 

B 24 

Within a few years, this work inspired a reply in 

defense of the British establishment written by Richard 

Sheepshanks, A letter to the Board of Visitors of the 

Greenwich Royal Observatory in reply to the calumnies 

of Mr. Babbage at their meeting in June 1853, and in his 

book entitled The Exposition of 1851 (London, 1854). 


Title page 

B 25 


The exposition of 1851; or, views of the industry, the 

science, and the government of England. 

Year: 1851 

Place: London 


Edition: 2nd 


Binding: original cloth boards; spine and cover gilt stamped 

Pagination: pp. xvi, 290, [4], 16 

Collation: A–T 8 U 3 χ 8 




In the second edition Babbage added significant new 

material and incorporated the description of his Difference 

Engine into the main body of the work. See also the entry 

for the first edition (also published in 1851). 


Title page 


B 26 



B 26 

On the influence of signs in mathematical reasoning. 

From: Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical 

Society. 1826, Vol. II. 

Year: 1826 


Publisher: Cambridge Philosophical Society 

Edition: 1st (offprint) 


Binding: yellow paper wrappers 


ODC, p. 405; MCK CBCW, v. 1, pp. 371–408 

This is another of Babbage’s mathematical papers. 

In this paper, Babbage turns from the advancement 

of mathematics to a discussion of the importance of 

mathematical notation and the facilitating role a good 

system can have in leading researchers to discoveries. 

He began this type of research several years earlier: see 

the entry for Babbage, Observations on the notation 

employed in the calculus of functions, 1822. 


Title page 

B 27 


An introductory view of the principles of manufactures. 

b/w: Barlow, Peter; A treatise on the manufactures 

and machinery of Great Britain… To which is 

prefaced, an introductory view of the principles 

of manufactures by Charles Babbage. Forming


a portion of the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. 3 

volumes. 

Year: 1836 

Place: London 

Publisher: Baldwin and Braddock 

Edition: 2nd 


Figures: 87 engraved plates bound at end of v.3 

Binding: contemporary leather 

Pagination: v.1: pp. Iii–viii, 412; v.2: pp. 413–828; pp. 829-834 

Collation: v.1: π 3 B–L 4 M 2 N–3G 4 ; v.2: 3H–5N 4 ; v.3: 5O 3 




In 1829, Peter Barlow wrote an extensive tract on the 

subject of machinery as applied to manufacturing for 

the Encyclopedia Metropolitana, for which Charles 

Babbage provided the introduction. The two items were 

also published separately, as here (first edition in 1829, 

third in 1845). Babbage had a very strong interest in 

manufacturing techniques and the first section of his 

classic book On the economy of machinery and 

manufactures, published in 1832, was based on this 

introduction. He also rewrote this eighty-four page 

introduction substantially for each new edition. 

Characteristically, the treatise is thorough and 

comprehensive. It ranges from the gathering and 

regulating of power needed to properly operate machinery 

to a discussion of the division of labor and the needs 

for capital in a manufacturing enterprise, concluding 


B 27 


B 28 

with a checklist of data to be acquired when gathering 

information about a factory and its production of goods. 


Title page 

B 28 


Letter from Mr. Babbage to the members of the British 

Association for the Promotion of Science. 

Year: 1839 

Place: London 

Publisher: Richard Clay 

Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. 15, [1] 




This small pamphlet puts forth Babbage’s explanation of 

a disagreement between himself and the other members 

of the Board of the British Association. He had been 

asked to let his name stand for president, but his friend 

John Herschel had also been asked, and this led both 

men to withdraw their names. Subsequent disagreements 

also led Babbage to resign from the board. The BAAS 

had been founded partly in the belief that the Royal 

Society had become too political—apparently the BAAS 

had also fallen into that state. 

77


See also entry for Works of Charles Babbage, M.A., 

F.R.S., &c. [A Collection of seventeen items by or about 

Babbage]. 

78 


Title page 

B 29 


A letter to Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. President of the 

Royal Society, etc. etc. on the application of machinery 

to the purpose of calculating and printing mathematical 

tables from Charles Babbage, Esq. M.A. 

Year: 1822 

Place: London 

Publisher: J. Booth 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: disbound; in cloth case 


Collation: π 1 B 5 (-B6) 



405; MCK CBCW, v. 2, pp. 5–14 

Babbage was only a few years out of Cambridge when 

he decided to devote his efforts to the production of a 

Difference Engine. He announced this by writing an open 

letter to Sir Humphry Davy, the president of the Royal 

Society. In it he describes the concept, his pilot project, 

his critical results and eventually, in the last sentence, an 

indirect request for financial support: 

It must however be attained at a very considerable 

expense, which would not probably be replaced, 


B 29 Journal cover, B 30 


by the works it might produce, for a long period 

of time, and which is an undertaking I should feel 

unwilling to commence, as altogether foreign to 

my habits and pursuits. 

The letter was widely circulated and eventually resulted 

in the government granting funds for the construction of 

Babbage’s Difference Engine. Significantly, the letter 

also contains remarks showing that Babbage had been 

thinking of other forms of calculating machines. 


Title page 

B 30 


Note sur machine suédoise de MM. Scheutz pour 

calculer les tables mathématiques par la méthode 

des différences, et en imprimer la les resultats 

sur des planches stéréotypes. In Comptes Rendus 

Hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des 

Sciences, Vol. XLI, No. 15, 8 October 1855. 

Year: 1855 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Mallet-Bachelier 

Edition: 1st 

Language: French 




Reference: Van S CBCP, #70; #71, #73; Ran ODC, p. 405; 

MCK CBCW, v. 3, pp. 233–236



A short communication by Babbage regarding the 

Scheutz Difference Engine. Babbage uses this note to 

bring his system of mechanical notation to the attention 

of the French Academy. The article mentions several 

graphical illustrations, evidently drawn by Charles’ son 

Henry P. Babbage for the occasion, but these were not 

reproduced in the printed version. 

An English translation of this paper is in The works of 

Charles Babbage, Martin Campbell-Kelly, ed., 1989. 


Cover page 

B 31 

Babbage, Charles (1791–1871) [G. Friedenberg, 

translator] 

Ueber Maschinen und Fabrikenwesen. 

Year: 1833 

Place: Berlin 

Publisher: Stuhrschen Buchhandlung 

Edition: 1st (German) 

Language: German 

Binding: contemporary marbled boards; rebacked 

Pagination: pp. [4], lii, 462 

Collation: π 2 a–b 12 c 2 1–19 12 20 3 




See entry for Babbage, On the economy of machinery 

and manufactures, 1832 edition—this is the German 

translation. 


Title page 

B 31 

B 32 


Memoirs of the Astronomical Society of London. 

Year: 1822–1829 

Place: London 

Publisher: v.1 & v.2: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy; v.3: Priestley 

and Weale 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: v.1: 6 plates (1 folding); 1 folding table; v.2: 8 plates 

(1 folding) 

Binding: contemporary three-quarter leather; spine gilt 

Pagination: v.1. pp. viii, iii–vi, 532; v.2. pp. iii–viii, iii–viii, 

564, ccxxiv, [4]; v.3. pp. viii, v–viii, 432 

Collation: v.1. A 6 B–2C 4 2D 2 2E 2 2F–3Y 4 3Z 2 ; v.2. A 6 B– 

2R 4 2S 2 2T–4C 4 a–2d 4 2e 6 ; v.3. A 6 B–3I 4 


These three volumes, the only ones published, contain a 

number of papers by Babbage: 

1. A note respecting the application of machinery to 

the calculation of astronomical tables 

2. Address of Henry Thomas Colebrooke, president 

of the Astronomical Society of London, on 

presenting the gold medal to Charles Babbage 

3. Notice respecting some errors common to many 

tables of logarithms 

4. Observations on the application of machinery to 

the computation of mathematical tables 

5. On a new zenith micrometer 

Each of these papers has its own entry in this catalog. 

Babbage was one of the founders of the Astronomical 

Society. 


Title page 

B 33 


On a method of expressing signs by the action of 

machinery. In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal 

Society 116, pt. 3, (1826) for the year MDCCCXXVI. 

Year: 1826 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 





Collation: 2K 3 ,2K 4 ,2L 4 ,2M 1 ,2M 2 


Reference: MCK CBCW, v. 3, pp. 209–223 

Ever the generalist, this paper is Babbage’s attempt to 

formally describe the movements of a complex piece of 

79

80 



machinery and to make it understandable by means of 

letters and signs that indicate how each piece moves and 

at what time in the cycle. 

A second copy of this work is available in the 

collection. 


Title page 

B 34 

[Babbage, Charles (1791–1871)] 

Mr. Babbage’s Invention. Copies of the correspondence 

between the Lord’s Commissioners of his Majesty’s 

treasury and the President and council of the Royal 

Society, relative to an Invention of Mr. Babbage. 

Year: 1823 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 


Binding: extract, disbound 


This contains the letter that Babbage wrote to Humphry 

Davy indirectly asking for government support of his 

efforts at building a Difference Engine. The government 

passed the letter along to the Royal Society with a letter 

of their own (also printed here) asking 

… that their lordships request to be favoured with 

the opinion of the Royal Society on the merits and 

utility of his invention. 

The Royal Society wrote back (letter also printed here): 

That it appears to the Committee, that Mr. 

Babbage has displayed great talents and 

ingenuity in the construction of his machine 

for computation, which the Committee think 

fully adequate to the attainment of the objects 

proposed by the Inventor, and that they consider 

Mr. Babbage as highly deserving of public 

encouragement in the prosecution of his arduous 

undertaking. 


First page 

B 35 


On some new methods of investigating the sums of 

several classes of infinite series. In Philosophical 

Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 109 

(1819). 

Year: 1819 

Place: London 

B 34 


Edition: 1st (Extract) 


Binding: extract-uncut, disbound 


Size: 292x232 mm. 

Reference: Van S CBCP, #11; Babb CBLP, #10; Dub MWCB, 

pp. 136–143, 230; MCK CBCW, v. 1, pp. 248–278 

This extract from the journal is uncut and disbound. It is 

one of Babbage’s early papers on mathematics. 


Title page 

B 36 


On a new zenith micrometer. In Memoirs of the 

Astronomical Society of London, Volume 2. 

Year: 1826 

Place: London 

Publisher: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 1 


Pagination: v.1, pp. viii, iii–vi, 530, [2]; v.2, pp. iii–viii, iii–viii, 

564, ccxxviii; v.3, pp. viii, v–viii, 432 

Collation: v.1, a 4 b 2 B–2C 4 2D–2E 2 2F–3Y 4 3Z 2 ; v.2, a 6 B– 

2R 4 2S 2 2T–4C 4 a–2d 4 e 6 ; v.3, a 6 B–3I 4 



ODC, p. 405; MCK CBCW, vol. 4, pp. 42–45



This paper is indicative of Babbage’s wide range of 

interests and his willingness to apply his intellect to a 

variety of topics. It is a short description of an anglemeasuring 

device of his invention. Previous astronomical 

angular measurement systems relied on a finely divided 

scale that could be read by the aid of a magnifying glass. 

Babbage proposes a system in which a telescope is 

attached to one arm of a parallelogram; any shift of the 

configuration of the parallelogram being magnified by 

attachments to the other arms makes it easy to determine 

the angle of shift. There is one small figure describing the 

system that is to be found as part of the plate illustrating 

the previous paper in the volume. 


None 

B 37 


The ninth Bridgewater treatise, a fragment. 

Year: 1837 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. [4], xxii (iii misnumbered as i), 23–240, (103 

misnumbered as 101),[2], 8 

Collation: π 2 B–Q 8 R 1 χ 4 




As modern science began to conflict with traditional 

religious values, in 1829 the Earl of Bridgewater (Rev. 

Francis Egerton, F.R.S.) left the Royal Society a bequest 

of £8,000 to pay for the writing of several books on the 

Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God, as manifested 

in the Creation. Eight of these treatises were produced, 

but none seems to have had lasting value. The most 

successful treatise, titled Astronomy and general physics, 

was written by William Whewell, a tutor of mathematics 

at Cambridge. In it, Whewell condemned the growing 

influence of scientists and mathematicians and described 

them as mechanical philosophers without any authority 

with regard to their view of the administration of the 

Universe. In passing, Whewell singled out mechanized 

analytical calculation for particular condemnation. 

Babbage felt the need to respond and privately produced 

this unofficial Ninth treatise. The work is curious in 

that Babbage decided to leave large sections blank (or 

perhaps removed them before publication)—hence the 

term fragment in the title. Martin Campbell-Kelly (The 

Works of Charles Babbage) reports that it had been 

suggested that some may have been removed after 

Babbage’s friends, upon reading the proofs, objected to 

certain passages. 

The work argues for example, that miracles can easily 

occur without divine intervention and gives examples 

relating to his calculating machines and mathematics 

in general. The appendix contains a section on the 

calculating engine. 

For a modern discussion, see Topham, J., “Science and 

popular education: The role of the Bridgewater treatises,” 

British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 25, 1992, 

pp. 397–430. 


Title page 

B 38 



Year: 1838 

Place: London 


Edition: 2nd 



Pagination: pp. viii, xxii, 23–270, [14] 

Collation: A 4 B–S 8 χ 6 




B 37 

81

82 



This second edition was considerably revised and 

enlarged with the help of Dr. W. H. Fitton, a longtime 

friend of Babbage’s. 

A second copy of this edition is available in the 

collection. It is a presentation copy from Babbage to 

W. R. Grove. William Robert Grove (1811–1896) was 

trained as a lawyer, but his interest was in science. He 

served as professor of experimental philosophy at the 

London Institution and was elected a fellow of the Royal 

Society in 1840. 


Title page 

B 39 



B 39 

Year: 1841 


Publisher: Lea & Blanchard 



Binding: original cloth boards; paper label on spine 

Pagination: pp. xii, xvii–xxxii, 33–250, [2], 3–32 

Collation: 1 2 2–31 4 32 2 χ 15 




This first American edition was produced from the 

second (1838) London edition. 


Title page 

B 40 


A note respecting the application of machinery to the 

calculation of astronomical tables. In Memoirs of the 

Astronomical Society of London, v.1, pt. 2. 

Year: 1822 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 



Pagination: v.1: pp. viii, iii–vi, 532; v.2: pp. iii–viii, iii–viii, 

564, ccxxiv, [4] v.3: pp. viii, v–viii, 432 

Collation: v.1: A 6 B–2C 4 2D 2 2E 2 2F–3Y 4 3Z 2 ; v.2: A 6 B– 

2R 4 2S 2 2T–4C 4 a–2d 4 2e 6 v.3: A 6 B–3I 4 



405; MCK CBCW, v. 2, pp. 3–4 

This one page item, in a three-volume set, simply 

announces the fact that Babbage’s small trial Difference 

Engine was working correctly. 


None 

B 41 


Notice respecting some errors common to many tables 

of logarithms. In Memoirs of the Astronomical Society 

of London, Volume 3, part 1. 

Year: 1829 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 



Pagination: v.1: pp. viii, iii–vi, 532; v.2: pp. iii–viii, iii–viii, 

564, ccxxiv, [4] v.3: pp. viii, v–viii, 432 

Collation: v.1: A 6 B–2C 4 2D 2 2E 2 2F–3Y 4 3Z 2 ; v.2: A 6 B– 

2R 4 2S 2 2T–4C 4 a–2d 4 2e 6 v.3: A 6 B–3I 4 




MWCB, p. 196 

This is an important paper in which Babbage points out 

that almost all logarithmic tables had been copied from 

earlier versions and consequently contained the same 

errors. He points out that the source of six common 

errors was the table produced by Vlacq in 1628. He also 

notes the same errors were found in a set of tables, in the 

library of the Royal Society, produced in China. This was 

two years after publishing his own logarithm tables. 


List of the six common errors.



B 42 


Notice respecting some errors common to many tables 

of logarithms. In Memoirs of the Astronomical Society 

of London. V. 3, pt. 1. 

Year: 1829 

Place: London 

Publisher: Astronomical Society of London 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: extract; disbound 


Size: n/a 



MWCB, p. 196 

This second copy is an extract from the journal. See also 

the entry for Babbage, Charles; Notice respecting some 

errors common to many tables of logarithms, 1829. 


First page with table of errors 

[Babbage, Charles] 

Obituary notice. 


M.A., F.R.S., &c. [A Collection of seventeen items by or 

about Babbage]. 

B 43 


Common errors, B 42 

Observations addressed, at the last anniversary, of the 

President and Fellows of the Royal Society, after the 

delivery of the medals … 

Year: 1856 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 





Van S CBCP #73; Babb CBLP #76; Ran ODC, p. 405; MCK 

CBCW, v. 2, pp. 187–193 

A committee of the Royal Society decides who will be 

awarded various medals in any given year. At one of the 

medal ceremonies, Babbage observed that the Scheutz 

Difference Engine had been in the Royal Society rooms 

for many months, and he was distressed that, perhaps 

through his own oversight, the Scheutz team had not been 

nominated for one of the medals. He briefly summarizes 

the history of the Scheutz team and their Difference 

Engine and concludes by hoping that the committee 

would keep them in mind in future years. Babbage goes 

on to make it quite plain that he was not questioning the 

competency of those who were awarded the medals. 


Title page 

83

84 



B 44 


Observations on the analogy which subsists between the 

calculus of functions and other branches of analysis. 

In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of 

London, Vol. 107, Part II, 1817. 

Year: 1817 

Place: London 

Publisher: The Royal Society 

Edition: 1st 





Van S CBCP #7; Babb CBLP #6; Dub MWCB, p. 230; 

In this mathematical paper Babbage shows how one may 

use analogies from one branch of mathematics to find 

truths in another. He is careful, however, to point out that 

analogy can only be used as a guide and not as a proof. 


Title page 

B 45 


Observations on the application of machinery to the 

computation of mathematical tables. In Memoirs of the 

Astronomical Society of London. v.1 pt. 2. 

Year: 1822 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 



Pagination: v.1, pp. viii, iii–vi, 532; v.2, pp. iii–viii, iii–viii, 

564, ccxxiv, [4] v.3, pp. viii, v–viii, 432 

Collation: v.1, A 6 B–2C 4 2D 2 2E 2 2F–3Y 4 3Z 2 ; v.2, A 6 B– 

2R 4 2S 2 2T–4C 4 a–2d 4 2e 6 v.3, A 6 B–3I 4 



405; MCK CBCW, v. 2, pp. 33–37 

Babbage was a leading figure in the formation of the 

Astronomical Society and read several papers there. The 

first volume of this three-volume set contains a paper on 

difference equations that was inspired by his attempt to 

build a Difference Engine. It also indicates that he was 

considering a different arrangement of the figure wheels 

(so that they could add to any other axle and not just to 

that of the immediately preceding difference). This more 

flexible arrangement of the organization of the system 

was one of the factors that eventually led to his ideas for 

an Analytical Engine (see illustrations). This early paper 

on his Difference Engine was written in the same year as 

his letter to Sir Humphry Davy. 


Quotation regarding the rearrangement of the figure wheels. 

B 46 


Observations on the discovery in various localities 

of the remains of human art mixed with the bones of 

extinct races of animals. 

Year: 1847 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 


Binding: offprint 

Pagination: 16 pp. 




Recent discoveries in France and Sicily of human and 

extinct animal bones in the same deposit had led to 

questions concerning the antiquity of humans. Babbage 

points out here that one had to be cautious in assuming 

that they were of the same age and presents arguments 

as to how natural geological processes might have been 

responsible for commingling the remains of species from 

two different ages. This is a presentation copy to George 

Ticknor. 


Title page 

B 47 


Observations on the notation employed in the calculus 

of functions. 

Year: 1822 


Publisher: Cambridge Philosophical Society 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: modern paper wrappers 


Size: 272x212 mm. 


405; MCK CBCW, v. 2, pp. 33–37 

In this extract from Transactions of the Cambridge 

Philosophical Society, Babbage begins his commentary 

with the assertion that many mathematical discoveries 

are dependent on the development of a suitable 

mathematical notation. See also the entry for Babbage, 

On the influence of signs in mathematical reasoning, 

1826. 


First page



B 48 


B 48 

Observations on the Temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli near 

Naples, with an attempt to explain the causes of the 

frequent elevation and depression of large portions of 

the earth’s surface in remote periods, and to prove that 

those causes continue in action at the present time. With 

a supplement. Conjectures on the physical condition of 

the surface of the moon. 

Year: 1847 

Place: London 

Publisher: Privately printed (for the author) by Richard and 

John Taylor 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 2 double lithographed plates (1 colored) 

Binding: original cloth boards; gilt embossed covers 


Collation: A–B 8 C 5 χ 2 




This small work testifies once more to Babbage’s wide- 

ranging curiosity. During one of his several trips to Italy, 

he noted evidence of the Temple of Serapis having been 

submerged. In this booklet he attempts an explanation for 

ground movement based on information first presented 

as a paper in the Proceedings of the Geological Society, 

March 1834, Vol. ii, p. 72. Babbage theorized that the 

area had been heated and cooled by movements of the 

liquid core of the earth. His reasoning was that a onemile 

thickness of rock would expand twenty-five feet if 

heated a hundred degrees Fahrenheit and thus raise or 

lower the ground surface above it by the same amount. 


Title page 

B 49 


Passages from the life of a philosopher. 

B 49 

Year: 1864 

Place: London 

Publisher: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: engraved frontispiece 

Binding: contemporary leather—special presentation copy 

inscribed by Babbage: “To her Majesty, Eugenie, 

Empress of the French, most respectfully presented by 

the author” 

Pagination: pp. xii, 496 

Collation: A 6 B–2I 8 




This autobiographical work notably comprises the 

history of both the Difference Engine and the Analytical 

Engine. It also treats his many other inventions and 

contributions including the speedometer, the cowcatcher, 

encoded lighthouse signaling and what is today known 

as operations research. 

This example, in a deluxe Royal binding, with silk 

endpapers by Robert Rivière, is inscribed To her Majesty, 

Eugenie, Empress of the French, most respectfully 

presented by the author. 

A second presentation copy of this work (original cloth 

boards, unopened) is in the collection. It is inscribed: 

To [Mm] M. Mignet, member of the Institute of France, 

from the author. 


Title page 

Frontispiece 

Design on the front and back cover of the leather binding 

85

86 

Frontispiece, B 49 



B 50 


Pensieri sui principii dell’imposta in relazione ad una 

tassa sulla propietà e sue eccezioni… Tradotti dall 

Inglese in Italiano. 

Year: 1850 

Place: Turin 

Publisher: Cugini Pomba e C. Editori 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: contemporary roan-backed marbled boards 





This is the Italian translation of Babbage’s Thoughts on 

the principles of taxation with reference to a property 

tax and its exceptions (see entry for Babbage, Works 

of Charles Babbage, M.A., F.R.S., &c. [A Collection 

of seventeen items by or about Babbage bound in one 

volume]). 


Title page 

B 51 


Reflections on the decline of science in England, and on 

some of its causes. 

Year: 1830 

Place: London 

Publisher: B. Fellowes 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: three-quarter leather over moirè cloth boards; red 

leather label 


Collation: A–P 8 Q 2 




Babbage was courageously outspoken all his life. This 

is an attack on the leadership of the Royal Society that 

led to the formation of the British Association for the 

Promotion of Science in the following year. In this 

work Babbage reveals his love of science and his deep 

understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry. This 

work excited a vigorous correspondence in the pages 

of the Philosophical Magazine that led to Babbage’s 

reputation as a thorn in the side of the British scientific 

establishment. Nevertheless, the reforms that Babbage 

sought were eventually realized, not only in the Royal 

Society but in British science in general. 

The title page has been signed by Babbage’s son Henry 

Babbage. 


Title page 

B 52 


B 51 

Report from the select committee on the laws respecting 

Friendly Societies [Evidence contributed to]. 

Year: 1827 

Place: London 

Publisher: HMSO 

Edition: 1st (extract)




Binding: none—extracted from a volume of parliamentary 

reports 


Collation: A–R 4 


Babbage was interested in all aspects of the developing 

life insurance industry and the statistics upon which 

it based rates. As a director of the aborted firm of The 

Protector Life Insurance Co. (see Babbage, Protector 

Life Assurance Society. In Works of Charles Babbage, 

Collection of seventeen items …), he, together with 

Benjamin Gompertz, was called in to give evidence 

to a Select Committee of the House of Commons 

investigating the laws governing the insurance industry. 

The testimony concerned the accuracy of the tables upon 

which the insurance rates were based. While Babbage 

did not, in general, think they were accurate, he often 

tempered his opinion. For example, when asked about 

death rates for higher and lower classes of society and 

whether differing tables should be used for each, he 

responded that he thought different tables should be used 

but that he would need to see more facts and figures to 

see how soundly that opinion was founded. 


Title page 

B 53 

Babbage, Charles (1791–1871) [J. E. Isoard, translator] 

Science économique des manufactures, traduit de 

l’Anglais de Ch. Babbage, sur le troisiéme édition par 

M. Isoard. 

Year: 1834 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: A la Librairie Orientale de Doney - Dupré 

Edition: 2nd (French) 


Binding: contemporary leather; red leather label 

Pagination: pp. xxiii, [1], 392 

Collation: π 12 1–24 8 25 4 


Reference: MCK CBCW, v. 8 

Two translations into French of Babbage’s On the 

economy of machinery and manufactures appeared in 

Paris almost simultaneously. Both were based on the 

third English edition of 1833. This one by J. M. Isoard, 

an official at the Ministry of Commerce, covered only 

chapters 13 to 34 of the original. Isoard felt that Babbage’s 

earlier chapters on machinery were too specialized 

for the French reader. For a complete translation, see 

Babbage, Charles; Traité sur l’économie des machines 

et des manufactures, 1833. 


Title page 

B 54 


Table of logarithms of the natural numbers from 1 to 

108000. 

Year: 1829 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st (2nd issue) 


Binding: original paper boards, printed label on spine 

Pagination: pp. xx, 202, [2] 

Collation: a 8 b 2 B–N 8 O 4 P 2 



ODC, p. 405 

This is the first edition of Babbage’s logarithms, printed 

on light yellow paper. 

Babbage’s interest in calculating machines arose from 

his desire to mechanically compute complete sets of 

mathematical tables and thus eliminate the errors that 

inevitably crept into them when they were calculated and 

typeset by hand. He created this table of logarithms not 

by calculating them, but by comparing many different 

tables against one another. When differences were noted, 

he would recalculate the correct value, thus producing 

the first error-free table of logarithms. Not content with 

accuracy, he also experimented with their layout and their 

printing. He used variously colored papers in combination 

B 54 

87

88 



with differently colored inks. He notes in his preface (see 

illustration) that all his test subjects agreed that colored 

papers were easier to read, but subjects differed as to 

which color they preferred. The first edition was printed 

on a variety of colors: light yellow, green, etc. 

Babbage also took great pains with the layout of the 

tables experimenting with type fonts and various 

columnar approaches. For example, a comparison of 

these tables with an earlier set (see, for example, the 

entry for Hutton, Mathematical tables, 1785) reveals 

the obvious difference in ease of use. 

The only complete set of these experimental volumes 

extant is held in the Crawford Collection now at the 

Royal Observatory in Edinburgh. 


Title page 

B 55 


Table of the logarithms of the natural numbers from 1 

to 108000. 

Year: 1831 

Place: London 


Edition: 2nd 


Binding: original paper boards rebacked 


Collation: a 8 b 2 B–N 8 O 4 P 2 




Babbage had the proofs of the first edition of these tables 

checked as many as nine times; despite these efforts, nine 

errors were found. These were corrected in this second 

edition, which in this example is printed on yellow paper 

with gray undertones. 


Title page 

Preface remark on colored papers 

First page of table (color) 

B 56 



to 108000. 

Year: 1834 

Place: London 

Publisher: Charles Knight. 

Edition: 3rd 


Binding: modern half-leather marbled boards 


Collation: [A] 8 b 2 B–N 8 O 4 P 2 




This copy of the third edition is printed on light green 

paper. There was also a second issue of the third edition 

in 1838. 


Title page 

Page 1 of the tables (color) 

B 57 



to 108000. 

Year: 1841 

Place: London 

Publisher: William Clowes and Sons 

Edition: 4th 


Binding: original paper boards; red leather label 


Collation: [A] 8 b 2 B–N 8 O 4 P 2 




This copy of the fourth edition is printed on light yellow 

(sienna) paper. A second copy is also available. 


Title page 

Page 1 of the tables (color) 

B 58 



to 108000. 

Year: 1844 

Place: London 


Edition: 5th 


Binding: half bound leather 

Pagination: pp. xx, 202 

Collation: A 8 b 2 B–N 8 O 4 P 1 




This copy of the fifth edition is printed on light yellow 

paper. 


Title page 

Page 1 of tables (color)


B 59 


On tables of the constants of nature and art. In Annual 

report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 

Institution, 1857. 

Year: 1857 

Place: Washington, D.C. 

Publisher: A. O. P. Nicholson 

Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. 298–302 (of 468) 

Collation: 1–29 8 30 2 




In this paper Babbage proposes an ambitious project 

to tabulate all natural features (chemical properties, 

measurements) of all plants and animals, etc. 


Title page 

B 60 

[Babbage, Charles (1791–1871)] – David Brewster 

(1781–1868) 

On the theoretical principles of the machinery for 

calculating tables. In a letter from Charles Babbage, 

Esq. F. R. S. Lond. & Edin. to Dr. Brewster. In 

Edinburgh Philosophical Journal Vol. VIII. No. 15, 

January 1823. 

Year: 1823 





Publisher: Archibald Constable and Co. 

Edition: 1st 






405; MCK CBCW, v. 2, pp. 38–43 

Babbage appreciated Brewster’s support and seems to 

have kept in touch with him. This letter describes the 

interesting developments that occur when the Difference 

Engine, rather than simply adding differences, was set 

to add multiples of differences. This material was also 

communicated to the Astronomical Society of London 

(Babbage, Memoirs of the Astronomical Society of 

London, 1822). Brewster, who had presented a paper 

on Babbage’s Difference Engine to the Society just 

a few months previously, was editor of the Edinburgh 

Philosophical Society Journal and arranged for it to be 

printed it in that publication. 


Title page 

B 61 


Thoughts on the principles of taxation with reference to 

a property tax and its exceptions. 

Year: 1851 

Place: London 


Edition: 2nd 


Binding: new marbled paper wrappers 





Babbage had published this small pamphlet earlier but 

was impelled to produce a second edition because of a 

Parliamentary debate on the imposition of an income 

tax. In the preface, he also indicates that he was moved 

to reprint it … because of the prevalence of what I 

conceive to be unsound principles, even in quarters 

where it should be the least expected. His basic political 

leanings are revealed when he states: I regard the large 

exemptions from the tax admitted in the present act as 

leading directly towards Socialism … 

See also the entry for Babbage, Charles; Works of 

Charles Babbage, M.A., F.R.S., &c. [A Collection of 

seventeen items by or about Babbage]. 


Title page 

89

90 



B 62 


B 61 

Traité sur l’économie des machines et des manufactures 

… Traduit de l’Anglais sur la troisieme edition, par Éd. 

Biot. 

Year: 1833 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Bachelier 

Edition: 1st (French) 


Binding: contemporary green parchment-backed marbled 

boards 

Pagination: pp. [4], xvi, 515, [1] 

Collation: π 2 a 8 1–32 8 33 2 



See the entry for Babbage, Charles; On the economy of 

machinery and manufactures, 1832. Unlike J. E. Isoard’s 

translation, Science économique des manufactures, Paris 

1834, this translation by Biot includes Babbage’s work 

in its entirety. This is the first French translation and is 

based on the third English edition of 1833. 


Title page 

B 63 

Babbage, Charles (1791–1871) [Jose Diez Imbrechts, 

translator] 

Tratado de mecánica práctica y economia politica que 

con el titulo de Economia de máquinas y manufacturas 

escribe in inglis, C. Babbage traducido de la 3 a edicion 

y ampliado con notas. 

Year: 1833 

Place: Madrid 

Publisher: [I. Sancha] 

Edition: 1st (Spanish) 

Language: Spanish 

Figures: lithographed portrait frontispiece; lithographed title 

page 



Collation: * 4 ** 4 *** 2 1–44 4 45 2 



See entry for Babbage, On the economy of machinery 

and manufactures, 1832 edition. 


Title page 

B 64 


Charles Babbage’s vergleichende Darstellung der 

verschiedenen Lebens - Assecuranz - Gesellschaften. 

Aus dem Englischen. 

Year: 1827 

Place: Weimar 

Publisher: Landes - Industrie - Comptoirs 



Figures: 1 folding plate (follows p. 12) 

Binding: contemporary quarter-leather marbled boards 

Pagination: pp. xvi, 138, [30], 12, 8 

Collation: π 8 1–10 8 11 4 χ 10 




B 63


Within a year of the publication of A comparative view 

of the various institutions for the assurance of lives, in 

1826, a German translation appeared that Babbage noted 

with some pride in his List of Works, 1847 (see entry for 

Babbage, Works of Charles Babbage, M.A., F.R.S., &c. 

[A Collection of seventeen items by or about Babbage]). 

The German edition was published for the purpose of 

establishing, at Gotha, a Society for the Assurance of 

Lives, by the Life Assurance Bank of Gotha, in 1829. 

According to the above-mentioned List of Works: 

At the commencement of 1847, the number of 

persons whose lives had been assured, was 14,564, 

and the amount then assured was 23,218,700 Thlr. 


Title page 


A word to the Wise. Observations on peerage for life. 


M.A., F.R.S., &c. [A Collection of seventeen items 

by or about Babbage]. 

B 65 


Works of Charles Babbage, M.A., F.R.S, &c. [A 

Collection of seventeen items by or about Babbage 

bound in one volume]. 

Year: 1815–1864 (but 1824–1872) 

Place: London 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: engraved portrait pasted on frontispiece 

Binding: contemporary three-quarter leather; marbled 

endpapers 


Reference: MCK CBCW, v. 1, pp. 34–47 

This is much more a Babbage miscellany than the usual 

sammelband (the binding together of a set of related 

books or papers of similar size). It would seem that this 

volume was being readied for publication as it has a title 

page and a pasted-up frontispiece complete with a portrait 

of Babbage, as well as typeset half-title pages preceding 

many of the individual articles. While the List of Works 

contains none later than 1847, an auction notice of 1872 

is included, as is Charles Babbage’s obituary notice of 

1871. The volume was discovered with a cache of papers 

held by Babbage descendants in Ireland. Items 1 and 16 

can only be described as ephemera while 3 and 4 are book 

reviews, and 2 is the well-known article by Brewster. 

Item 6 was written with Charles Holzappfel (1806–1847) 


B 64 


a skilled mechanical engineer and technical writer, who 

was well acquainted with workshop practice. 

A brief list of the contents is as follows: 

1. Rates of the Protector Life Assurance Society 

2. On Mr. Babbage’s new Machine for Calculating 

and printing Mathematical and Astronomical 

Tables. Philosophical Magazine, May 1824 

3. A Comparative View of the Various Institutions 

for the Assurance of Lives. Quarterly Review, Vol. 

xxxv, No. lxix (review) 

4. Reflections on the Decline of Science in England. 

Quarterly Review, Vol. Xliii No. lxxxvi (review) 

5. Letter from Mr. Babbage to the members of the 

British Association for the Promotion of Science, 

1839 

6. Paper on the principles of Tools for Turning and 

Planing Metals, 1846 

7. Thoughts on the Principles of Taxation, third 

edition, 1852 

8. On Mechanical Notation as exemplified in the 

Swedish calculating machine by Henry P. Babbage 

(from the Report of the British Association, 1855) 

9. Report of a Committee appointed by the Council 

to examine the Calculating Machine of M. Scheutz 

(Royal Society) 

10. An Analysis of the Statistics of the Clearing House 

During the Year 1839, 1856 

11. On the Calculation and Printing of Mathematical 

Tables by Machinery; The Inventor and His 

Treatment by Judex Juris (a pseudonym for James 

Jerwood) 

12. Observations on Peerage for Life, 1856 

91

92 



13. On the Action of Ocean Currents in the Formation 

of the Strata of the Earth. Quarterly Journal of the 

Geological Society of London, November 1856 

14. Address of Dr. Farr, President of the Statistical 

Society, Session 1871–1872 

15. Obituary Notice of Charles Babbage, Esq. 

F.R.S.: from the Monthly Notices of the Royal 

Astronomical Society 

16. A catalogue of a collection of Engineers’ Tools 

and Plant Used by the late Mr. Baggage (auction 

notice), 1872 

17. A list of works of Charles Babbage. 


Title page 

Obituary Notice and Catalogue of tools 

B 66 


Auction notice, B 65 

The Art Journal illustrated catalogue of the Industry of 

All Nations - 1851. 

Year: 1851 

Place: London 

Publisher: George Virtue for the Proprietors 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: original gilt-embossed cloth boards and spine 

Pagination: pp. xxvi, 328, xvi, viii, viii, viii, xxii 

Collation: a(-a1)–g 2 B–4O 2 * 8 ‡ 4 † 4 ** 4 *** 12 (-***12) 


B 65 

Babbage was incensed at the exclusion of his Difference 

Engine from the Great Exhibition of 1851, and his bitter 

feelings were compounded by his not being asked to 

play a leading role in its organization. The latter offense 

probably resulted from his not entirely undeserved 

reputation for refractoriness. There is nothing in this 

volume that directly concerns Babbage (other than the 

omission of his engines), but it represents a troubled era 

in which he wrote several diatribes against the British 

establishment. 


Title page 


See American magazine of useful and entertaining 

knowledge; Vol. 1, pp. 88–96, Babbage’s 

calculating engine 

See Baily, Francis; On Mr. Babbage’s new machine 

for calculating and printing mathematical and 

astronomical tables 

See Bass, Michael T.; Street music in the metropolis 

See Brewster, David; On machinery for calculating 

and printing mathematical tables 

See Buxton, Leonard Halford Dudley; Charles 

Babbage and his difference engines 

See Colebrooke, Henry Thomas; Address of Henry 

Thomas Colebrooke, president of the Astronomical 

Society of London, on presenting the gold medal to 

Charles Babbage 

See Dodd, George; The curiosities of industry and the


applied sciences, 1852 and 1854 

See Dodge, Nathaniel Shatswell; Charles Babbage, 

1874 

See Knight’s Cyclopædia, Calculating machines 

See Lardner, Dionysius; Babbage’s calculating 

engines 

See Marshall, William P.; Babbage’s calculating 

machine, 1879 

See Menabrea, Luigi Federico; Sur la machine 

analytique de Charles Babbage 

See Menabrea, Luigi Federico [Augusta Ada 

Lovelace, translator]; Sketch of the Analytical 

Engine invented by Charles Babbage, Esq… with 

notes by the translator 

See Quetelet, Lambert Adolphe Jacques; Notice of 

Charles Babbage 

See Sheepshanks, Richard; Correspondence 

respecting the Liverpool Observatory 

See Strand Magazine - William G. Fitzgerald, The 

romance of the museums. 

B 67 

Babbage, Charles (1791–1871) and John F. W. Herschel 

(1792–1871) 

Memoirs of the Analytical Society 1813. 

b/w: Agnesi, Donna Maria Gaetena, [John Colson, 

translator]; Analytical institutions, in four books: 

originally written in Italian…. Translated into 

English by the late Rev. John Colson… 

Year: 1813 


Publisher: Printed by J. Smith 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: contemporary three-quarter leather over marbled 

boards 

Pagination: pp. [4], xxii, [2], 114 

Collation: π 2 a–f 2 A–2E 2 2F 1 



405; MCK CBCW, v. 1, pp. 37–60; Dub MWCB, p. 230 

Driven by their desire to modernize the teaching 

of mathematics at Cambridge when they were 

undergraduates there, Babbage, Herschel and Peacock 

founded the Analytical Society in 1813. The contents 

were of surprisingly high quality (often written by the 

founders and their friends). This volume contains a 

preface and three articles. Babbage was certainly the 

author of the preface and the first article, and he might 

well have written the second. 


Title page 


Babbage, Henry Prevost 

B 67 

Babbage, Charles and Charles Holtzapffel (1806–1847) 

See Babbage, Charles; Works of Charles Babbage 

M.A. F.R. S. &c. [A Collection of seventeen items 

by or about Babbage bound in one volume] - Paper 

on principles of tools, for turning and planing 

metals from: Holtzapffel, Charles, Turning and 

mechanical manipulation, Vol. 2, London, 1847, 

pp. 984–991. 

[Babbage, Charles; George Peacock and John 

Frederick William Herschel, translators] 

See Lacroix, Sylvestre François, An elementary 

treatise on the differential and integral calculus. 

Translated from the French with an appendix and 

notes. 

B 68 

Babbage, Henry Prevost (1824–1925) 

Babbage’s analytical engine. In Monthly notices of the 

Royal Astronomical Society, v. LXX, No. 6, April 1910. 

Year: 1910 

Place: London 

Publisher: Royal Astronomical Society 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 1 photolith plate; 1 table 




Reference: Ran ODC, p. 406; Flet MT vol. I, p. 121; Dub 

MWCB, p. 196 

The youngest son of Charles Babbage, Henry Prevost 

Babbage, rose to the rank of Major-General in the British 

93

94 


Babbage, Henry Prevost Babbage, Henry Prevost 

Army. At Charles’ death, he took possession of all his 

father’s materials relating to the calculating engines 

and used them both to promote his father’s work and to 

construct a portion of the analytical engine. 

Henry Babbage reports that he had managed to assemble 

the mill (arithmetic unit) of his father’s analytical engine 

to the point where it would do simple calculations—in 

this case produce multiples of π. Also, in this work Henry 

explains his reasons for melting down the remaining 

portions of his father’s Difference Engine. 

This copy remains uncut, rendering the introductory 

material on the first page difficult to read. The plate 

shows the mill and the table of multiples. 


Last two pages of text 

Plate of mill and table 

B 69 


On the mechanical arrangements of the Analytical 

Engine of the late Charles Babbage, F.R.S. In Report of 

the Fifty-Eighth Meeting of the British Association for 

the Advancement of Science. Held at Bath in September 

1888. 

Year: 1889 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 


Binding: contemporary buckram 




ODC, p. 405 

This is a brief report of the presentation made by Henry P. 

Babbage at the 1888 meeting of the British Association. 

The closing sentences are of interest: 

It may here be stated that a piece of machinery 

working to 29 places of figures, and embodying 

the anticipating carriage, was shown during the 

meeting to several who desired to see it. The 

anticipating carriage works perfectly, and was 

much admired by those who saw it. 


None 

B 70 


Memoirs and correspondence of Major-General H. P. 

Babbage. 

Year: 1910 

Place: London 

Publisher: W. Clowes 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: engraved portrait frontispiece 

Binding: original cloth boards; gilt spine 

Pagination: vii, [1], 264 

Collation: A 4 B–R 8 S 4 


Reference: DSB, v. 1, p. 356a 

The Mill, B 68 

Charles Babbage’s son, Henry Prevost, was his intellectual 

heir. Having joined the Indian army, Henry’s language 

skills enabled him to pass examinations in some of the 

major Indian languages, thus securing him administrative 

positions, mainly in the Indian judicial system. Although 

many of his siblings had moved to Australia and other 

British colonies, Henry eventually retired to England 

with the rank of Major General and wrote his memoirs. 

His writing is not fluid, and much of the work seems 

to have been based upon short extracts from his diary. 

However, there are some well-written sections. For 

example, his description of service in India during the 

Great Indian Mutiny of 1857, notably the execution of 

forty men from his regiment by being blown away from 

guns on the parade ground at Peshawar. There is also 

a moving account of his father’s deathbed, the dying 

Charles tormented by the racket from organ grinders in 

the street, and another of the circumstances when, after 

attempting to assemble his father’s Difference Engine 

from the parts Clement had made, he finally recognized 

its futility and had most of the parts melted down.


Babbage, Henry Prevost Bachmann, Udalricum 


Title page 

Frontispiece portrait of H.P. Babbage 

B 70 

B 71 

Babbage, Henry Prevost (1824–1925) [Charles Manby, 

editor] 

Scheutz’ difference engine and Babbage’s mechanical 

notation. In Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of 

Civil Engineers with Abstracts of the Discussions, Vol. 

XV. 

Year: 1856 

Place: London 

Publisher: Institution of Civil Engineers 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: three-quarter bound over marbled paper boards; gilt 

spine 



Reference: DSB, v. 1, p. 356a 

Manby, the editor of the Proceedings of the Institution of 

Civil Engineers, reports on a presentation given at one of 

their meetings by Charles Babbage and his son, Henry 

P. Babbage. They first described the Scheutz Difference 

Engine, and Charles praised many aspects of the machine, 

noting that they differed completely from his own. This 

was followed by a presentation on the notation Babbage 

Sr. had developed for detailing movements in complex 

Henry Prevost Babbage, B 70 

mechanical devices, and parts of the Scheutz engine were 

explained using this form of notation. Unfortunately, the 

charts used during the presentation are not preserved as 

part of Manby’s report. 


First page 



M.A. F.R.S. &c [A collection of seventeen items by 

and about Babbage] — On mechanical notation, as 

exemplified in the Swedish calculating machine of 

Messrs. Scheütz. 

B 72 

Bachmann, Udalricum 

Neues Creuz-Rechen-Buchlein, Dergleichen niemalen 

in Druck aussgegangen. In welchem unterschiedlich 

aussgegangne Tarriffae Rechen-Buchlein, so von 

Kauffen und Verkauffen, auch anderen Zinsen, 

Besoldungen, und Hauss-Rechnungen handlen, um vil 

vermehrt, und gebessert zu finden. 

Year: 1693 

Place: Augsburg 

Publisher: Jacob Koppmayer 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: tall, narrow, quarter-bound leather 

Pagination: ff. [190] 

Collation: ][ 10 A–2Q 4 2T–2Z 4 3A 4 


Reference: Bru MLAL 

95

Baehne, George Walter 

This unusual ready reckoner was produced for use 

in southern Germany. Of interest is the allegorical 

frontispiece depicting merchants discussing units of 

measure, together with a quotation from the Bible about 

cheating in small things leading to cheating in larger ones. 

It is uncommon to see all the tables presented entirely 

in Roman numerals, referred to here as Baurenziffer or 

farmer’s digits. The tables present various weights and 

measures in terms of fractions—usually eighths, twentyfourths, 

etc. 

96 


Frontispiece and title page 

Dedication page 

First page of tables 

B 73 


Roman numeral table, B 72 

Practical applications of the punch card method in 

colleges and universities. 

Year: 1935 


Publisher: Columbia University Press 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 6 plates, figures in text 



Reference: Enc Brit, v.12, p. 344 



B 72 

Dedication, B 72 

Thanks to a 1929 grant of punched card equipment from 

IBM, Columbia University became a leader in the use 

of this equipment among colleges and universities. This 

volume shows that interest in the processing of punched 

card data in universities was not confined to Columbia. 

The work, edited by Baehne, is mainly devoted to the 

administrative uses of punched card equipment, though 

it does also describe their use in psychological, medical, 

agricultural, scientific, legal and statistical areas. 

Astronomical usage for the equipment is presented by 

W. J. Eckert, who would later head up the IBM Watson 

Laboratory at Columbia University.


Baehne, George Walter Baeza, Lodoico 

The problems faced by university registrars seem to 

have changed little since this volume was written—only 

the numbers of students and equipment available to 

process them have modified the situation. The methods 

used to process data were based on the capabilities of 

the equipment. For example, it was possible to sort 

punched cards on a single column (character) at a time. 

A digit was represented by a single punch in any of ten 

possible rows in the column, but an alphabetic character 

required two punches out of each column. This meant 

that sorting cards alphabetically required two passes 

through the sorter for each column of the data field. Thus 

alphabetizing a class list would take two passes through 

the sorter for each character in the student’s name 

field—a non-trivial amount of work. The University of 

Oregon describes a system it adopted to break the range 

of possible student names into ten thousand parts and 

assign a four-digit code number to each – thus the list 

could be alphabetized by only sorting on 4 digits instead 

of many alphabetic columns. 

This volume is valuable in that it contains a complete 

description of the IBM/Hollerith equipment of the pre– 

World War II period. The machines are reproduced in the 

illustrations. 


Title page 

Equipment essay ( 6 pages) 

University of Oregon name code 

Punched card equipment, B 73 

Card sorter, B 73 

B 74 

Baeza, Lodoico (ca.1550) 

B 73 

Numerandi doctrina præ clara methodo exposita, in 

qua breviter continentur, & exponuntur apertè ea, quæ 

ex universa arithmetica sunt ad usum potiora. 

Year: 1555 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Gulielmum Cavellat 

Edition: 1st 

Language: Latin 

Figures: 1 folding plate (f.54) 

Binding: contemporary paper wrappers 

Pagination: ff. 67, [1] 

Collation: A–H 8 I 4 


Reference: Smith Rara, p. 269 

B 74 

Lodoico Baeza is known only as a Spanish scholar from 

the mid-sixteenth century. 

97

98 


Bagay, Valentin Baily, Francis 

This is a work on arithmetic. It begins by presenting 

the Hindu-Arabic numerals, addition and multiplication 

tables, squares, cubes and square roots—all in quite 

modern form. These elementary ideas occupy only the 

first few pages, and the text is thereafter devoted to 

topics such as mixed radix arithmetic (addition of days, 

hours, minutes, etc.), including a table that could be used 

to convert days to hours, etc. 

The text is heavily interspersed, particularly in the first 

half, with Greek quotations. 


Title page 

B 75 

Bagay, Valentin (1772–1851) 

Nouvelles tables astronomiques et hydrographiques, 

contenant un traité abrégé des cercles de la sphère; 

- la description des instruments a réflexion; - diverses 

méthodes pour obtenir les latitudes et les longitudes 

terrestres; - une nouvelle table des logarithmes, des 

sinus, cosinus, tangentes et cotangentes, de seconde en 

seconde, pour les quatre-vingt-dix degrés du quart du 

cercle. 

Year: 1829 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Firmin Didot Père et Fils 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: contemporary half-leather boards 

Pagination: pp. [8], lxxxvi, [iv], 125, 615 

Collation: π 4 1–11 4 1–15 4 16 3 1–77 4 


Reference: Glais RCMT, p. 86; Hend BTM, #134.0, p. 111; 

Soth/Zeit BCM, Vol III, #875–#804, p. 65 

Bagay was professor of Hydrographie at Lorient. 

This very extensive set of tables for astronomy and 

navigation is an example of the best tabular technique in 

use as Charles Babbage began his efforts to mechanize 

table making. A series of introductory essays discuss 

topics from spherical geometry to observational 

instruments such as the sextant and octant. The 

detailed tables provide corrections for temperature and 

humidity. Logarithms are given for natural numbers and 

trigonometric functions for both decimal and sexagesimal 

numbers to every minute of the arc. Bagay introduced 

one, easily visible, typographical improvement on earlier 

tables to remove a potential source of error: a large black 

dot notes where the first figures of logarithms change. 


Title page 

Table page illustrating the typographical innovation 

B 76 

Baily, Francis (1774–1844) 

Table typography, B 75 

B 75 

Astronomical tables and formulae together with a 

variety of problems explanatory of their use and 

application. To which are prefixed the elements of the 

solar system. 

Year: 1827 

Place: London 

Publisher: Richard Taylor 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: original morocco grained blue cloth boards; rebacked 

Pagination: pp. xvi, 120, 119*–120*, [2], 123–152, 153*–158*, 

153–194, 193*–194*, 195–267, [3], 267–304 

Collation: a–b 4 B–P 4 Q 5 R–T 4 U 7 X–2B 4 2C 5 2D–2L 4 2M 2 2M–2Q 4 


Reference: DSB, v. 1, pp. 402–403


Baily, Francis Baker, Humphrey 

Francis Baily, after whom Baily’s Beads (caused by 

the sun shining through mountain valleys on the moon 

during an eclipse) are named, was a member of the Royal 

Society, one of the founders of the Astronomical Society, 

and later its president for two terms. He left England, aged 

twenty-one, and spent the next two years at sea and as an 

adventurer in America. During that time he endured two 

shipwrecks, a voyage in an open boat from Pittsburgh 

to New Orleans, and a return trip to New York over two 

thousand miles of wilderness. He evidently attempted to 

obtain American citizenship by marriage, but when that 

failed, he returned to England in 1798. Thereafter, he 

attempted to join various expeditions to Africa, but when 

these also fell through, he became a stockbroker. His first 

publications, Tables for the purchasing and renewing 

of leases (1802), The doctrine of interest and annuities 

(1808), and The doctrine of life-annuities and assurances 

(1810), made his reputation in the financial world. He 

first published on astronomy in 1811 and became one of 

the founders of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820. 

In 1825, at the age of fifty, having made a fortune in 

banking, he retired to devote his life to astronomy. 

These tables are a collection of items that Baily found 

useful in his calculations. The first 120 pages are divided 

equally between a description of the solar system and 

lists of formulae useful for astronomical calculation. 

The section of tables seems short, occupying only about 

one quarter of the volume. The last section is devoted 

to a brief description of the tables and a number of 

astronomical problems illustrating their use. 

An appendix, dated January 1829, bound at the back 

of this volume, was written after Baily had received 

comments from other astronomers. He had sent a few 

copies for comment before it was released and then 

modified some of the original tables in light of the 

remarks. Thus the work, while dated 1827, was not 

available to any but a select few prior to 1829. This is 

copy #113, with presentation to the Royal Institution. 


Title page 

B 77 

Baily, Francis (1774–1844) [H. C. Schumacher, editor] 

On Mr. Babbage’s new machine for calculating and 

printing mathematical and astronomical tables. 

London, November 28, 1823. In Astronomische 

Nachrichten No. 46, 1/2. 

Year: 1824 

Place: Altona 

Publisher: Astronomische Nachrichten 

Edition: 1st 

B 76 


Binding: original marbled boards 



Reference: DSB, v. 1, pp. 402–403; Ran ODC, p. 406; MCK 

CBCW, v. 2, pp. 44–56 

A report on Babbage’s Difference Engine given by 

Francis Baily, an astronomer and friend of Babbage. For 

a biographical note on Baily, see Baily, Astronomical 

tables, 1827. 


None 

B 78 

Baker, Humphrey (fl.1557–1587) [Henry Phillippes (fl. 

1648–77), editor] 

Baker’s arithmetick: teaching the perfect work and 

practice of arithmetick both in whole numbers & 

fractions. Whereunto are added many rules and tables 

of interest, rebate, and purchases, & c. Also, the art of 

decimal fractions, intermixed with common fractions, 

for the better understanding thereof. Newly corrected 

and enlarged, and made more plain and easie by Henry 

Phillippes. 

Year: 1670 

Place: London 

Publisher: Edward Thomas 

Edition: 1st 

99

100 


Baker, Humphrey Baker, Humphrey 


Binding: contemporary leather; rebacked; red leather label 

Pagination: pp. [16], 128, 139–362, 367–398 (misnumbering 

390 as 388, 391 as 389, 394 as 392, 395 as 393, 398 as 

396) 

Collation: A–2B 8 


Reference: Smi Rara, p. 327 

Henry Phillippes, the editor, was a teacher of mathematics, 

surveying and gauging in London. He lived for most of 

his life in a house built on London Bridge. He took part 

in the Royal Society investigations of the variation of the 

compass and was considered an authority on the subject. 

He is known to have published a number of works on 

mathematical subjects (see entries under Phillippes). 

A comparison with the Baker 1583 edition reveals this 

to be an almost completely new work. It seems likely 

that the publisher sought to take advantage of Baker’s 

better-known name. It does contain many of the same 

tables (although they have been updated and often show 

different values—compare the illustration of the table for 

Roan here with the one in the entry for the 1583 edition— 

see illustrations) with the addition of tables such as ones 

showing the decimal equivalent of common fractions 

and decimal equivalents of sterling money. Baker’s more 

difficult passages, for example, the definition of number, 

have been rewritten. 


Title page 

Roan table 

Decimal tables 

B 79 

Baker, Humphrey (fl.1557–1587) 

The well spring of sciences. Which teacheth the perfect 

worke and practise of arithmeticke, both in whole 

numbers and fractions … 

Year: 1583 

Place: [London] 

Publisher: [Thomas Purfoot] 

Edition: 7th 



Pagination: ff. [8], 198, 18 

Collation: A 8 (-A1, title page replaced by title of 1580 edition) 

B–V 8 (-T2 torn away) W– 2C 8 D 6 a 2 (a 2 misbound at end) 


Reference: H&J 

Humphrey Baker was a native of London, but of him 

little else is known other than that he translated, from the 

French, a book on astrology (The rules touching the use 

and practice of the common almanacs, 1587). 

B 78 

B 79 

When Baker first published this small pocket arithmetic 

in 1562, the only other work on arithmetic in the English 

language was Robert Recorde’s Ground of Artes. 

Record’s book had been criticized as weak, particularly 

on the continent, for it was, indeed, inferior to several 

works available there. This criticism prompted Baker 

to compose this volume, first published in 1568, which 

proved to be quite popular. 

Baker’s descriptions are lengthy and not easily understood 

by a modern reader because they rely on outmoded


Baker, Humphrey Baker, Humphrey 

concepts. For example, when defining number, he used 

the Pythagorean approach that one (1) is not a proper 

number, but the progenitor of all other numbers (see the 

illustration of number definition page). 

After discussing the simple arithmetic operations, he 

covers fractions and makes a few remarks on mixedradix 

arithmetic (days, hours, minutes; pounds, shillings, 

pence) and the usual procedures for rule of three, etc. 

The last half of the book deals with problems of concern 

to merchants and others participating in commerce, and 

closes with tables giving equivalents of weights and 

measures in various cities. 

Sample table, B 79 

Number definition, B 79 


Title page (not contemporary with this volume – see collation 

above) 

Number definition page 

Sample tables page 

B 80 

Baker, Humphrey (fl.1557–1587) 

B 80 

The wel spring of sciences. Which teacheth the 

perfect worke and practise of arithmeticke, both in 

whole numbers and fractions : set foorth by Humfrey 

Baker Londoner. 1562. And now once againe perused 

augmented, and amended in all the three parts, by the 

sayde authour: whereunto he hath also added certain 

tables of the agreement of measures and waights of 

diverse places of Europe, the one with the other, as by 

the table following it may appeare. 

Year: 1591 

Place: London 

Publisher: Thomas Purfoote 

Edition: 9th 


Binding: later full red morocco leather with raised bands on 

spine; gilt decorations 

Pagination: ff. [7], 137, 137–198 (misnumbering 196 as 198), 

[24] 

Collation: A 8 (-A2) B–V 8 W–Z 8 2A–2D 8 2E 7 


Reference: H&J 

This is the ninth edition of Baker’s Well spring of sciences. 

It is in much better condition than the copy of the seventh 

edition described above. A contemporary hand has made 

101

102 

Colophon and printer’s mark, B 80 


Baldi, Bernardino Ball, Walter William Rouse 

occasional ink notations in the wide margin and another 

has added pencil notations. The pencil notations appear 

to be of two types, one working the examples to check 

the arithmetic and another attempting to correct misprints 

or clarify hard-to-read text. The pencil annotations leave 

the impression of someone preparing another edition. 


Title page 

Printer’s mark 

Baldi, Bernardino, translator 

See Hero of Alexandria; De gli automati, overo 

machine se moventi, libri due, tradotti dal Greco 

da Bernardino Baldi Abbate di Guastalla, 1589 

B 81 

Ball, Walter William Rouse (1850–1925) [H. M. S. 

Coxeter (1907–2003), editor] 

Mathematical recreations and essays. 

Year: 1947 


Publisher: Macmillan 

Edition: late 


Figures: 2 photolith plates 

Binding: original cloth boards; with dust jacket 



W. W. R. Ball was a mathematician at Trinity College, 

Cambridge. He is well known as a writer on the history 

B 81 

of mathematics and on ancillary subjects such as 

mathematical recreations, e.g., string figures. 

This is one of the more famous books on recreational 

mathematics. It was produced by a master in the field 

and has remained continuously in print from its first 

publication in 1892. It spans the field from simple 

arithmetical series to cryptography and cryptanalysis. 

Of particular interest is the section on calculating 

prodigies. The editor of this edition, H. M. S. Coxeter, a 

mathematician at the University of Toronto, was known 

for his interest in recreational mathematics as well as 

more traditional mathematical fields. 


Title page 

B 82 

Ball, Walter William Rouse (1850–1925) 

A primer of the history of mathematics. 

Year: 1914 

Place: London 


Edition: 4th 



Pagination: pp. iv, 164 

Collation: π 2 A–K 8 γ 2 


Reference: Cre CL, p. 102 

This highly condensed version of Ball’s History of 

mathematics makes no pretense to be anything except a 

short, popular description of the history of mathematics


Ball, Walter William Rouse Bardeen, John 

and to provide a few stories about pioneers of the subject. 

The early editions of this work were 1895, 1903 and 

1906. 


Title page 

B 83 

Ball, Walter William Rouse (1850–1925) 

A short account of the history of mathematics. 

Year: 1901 

Place: London 

Publisher: Macmillan and Co. 

Edition: 3rd 


Binding: original cloth boards; gilt spine and front cover 

Pagination: pp. xxiv, [2], 527, [15] 

Collation: π 4 b 9 1–33 8 γ 7 


Reference: Cre CL, p. 102; Pul HA, p. 117 

This is a standard reference work on the history of 

mathematics from the time of ancient Egypt to near 

the end of the nineteenth century. It has been reprinted 

several times since its first appearance in 1888. 


Title page 

B 84 

Bamford, Philip 

The practical gauger: Being a summary of what is 

necessary to be understood by all pretenders to that art. 

Wherin the nature of such superficies and solids as are 

usually the subject of gauging are fully discuss’d. With 

the method of finding their area’s or solidites, either 

whole or in part. Performed by the pen and the sliding 

- rule. To which is added, many useful tables proper for 

such a work, never before printed. 

Year: 1714 

Place: London 

Publisher: Richard Mount, John Sprint and Nathaniel Cliff 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: contemporary panelled leather; spine gilt in 

compartments; morocco label 


Collation: A 4 B–I 8 


The introduction to this work begins by describing 

decimal arithmetic and its use in the rule of three and 

other such operations, and also contains the abbreviations 

used. This is followed by tables relating measures of 

wine and beer to cubic inches, pints, quarts, gallons, 

firkins and other lesser-known units of measure: the but 

and ton. The remainder of the book presents the usual 

gauging problems but with greater clarity than most. 

It describes the different shapes of barrels, casks, tubs, 

etc. and how they should be measured. The final section 

contains tables of excise rates for different liquids, tables 

for determining the number of days between any two 

dates, salary tables and so forth. 


Title page 

Sample table page 

B 85 

Bardeen, John (1908–1991) 

B 84 

On the theory of the A-C. impedance of a contact 

rectifier. In Some contributions to transistor electronics. 

Monograph 1726 

Year: 1949 


Publisher: American Telephone & Telegraph Company 

Edition: 1st 




A thoughtful, respectful biography of John Bardeen is 

Hoddeson, Lillian, and Vicki Daitch, True genius. The 

life and science of John Bardeen, Joseph Henry Press, 

Washington, DC, 2002. 

This is the same Bardeen paper that appeared in the Bell 

Systems Technical Journal, Semiconductor issue. See 

103

entry for American Telephone & Telegraph Company, 

Some contributions to transistor electronics. 

104 


None 

B 86 

Bardeen, John (1908–1991) 

On the theory of the A-C. impedance of a contact 

rectifier. In Bell System Technical Journal Vol. XXVIII 

No. 3, July 1949. 

Year: 1949 



Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. 428–434. 


See entry for American Telephone, Bell System 

Technical Journal, Semiconductor issue. 

B 87 


None 

Bardeen, John (1908–1991) and Walter Hauser 

Brattain (1902–1987) 

Physical principles involved in transistor action. In 

Bell System Technical Journal Vol. XXVIII No. 2, April 

1949. 

Year: 1949 



Edition: 1st 





See entry for American Telephone and Telegraph, 

Semiconductor issue. 

John Bardeen received his Ph.D. degree from Princeton 

University in 1936. During World War II, he served at 

the Naval Ordnance Laboratory. After the war, he joined 

Bell Telephone Laboratories, where his research was 

concerned with the properties of semiconductors. This 

work led to the invention of the transistor, for which 

he shared the Nobel Prize. He received a second Nobel 

Prize for his work on super-conductivity. 

Walter Brattain obtained his doctorate in physics from the 

University of Minnesota. He was a gifted experimental 

physicist who spent the majority of his career at Bell 


Bardeen, John Bardeen, John 

Telephone Laboratories. Working with Bardeen and 

Shockley, Brattain constructed the first semiconductor 

amplifier. 

John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley 

were awarded the Nobel Prize for their invention of the 

transistor. This article describes the history of transistor 

development and the physical properties of the device. It 

was, other than a brief announcement by a letter to the 

editor, the first publication describing these devices. 


None 

B 88 


Brattain (1902–1987) 

The transistor, a semi-conductor triode. In The Physical 

Review, Vol. 74, No. 2, July 15 1948. 

Year: 1948 

Place: Lancaster, PA, and New York, NY 

Publisher: American Physical Society 

Edition: 1st 





This is the original announcement of the invention of the 

transistor by means of a series of letters to the editor of the 

Physical Review. The authors recognized the importance 

of their work and used this letter to the editor technique 

to permit timely communication of their breakthrough 

without the delay inherent in the peer review system. 

There are three letters in this series: this one announcing 

the device, one by Brattain and Bardeen on forward 

currents in germanium, and one by Shockley and Pearson 

on the modulation of currents in the device. All three 

letters are reproduced in the illustrations. 


Letters (4) 

B 89 


Brattain (1902–1987) 

Nature of the forward current in germanium point 

contacts. In The Physical Review, Vol. 74, No. 2, July 

15 1948. 

Year: 1948 

Place: Lancaster, PA, and New York, NY 

Publisher: American Physical Society 

Edition: 1st 

Language: English


Barker, John Barlow, Fred 




This is a very early paper by two of the three Nobel 

laureates who developed the transistor. The first account 

of the invention of the semiconductor was by means 

of a letter, from the same authors, (q.v.) to this journal 

(“Nature of the forward current in germanium point 

contacts,” The Physical Review, Vol. 74, No. 2, July 15, 

1948, pp. 231–232). See also entries for Shockley. 


None 

B 90 

Barker, John 

The measurer’s guide enlarg’d: or, the whole art of 

measuring made short, plain and easy. Containing 

full directions how to measure 1. Any plain superfices. 

2. All sorts of solids; with particular instructions for 

measuring of timber, &c. 3. All sorts of artificers work, 

viz. carpenters, joyners, plaisterers, painters, paviors, 

glasiers, bricklayers, sawyers, masons, earthwork. 4. 

The art of gauging: being of singular use to ingineers, 

gentlemen, artificers, and others. 

Year: 1718 

Place: London 

Publisher: Printed for Samuel Ballard 

Edition: 2nd 

B 90 


Binding: contemporary leather gilt; gilt compartmented spine 

Pagination: pp. [12], 204 

Collation: A–B 6 B–S 6 


As is common in many of these books, the author 

indicates in the introduction that: 

These sheets were composed for my own private 

Use, Thirty Years since, I not in the least intending 

to Publish them, but at the Importunities of some 

Friends, not without Reluctancy, I, agreed to have 

them Printed… 

This is a general book on measurement for carpenters, 

masons, timber merchants, etc. 


Title page 

B 91 

Barlow, Fred (1888–1963) 

Mental prodigies. An enquiry into the faculties of 

arithmetical, chess and musical prodigies, famous 

memorizers, precocious children and the like, with 

numerous examples of “lightning” calculations and 

mental magic. 

Year: 1952 


Publisher: Philosophical Library 






B 91 

105

For obvious reasons, calculating prodigies have 

always been of interest to the developers of computing 

machinery. This 1952 (first U.S.) edition incorporates a 

few corrections not present in the 1951 (first English) 

edition. The opening third of the work discusses famous 

calculating prodigies such as Zerah Colburn and describes 

some of the feats they could perform. The rest of the book 

is devoted to a discussion of these, and related, abilities. 

The distinction is drawn between calculating prodigies 

(often referred to as idiot savants) and people trained in 

mental calculation either for use in their work or as stage 

performers. The latter part of the book contains various 

algorithms used by those trained in the art. 

106 


Title page 

B 92 

Barlow, Peter (1776–1862) 

An elementary investigation of the theory of numbers, 

with its application to the indeterminate and 

Diophantine analysis, the analytical and geometrical 

division of the circle, and several other curious 

algebraical and arithmetical problems. 

Year: 1811 

Place: London 

Publisher: J. Johnson and Co. 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: modern leather half bound over marbled boards 

Pagination: pp. xvi, 507, [3] 

Collation: A–2I 8 2K 7 



Barlow, Peter Barnard, Francis Pierrepont 

B 92 

Barlow was a mathematician at the Royal Military 

Academy in England. He was self-educated and initially 

made his reputation through an essay concerned with 

timber stresses based on research he had done at the 

Woolwich arsenal. He is best know today for his 

association with a specific type of telescope eyepiece 

(the Barlow lens), which he designed in the late 1820s, 

and for his mathematical tables (Barlow’s Tables) which 

remained in print until after World War II. 

This volume is highly technical work on number theory. 

It begins with a discussion of the number philosophy of 

Pythagoras and proceeds to discuss primes, continued 

fractions, quadratic equations and other topics, often in 

relation to problems or theories first developed by the 

Greeks. 


Title page 

B 93 

Barlow, Peter (1776–1862) 

A treatise on the manufactures and machinery of Great 

Britain … To which is prefaced, an introductory view 

of the principles of manufactures by Charles Babbage. 

Forming a portion of the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. 

3 vols. 

Year: 1836 

Place: London 

Publisher: Baldwin and Braddock 

Edition: 2nd 


Figures: 87 engraved plates bound at end of v.3 


Pagination: v.1, pp. iii–viii, 412; v.2, pp. 413–828; v.3, pp. 

829–834 

Collation: v.1, π 3 B–L 4 M 2 N–3G 4 ; v.2, 3H–5N 4 ; v.3, 5O 3 


See Babbage, Charles; An introductory view of the 

principles of manufactures, 1836 


None 

B 94 

Barnard, Francis Pierrepont (1854–1931) 

The casting-counter and the counting board. A chapter 

in the history of numismatics and early arithmetic. 

Year: 1916 

Place: Oxford 

Publisher: Clarendon Press 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 64 plates (numbered 1–46, 47a, 47b, 48–63)


Barnard, Francis Pierrepont Barozzi, Francesco 

B 94 

Binding: original cloth boards; gilt-stamped spine and front 

cover 


Collation: A–2Y 4 


Reference: Pul HA, p. 116 

Barnard was professor of medieval archaeology at the 

University of Liverpool. At the time he began this work, 

there was little interest in casting counters or jettons, as 

they are also commonly known—from the French jeter, 

to throw. Jettons are the counters that are used on the 

European table abacus. Counters used on a counting 

board were the principal mechanical aid to calculation 

used in Europe during the Middle Ages. Terms such as 

borrow one, carry two, lay a wager and over the counter 

originated with the use of jettons and the counting board. 

Counters were known as gettoni in Italy, casting counters 

in England and rechenpfennig in Germany. 

In early times the counters were simply small pebbles 

or similar items. About the year 1200 they began to be 

minted in a coin-like format, the production of which was 

a major industry in Nuremberg from 1525 to 1700. Jettons 

came in a nest (usually a cylindrical metal case), which 

was often considered a suitable New Year’s gift. The 

Typical jetton, B 94 

image stamped into the jetton varied greatly but usually 

included a bust of the ruler on one side and some device 

(often a cross or other simple symbol on early versions) 

on the other (see illustration). Jettons were used up to the 

late 1700s, and many highly decorative examples exist 

for special areas or purposes—for example, the French 

minted special jettons for use in their North American 

colonies in the middle 1700s. 

This work is divided into three parts. The first discusses 

the jetton itself and catalogs many of them by decoration 

and inscription. The second section deals with counting 

tables and cloths. The last part is concerned with the 

methods used for performing arithmetic (casting) as 

described by various authors. 

This is considered the standard reference book on jettons 

and their use. Fox publishers reprinted it in 1981. 


Title page 

Plate 2 of jettons 

Reckoning cloth 

B 95 

Barozzi, Francesco (1537–1604) 

Nest of jettons, B 94 

Il nobilissimo et antiquissimo giuoco Pythagoreo 

nominato rythmomachia, cioè battaglia di consonantie 

de numeri, in lingua volgare a modo di parafresi 

composto. 

Year: 1572 

Place: Venice 

Publisher: Gratioso Perchacino 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: modern paper boards 

Pagination: ff. [2], 24 

Collation: A–F 4 G 2 


Reference: Rcdi BMI, Vol. I, p. 83; Soth/Zeit BCM, Vol. III, 

#875–#498, p. 38 

107

Francesco Barozzi (also known as Franciscus Barocius 

or Barociusi) was a native of Crete who was a member of 

a patrician Venetian family. He studied at Padua and also 

lectured there c.1559. He published works on astronomy 

and mathematics and is known to have produced a 

number of translations of Greek and Latin mathematical 

texts, among them Proclus’ commentary on the first 

book of Euclid. In 1587, he was charged with sorcery 

and brought before the Inquisition. 

This volume is essentially a translation of Claude de 

Boissière’s description of the number ratio game known 

as Rithmomachia from the Greek rhythmos (number) 

and machia (combat). In the title, the game is attributed 

to Pythagoras; however, the attribution is suspect as no 

known reference predates the eleventh century. 

As Smith (History of Mathematics) notes, the game is 

difficult to describe. It is based on the Greek number 

philosophy of Nicomachus and played on an elongated 

chess board with 8x16 squares. It uses variously shaped 

counters to represent numerical ratios. The object was 

to move the counters so as to get four numbers in a row 

that were related to arithmetic, geometric and harmonic 

progressions—there are apparently only six winning 

combinations of pieces. 

An introduction to the game can be found in Smith, D. 

E. and C. C. Eaton; “Rithmomachia, the great medieval 

number game,” The American Mathematical Monthly, 

April 1911, pp. 73–80. For a more complete historical 

and bibliographical discussion, see Folkerts, Menso; 

Essays on medieval mathematics, Aldershot, Ashgate 

108 


Barozzi, Francesco Barreme, François Bertrand de 

B 95 

Variorum, 2003. Chapter XI is titled Rithmomachia, a 

mathematical game from the middle ages. 

Folkerts points out that Rhythmos means not number 

but numerical relationship and that accordingly, 

Rithmomachia is a game that deals not with numbers but 

with the ratios of numbers. 


Title page 

Game board 

Rithmomachia game board, B 95 

B 96 

Barreme, François Bertrand de (1640–1704) 

La geometrie servant a l’arpentage. Ouvrage si 

facile & si commode que par la seule addition on 

peut mesurer toute sorte de terres, bois, & batimens; 

et generalement toute figures & superficies pour 

irregulieres qu’elles puissent estre. 

Year: 1672 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Barreme 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: engraved title page; 1 engraved plate 

Binding: contemporary calf; gilt spine 

Pagination: pp. [17], 5, [1], 7–17 (misnumbered 7 as 6, 8 as 6, 

9 as 7, 10 as 7, 11 as 8, 12 as 8, 13 as 8, 14 as 8, 15 as 

10, 16 as 11, 17 as 12), [2], ff. 13-30, pp. [72], [36], [36] 

Collation: a 6 * 12 C–E 6 * 6 R–X 6 g–3g 6 *-3* 6 


François Barreme was a native of Lyons who founded a 

private commercial mathematics school in Paris. He was


Barreme, François Bertrand de Barreme, François Bertrand de 

B 96 

Survey instruments, B 96 

responsible for the publication of many different types 

of tables and ready-reckoners during his lifetime. The 

tradition was continued by his son Nicolas. The tables 

became so popular that their name became a synonym 

for ready-reckoners and numerical tables, which are 

known by the name Barème in France today. While they 

were both popular and produced long after Barreme died, 

editions predating 1700 are rare. 

This first edition illustrates the beginning of the genre. 

The tables are difficult to use and waste space (see 

illustration of one page of the multiplication table). 

Indeed, examination of various editions of Barreme 

may be considered a short course in table design and 

typography. 

This work begins with a description of some elementary 

survey instruments and the mathematics needed to find 

the areas of simple geometric figures. The remainder of 

the volume is composed of tables of use in surveying and 

commercial arithmetic. 


Title page 

Formulae for triangles 

Survey instruments 

Multiplication table 

B 97 


Le livre des aides, domaine, et finances. Tres -utile à 

toute sorte de personnes; … 

Year: 1685 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Denys Thierry 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: engraved title frontispiece 

Binding: contemporary leather; rebacked, original gilt spine 

laid down; dentelle edges 

Pagination: pp. [4], 64 (misnumbered 62 as 60), [4], 65–68, 

[120], xv, [9] 

Collation: π 2 A–F 6 6 –5 6 §–7§ 6 


This volume consists of commercial tables. Typically 

the tables give multiples of various monetary units or 

exchange rates. These are supplemented by various 

tables of tariffs for moving quantities of wine and other 

goods by both land and water transport. 


Title page 

Frontispiece 

Page of wine tables 

B 97 

109

110 



B 97 

B 98 


Le livre des comptes faits. 

Year: 1673 

Place: Paris 


Edition: 1st 


Figures: 2 engraved plates (portrait & anagram of Colbert) 



Collation: π 8 A–H 6 * 6 R–X 6 Y 3 


Reference: Kress CL, 1326 

The title page states third edition, but no earlier one has 

been located. It is known that Barreme had published 

earlier sets of tables, and he might be simply defining 

these previous tables as his earlier editions. See 

advertisement on folio 1 in the illustrations. 

This volume of tables is limited to commercial 

applications, in particular for finding multiples of various 

denominations of the French currency. 


Title page and advertisement 

Dedication portrait 

Currency table page 

B 98



B 99 


Le livre facile pour aprendre l’arithmetique de soy 

mesme et sans maistre par des mèthodes si courtes, si 

claires et si bien ordonnées qu’il ne s’en est point veu 

de pareilles. 

Year: 1672 

Place: Paris 


Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. [36], 199, [9] 

Collation: π 3 (-4) 11 (-12)* 4 A-Q 6*8 


Unlike most of Barreme’s publications, this one volume 

contains only a few tables. As the title indicates, this 

work concentrates on teaching the basics of arithmetic 

with examples of all four operations. The tables included 

are intended to aid in the basic instruction, but there are 

also a few dealing with currency conversions. 



Galley division 


Currency conversion 

Dedication portrait, B 98 

Division examples, B 99 

B 99 

111

B 100 


Le livre necessaire a toute sorte de conditions. Inventé 

de nouveau pour tirer tout d’un coup les Interets de 

plusieurs années, de plusieurs mois, de plusieurs jours 

en un moment et en un méme endroit, ce qu’on n’avoit 

jamais veu. On y voit aussi des tarifs bien comodes: ou 

sans avoir apris la division on y peut diviser jusqu’a 

trente mil livres. La reduction des monnoyes y’est d’une 

maniere particuliere. Le profit des marchands y est. 

Les changes y sont aussy, et les escontes a tant por 

cent. On y fait par la seule addition, les contributions, 

impositions et despartements. au sol la livre. 

112 

Year: 1671 

Place: Paris 


Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. [66], 88, [102], 199–240 (mis#199 as 200, 200 

as 201), 373–396 (mis# 396 as 406), xii, 37–48 

Collation: π 4 A–B 610 * 7 (-*8)2A–2B 6 C–F 6 G 8 A–I 6 L–N 6 2H–2I 6 a 12 


Reference: Kress CL, 1280 

This volume is a standard set of commercial tables, 

the majority of which are oriented towards currency 

conversion, but with a few dealing with the number of 

days between various dates. 





B 100 

B 101 


Le livre necessaire a toute sorte de conditions. Inventé 

de nouveau pour tirer tout d’un coup les Interets de 

plusieurs années, de plusieurs mois, de plusieurs jours 

en un moment et en un méme endroit, ce qu’on n’avoit 

jamais veu. On y voit aussi des tarifs bien comodes: ou 

sans avoir apris la division on y peut diviser jusqu’a 

trente mil livres. La reduction des monnoyes y’est d’une 

maniere particuliere. Le profit des marchands y est. 

Les changes y sont aussy, et les escontes a tant por 

cent. On y fait par la seule addition, les contributions, 

impositions et déspartements au sol la livre. 

Year: 1671 

Place: Paris 


Edition: 1st (2nd issue) 



Pagination: pp. [32], 88, [102], 200–205, 217–240; xii 

Collation: π 7 * 4 * 5 2A–2B 6 C–F 6 G 8 A–I 6 M–N 6 a 6 


This second issue appears identical to the first except for 

the small changes on the title page and advertisement. 

The dedication and dedication ode to Monseigneur de la 

Reynie have also been removed. Perhaps the hoped-for 

patronage did not materialize. 



B 102 


Le livre necessaire à toute sorte de conditions. Inventé 

de nouveau pour tirer tout d’un coup les Intérêts de 

plusieurs années, de plusieurs mois, & de plusieurs 

jours en un moment et en un méme endroit, ce qu’on 

n’avoit jamais veu. On y voit aussi des tarifs bien 

comodes: ou sans avoir apres la division on y peut 

diviser jusqu’a trente mil livres. La réduction des 

monnoyes y’est d’une maniere particuliere. Le profit 

des marchands y est. Les changes y sont aussy, et les 

escontes à tant por cent. On y fait par la seule addition, 

les contributions, impositions et départements. Au sol 

la livre. (engraved title page similar to 1671 edition 

without date) 

(Second title) Le livre necessaire pour les comptables, 

avocats, notaires, procureurs, negotians, & 

generalement à toute sorte de conditions, inventé de 

nouveau, pour tirer tout d’un coup les Interests ou le 

produit de plusieurs années, de plusieurs mois, & de 

plusieurs jours …



Year: 1694 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Denys Thierry 

Edition: 2nd 


Figures: engraved title frontispiece 

Binding: contemporary leather; dentelle edges 


Collation: ä 7 A 8 B 4 –Z 8 2A 4 2B 4 


This is another of Barreme’s publications, containing the 

same types of commercial tables as in earlier editions. 

Some of the tables are identical with those from earlier 

editions while others are different, though similar. In the 

year of this publication, Barreme was appointed auditor 

to the Parisian Chambre des Comptes (Treasury). 


Frontispiece 

Title page 

Frontispiece and title page, B 101 

B 103 


Les tarifs et comptes fait du grand commerce ou 

l’on y fait les changes d’Angleterre, d’Hollande, de 

Flandres, d’Allemagne, de Suisse &c. Pourveu qu’on 

sache l’addition et en quel estat que le change soit. Les 

mesures et les poids des principales villes de l’Europe 

sont reduis aux mesures et poids des villes de France. 

Le pair des monnoyes y est. Les escontes y sont tous 

faits. Les instructions pour faire par regle les susdits 

changes y sont expliquées brievement. 

Year: 1670 

Place: Paris 


Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. [24], 62, [2], ff. lxii–lxvii, pp. [2], 63–80, [8], 

81–96, 117–300, 361–395, 408–420 

113

114 

Collation: π 2 à 6 é 4 A–E 6 F 2 F 10 G–H 6 I 8 L–Z 6 & 6 2A 6 2G–2K 6 


This set of Barreme’s tables is devoted mainly to the 

conversion of weights and measures between various 

French regions and surrounding geographic areas. 



Tables for Rouen 

B 104 

[Barreme, François Bertrand de (1640–1704)] 

– Nicholas Barreme 

Traité des parties doubles ou methode aisée pour 

apprendre à tenir en parties doubles les livres du 

commerce & des finances. Avec in traité de finance … 

Ce livre peut estre utile aux négocians, aux banquiers, 

aux financiers, & même aux magistrats. 

Year: 1721 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Jean-Geofroy Nyon 

Edition: 1st 




Collation: π 4 A–2O 4 2P 3 


Reference: Hist. HAL, p. 158; Kress CL, 3360 


Barreme, François Bertrand de Barreme, Gabriel 

B 104 

This is not another book of tables, but rather a volume 

describing double-entry bookkeeping and associated 

journals for commercial use. Issued in 1721, it must have 

been in preparation for some time because the examples 

are for the year 1719 with a few additions for 1720. 


Title page 

B 105 

Barreme, Gabriel (1663–1711) 

B 105 

Livre d’arithmetique de Monsieur G.D. Moreau 

secretaire de Monsieur Voisin cons.r du Roy …. par 

Moy G. Barreme arithmeticien ordinaire du Roy. 

Year: 1688 

Place: Paris 



Binding: contemporary leather; gilt spine and covers 

Pagination: ff. 91 


Gabriel Barreme was the first son of François Bertrand 

Barreme. While the second son, Nicholas, continued 

his father’s publishing enterprise, Gabriel became the 

Arithmetician to the King. 

This large and elegant manuscript covers much of the 

same material as his father’s books, i.e., the four basic 

operations, the rule of three, fractions, problems involving


Barreme, Nicholas Barrow, John 

the calculation of interest, etc. It assumes knowledge of 

simple addition and begins with mixed radix addition of 

a column of French currency, which was then similar to 

the more familiar British sterling system. 


Title page 

Addition example 

Division example 

Addition example, B 105 

B 106 

[Barreme, François Bertrand de (1640–1704)] 

– Nicholas Barreme 

L’ arithmetique du Sr Barreme ou le livre facile pour 

apprendre l’arithmetique de soi-même, & sans maître. 

Ouvrage tres necessaire a toute sorte de personnes: aux 

unes, pour apprendre l’arithmétique, & à ceux qui la 

sçavent, pour les aider à rappeler dans leur mémoire 

quantitié de regles qui s’oublient facilement, faute de 

pratique. Nouvelle edition, augmentée de plus 190 

pages, ou regles differentes, de la géométrie, servant au 

mesurage & à l’arpentage, & du traité d’arithmétique 

nécessaire à l’arpentage & au toisé. 

Year: 1736 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Nyon, David, David, Didot 

Edition: 3rd 


Figures: engraved frontispiece and book notice 

Binding: contemporary leather; spine gilt 

Pagination: pp. [4], [12], 492, [80] 

Collation: π 2 A 6 A–3A 6 3B 4 


After François Barreme died in 1704, his son Nicholas 

continued his father’s business of publishing books of 

tables. This is the same work as Le livre facile pour 

aprendre l’arithmetique de soy mesme et sans maistre 

par des methodes si courtes, si claires et si bien 

ordonnées qu’il ne s’en est point veu de pareilles, 1672. 

Nicholas appears to have made his first additions to his 

father’s work in 1706 but left the majority of the content 

unchanged (compare, for example, the illustration of 

the division example in the father’s publication and this 

one). 


Title page 

Division example 

B 106 

Barreme, Nicholas, editor 

See Barreme, François Bertrand de; Traité des 

parties doubles ou méthode aisée pour apprendre à 

tenir en parties doubles les livres du commerce & 

des finances. 

B 107 

Barrow, John (1764–1848) 

A description of pocket and magazine cases of 

mathematical drawing instruments; in which is 

explained the use of each instrument, and particularly 

of the sector and plain scale, in the solution of a variety 

115

of problems; likewise, the description, construction, and 

use, of Gunter’s scale. 

116 

Year: 1794 

Place: London 

Publisher: J. and W. Watkins 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 4 engraved folding plates 

Binding: modern boards 

Pagination: pp. viii, 128 

Collation: A 4 B–I 8 


Reference: Pogg Vol. I, p. 106; Hamb, DI, p. 47 

Barrow is identified on the title page as a private teacher 

of mathematics in London, a notation that has led to E. 

G. R. Taylor (Mathematical practitioners) to ascribe 

the book to John Barrow (1700–c.1772), a mathematics 

teacher. In fact, the book was written by John Barrow, 

later Second Secretary of the Admiralty, who was from 

a poor family and was mainly self-educated. He is 

known to have repeated Benjamin Franklin’s electrical 

experiments with a kite, and it is recorded that he gave 

a nasty electrical shock to a woman from the town who 

had come to see what he was doing. He was the first to 

ascend in a balloon in England, later travelling widely on 

expeditions to Greenland, China and South Africa. 

This book was sponsored, as were many like it, by a 

commercial instrument maker to explain the elementary 

uses of mathematical instruments. The publisher, J. & 

W. Watkins, sold instruments, and the descriptions of 

many contain a phrase such as On the Calipers made 

by Messrs. Watkins are contained the following Lines, 

Table, etc. This book was his first publication, the likely 

result of his having used such instruments in his early 

surveying jobs. 

The instruments described and pictured in engravings 

include the plane and proportional compass, protractor 

and plane scale, Gunter’s line of numbers, the sector, 

Gunner’s compass, etc. The engravings are very detailed 

except for the Gunner’s compass, which, while showing 

a fine outline of the device, shows no detail of either the 

scales or the tables usually engraved on the arms. 


Title page 

Plate with plane scale, sector, gunner’s compass etc. 

Barsotti, Guiseppe, translator 

See [Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von] - M. 

Lamprecht [Guiseppe Barsotti, translator]; Vita 

del Sig. Barone Goffredo Guglielmo di Leibnitz 

data in luce dal Signor Lamprecht in lingua 

Tedesca, e tradotta in lingua Italiana …, 1787. 


Barsotti, Guiseppe Bartoli, Cosimo 

B 108 

Barstow, D. 

A secular diary for ascertaining any day of the week or 

month, in either the old or new style, commencing 1601, 

and continued up to the year 1900. 

Year: 1836 

Place: n/p 

Publisher: Barstow 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: original paper boards 

Pagination: broadside 


This is a single sheet, folded into small covers 127x80 

mm, giving tables to determine the day of the week or 

month for any given date from 1601 to 1900. 


Sheet (2) 

B 109 

Bartoli, Cosimo (1503–1572) 

B 107 

Del modo di misurare le distantie, le superficie, i corpi, 

le piante, le provincie, le prospettive & tutte le altre 

cose terrene, che possono occorrere a gli huomini …

Year: 1564 

Place: Venice 

Publisher: Francesco di Franceschi 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: two double-page figures plus many woodcuts in the 

text 

Binding: contemporary vellum; with ties renewed 

Pagination: ff. [4], 48, 45–48, 49–141, [3] 

Collation: A4A–M4M4N–2N4 Cosimo Bartoli, B 109 

(Signature M repeated) 


Reference: Ricdi BMI I, p. 90 

Cosimo Bartoli was an exponent of using Italian, 

rather than Latin, for technical writing. In this book 

on surveying, he essentially translates the earlier Latin 

works of others (e.g., Oronce Fine, Alberti, Dürer and 

Gemma Frisius), making them available to the average 

literate Italian. The border of the title page is copied from 


Bartoli, Cosimo Bartoli, Cosimo 

B 109 

Quadrant, B 109 

Jacob’s staff, B 109 

Circumferentor, B 109 

his 1550 translation of Alberti’s De Re Aedificatoria (not 

in this collection), but his portrait was done specifically 

for this one. The title page, portrait and all the woodcut 

illustrations were used for subsequent editions of this 

work. 

This well-known volume actually comprises six books, 

covering everything a surveyor should know about a 

variety of instruments. It begins with simple illustrations 

of the use of Jacob’s Staff and a quadrant with shadow 

scales and progresses to the use of more complex 

instruments in a wide variety of applications. The second 

and third books cover practical applications of plane 

and solid geometry such as finding areas and volumes 

of irregular figures. Book 4 deals with cartography 

and is notable for a description of the use of the device 

called a circumferentor—an instrument combining a 

117

compass and a sighting device for determining angles of 

elevation. Book 5 contains various proofs of geometric 

propositions that might be of use to a surveyor. The final 

book is a discussion of how to find square roots and a 

table of squares for all integers from 1 to 661. 

The publisher is often known as Francesco Franseschi 

Sanese because he came from Siena. He is officially 

referred to as Francesco di Franseschi to differentiate 

him from Francesco Franceschi (without the di), who is 

Lucchese, from Lucca. 

118 


Title page 

Portrait 

Colophon 

Quadrant with shadow scales 

Jacob’s Staff 

Astrolabe with shadow scales 

Quadrant showing origins of shadow scales 

Tables, page 1 

Circumferentor 


Bartoli, Cosimo Barton, William J. 

B 110 

Bartoli, Cosimo (1503–1572) 

Astrolabe, B 109 

Del modo di misurare le distantie, le superficie, i corpi, 

le piante, le provincie, le prospettive & tutte le altre 

cose terrene, che possono occorrere a gli huomini. 

Year: 1589 

Place: Venice 

Publisher: Francesco di Franceschi 

Edition: 2nd 


Figures: 2 folding plates plus many woodcuts in the text 

Binding: later vellum 

Pagination: ff. 145, [3] 

Collation: A–S 8 T 4 


Reference: Rcdi BMI, Vol. I, p. 90 

The second edition of this early Italian work on 

surveying is, essentially, identical to the first edition of 

1564. Two of the large folding plates appear to have been 

reengraved, but other illustrations are carried over from 

the first edition. 


Title page 

Colophon 

B 111 

Barton, William J. 

B 110 

Arithmeticke abreviated. Teaching the art of tennes or 

decimals to worke all questions in fractions as whole 

numbers, without reduction: An easier and plainer way 

than the vulgar. Shewing the use also of Napiers bones, 

by which multiplication and division is performed 

without charging the memory at all to those that will 

make use of them. As also the extracting of the square 

and cube roots, with divers applications thereof. 

Year: 1634 

Place: London 

Publisher: James Boler and William Luggard 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: later half morocco over marbled paper boards 

Pagination: pp. [8], 140, [2] 

Collation: A 4 B–K 8 (- K8 blank) 


This, published less than twenty years after Napier’s 

Rhabdologia (1617), is one of the first arithmetics to 

explain the use of Napier’s rods as a method for facilitating 

multiplication, division and extraction of roots. Although 

translations of Napier’s work had quickly appeared in 

German (1618), Italian (1623) and Dutch (1626), with 

the exception of a brief mention in an English almanac of 

1618, the bones had only been described in English once 

before in J. Dansie’s A Mathematicall manuel, London, 

1627. Barton provides samples of Napier’s bones and 

instructs his readers to either cut them out or make their


Bass, Michael T. Baudusson, M. 

own. He indicates: if you make them in paste-board, you 

cannot have less than 15; that is, 3 set. 

After describing the use of the bones, Barton continues 

with chapters on business topics such as calculating 

profit, loss and interest as well as how to calculate the 

value of a barter trade deal for each side. The final 

sections deal with simple estimates of the tonnage of 

a ship, the volume of a cask, measuring timber and an 

introduction to square and cube roots. 


Title page 

Pages describing Napier’s bones 

B 112 

Bass, Michael T. (1799–1884) 

Street music in the metropolis. 

B 111 

Year: 1864 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 


Binding: original cloth boards; spine and front cover gilt 


Collation: A 4 B–H 8 I 4 


Bass was head of Bass & Co., a brewery in Burton-on- 

Trent and a Member of Parliament from 1848 to his 

retirement in 1873. He seldom rose to speak but was 

evidently very active and involved in other aspects of 

the job. 

As Charles Babbage makes clear in his autobiography 

(Babbage, Passages from the life of a philosopher, 

1864), he had little regard for street musicians. Michael 

Bass was the Member of Parliament who introduced a 

bill limiting this nuisance that was never adopted. This 

small volume is an attempt to rally support for the cause 

and details, among others, an incident in which Babbage 

was forced to bring one street musician to court. 


Title page 

Bassentin, Jacques 

See Jacquinot, Dominique; L’usage de l’astrolabe, 

avec un petit traicté de la sphere … Plus est 

adiousté une amplification de l’usage de 

l’astrolabe, par Jacques Bassentin Escossis, 1573 

B 113 

Baudusson, M. 

Le rapporteur exact, ou tables des cordes de chaque 

angle, depuis une minute jusqu’a cent quatre-vingts 

degrés pour un rayon de mille parties égales. 

Year: 1842 

Place: Paris 

B 112 

119

120 


Edition: 3rd 


Figures: 1 engraved folding plate 

Binding: contemporary leather; black leather label 

Pagination: pp. xviii, 156, 6 

Collation: 1–15 6 


There are two works bound into this volume. The first, by 

Baudusson, is a trigonometric table based on the metric 

division of the circle—a new system that never found 

acceptance. The second table (from 1834) by M. P. Le 

Terrier is based on the old 360-degree division. Both 

men were evidently associated with the great Cadastre 

table project headed by de Prony. 


Title page of Baudusson 

Title page of Le Terrier 

Sample page from Baudusson 

Sample page from Le Terrier 


Baudusson, M. Bauschinger, Julius 

Baudusson title, B 113 

Le Terrier title, B 113 

B 114 

Baum, Frank George (1870–) 

An alternating current calculating device. For the use 

of electrical engineers. 

Year: 1902 

Place: Stanford, CA 

Publisher: Author 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: with calculating device and advertising flyer 

Binding: original paper wrappers; front cover lacking 



Rather than being a calculating device using alternating 

current, this is a nomogram with a plastic overlay for 

performing calculation on data involving alternating 

currents. 


Title page 

Nomogram (color) 

B 114 

B 115 

Bauschinger, Julius (1860–1934) and Johann Theodor 

Peters (1869–1941) 

Logarithmisch-trigonometrische Tafeln mit acht 

dezimalstellen enthaltend die Logarithmen aller 

Zahlen von 1 bis 200000 und die Logarithmen 

der trigonometrischen Funktionen für jede 

Sexagesimalsekunde des Quadranten. 

Year: 1910–1911 

Place: Leipzig 

Publisher: Wilhelm Engelmann


Bauschinger, Julius Bauschinger, Julius 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: v.1. 1 photographic plate 

Binding: three-quarter red leather boards; gilt spine 

Pagination: 2 vols. v.1. pp. xx, 368; v.2. pp. 952 

Collation: v.1. π 10 1–23 8 ; v.2. 1–59 8 60 4 


Reference: Hend BTM, #197.0, p. 153; Zin GBAL, p. 87 

At the time of this project, Julius Bauschinger had 

just left his position as Director of the Astronomical 

Research Institute in Berlin and had become Director 

of the Imperial Observatory at Strassburg. An important 

German astronomer, he appreciated the usefulness of 

logarithms to all branches of science. Johann Peters, a 

professor in the Royal Astronomical Calculating Institute 

in Berlin and an expert on methods of table production, 

was described by Archibald (see entry for Archibald, 

Mathematical Table Makers) as perhaps the greatest 

mathematical table maker of all time. Simultaneously 

with the start of hand calculation, they asked the engineer 

Hamann about the possibility of constructing a difference 

engine to help with the work. The resulting machine is 

illustrated in the frontispiece, and a description of its 

workings can be found in the first volume’s preface. 

These well-regarded tables were some of the first to be 

completely recalculated—most previously published 

tables having been based on those produced in the early 

1600s by Henry Briggs and Adriaan Vlacq. The Royal 

Prussian Academy of Sciences and the Imperial Academy 

of Science of Vienna sponsored the work. 

The work was published in two volumes—the first, 

containing logarithms of numbers, in 1910 and the 

second, logarithms of trigonometric functions, in 1911. 

The second volume, unlike the first, contains two title 

Volume two title page, B 115 

pages, one in German and one in English. The English 

title page was added to Volume 2 no doubt in order 

to capitalize upon the favorable reception of the first 

volume by extending its distribution to the British and 

American markets. 

As can be seen in the illustrations of the tables, the authors 

used a typographical device similar to that of Bagay to 

indicate where the most significant digits of the logarithm 

changed. The mark is a small asterisk in Volume 1 but 

was changed to a larger one in the second volume. The 

change was made because the authors felt the smaller 

mark was not sufficiently visible (see illustrations of 

Difference calculating machine, B 115 

121

oth the sample logarithm and trigonometric pages and 

compare this mark to the easily visible marks used by 

Bagay). 

122 


Title page 

Calculating machine 

Sample logarithm page 

Sample trigonometric page 

English title page in volume II 

B 116 

Baxandall, David (1874–1938) 

Calculating machines and instruments. Catalogue 

of the collections in the Science Museum South 

Kensington with descriptive and historical notes and 

illustrations. 

Year: 1926 

Place: London 

Publisher: H. M. S. O. 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 13 photographic plates on 11 leaves 

Binding: original printed paper wrappers 



Reference: Ran ODC, p. 406; Bax CMI, pp. 85 

This is a catalog of the calculating machines and 

instruments in the London Science Museum. It covers 

everything from the abacus and exchequer tallies to 

harmonic analyzers. There is a small description of each 

machine and usually an indication of any significant 

improvements over earlier machines designed to perform 

the same process. The catalog was reprinted, with some 

minor changes to correct errors and slightly larger 

photographs, by the Science Museum in 1975. 


Title page 

B 117 

Baxter, James Phinney (1893–1975) 

Scientists against time. 

Year: 1946 

Place: Boston 

Publisher: Little, Brown 

Edition: 1st 




Pagination: pp.xvi,473, [1] 


In 1943 Vannevar Bush, who wrote a foreword to this 

book, had asked Dr. James Baxter, president of Williams 

College (but the wartime deputy director of the Office 


Baxandall, David Beaulieu, Jean de 

of Strategic Services) to write a history of the scientific 

accomplishments of the wartime scientists. This book is 

the result. The dust jacket describes this as 

The revealing history of American scientists 

at war and the story of the death-dealing and 

lifesaving devices which they contributed to 

victory in World War II. 

It covers everything from antibacterial drugs to guided 

bombs and the atomic bomb. Very little is said about 

calculation and, of course, nothing about code breaking. 


Title page 

B 118 

Beaulieu, Jean de 

B 118 

Nouvelle invention d’arithmetique dont l’usage tres 

facile sera connu à la premiere lecture de l’instruction, 

& sera tout ce que l’aritmetique vulgaire peut executer, 

soit multiplications, divisions, reductions de monnoye, 

changes universels, regles de trois, extractions de 

racines carrées, toisez, & autres calculs: avec laquelle 

l’on peut faire en une heure de temps un calcul 

seroit impossible de faire en une journée entiere par 

l’arithmetique ordinaire. Necessaire à tous Officiers 

d’armées, tresoriers, payeurs, financiers, marchands, & 

à toutes sortes d’ouvriers; bref, à toutes personnes. 

Year: 1677 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Chez l’Auteur


Beausard, Pierre Becmann, Gustav Bernhard 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 7 double-page engraved tables 

Binding: contemporary marbled paper wrappers 


Collation: A 4 


Reference: H&J AM, Vol. II, B 13.4, p. 60 

Jean de Beaulieu held the position of Ingénieur 

géographe du Roi at La Rochelle. This is a multiplication 

table, in several sheets, of all numbers up to 210 x 100. 

A final sheet gives the decimal equivalent of fractions. 

It is interesting that despite the fact the decimal point 

had been in use since the early 1600s, this decimal table 

still relies on the old form of notation with accents (5’ 

corresponds to 0.5; 25’’ to 0.25; 6666 4 to 0.6666, etc.) 


Title page 

First page of multiplication table (portion) 

Decimal fraction table (portion) 

B 119 

Beausard, Pierre (1536–1577) et al. 

Decimal fraction table, B 118 

Annuli astronomici, instrumenti cum certissimi, tùm 

commodissimi, usus, ex variis authoribus, Petro 

Beausardo, Gemma Frisio, Joãne Dryandro, Boneto 

Hebraeo, Burchardo Mythobio, Orontio Finaeo, una 

cum meteoroscopio per Joãné Regiomontanum, & 

annulo non universali M.T. authore. 

Year: 1558 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: G. Cavellat 

Edition: 1st (Collected, 2nd issue) 


Binding: modern vellum 

Pagination: ff. 8, 159, [1] (i.e. ff. 103v–117) 

Collation: A 8 a–v 8 


Reference: H&L, #2589, p. 588; Cro CL, #62, p. 76 

Beausard, the editor of this work, was a professor of 

medicine and mathematics at the University of Louvain. 

The introduction describes elementary notions of 

astronomy and the shadow scales on an astrolabe. This 

is followed by seven different works on the annulus, 

also known as the astronomical ring. The instruments 

are mainly ring sundials, but some are also elementary 

survey instruments. Detailed descriptions of the contents 

of each work are given in the individual entries. Many 

of these items were previously published in a work by 

Dryander. 

See 

1. Boneto, Hebræo, or Bonetus, de Latus; Annuli 

astronomici utilitatu[m] liber ad Alexandrum 

sextu[m] Po[n]tifice[m]) maximum, 1558, Paris. 

2. Dryander, Johann; Annulorum trium diversi 

generis instrumentorum astronomicoru[m] co[m]pone[n]di 

ratio usus, atque cu[m] quibusda aliis 

lectu iucu[m]dissimis, quoru[m] catalogum mox 

versa pagella indicabit, 1558, Paris. 

3. Fine, Oronce; Compendiaria tractatio de fabrica 

& usu annuli astronomici, 1558, Paris. 

4. Gemma Frisius, Reiner; Usus annuli astronomici, 

1558, Paris. 

5. M. T.; Compositio alterius annuli astronomici non 

universalis, sed add certam polarem elevationem 

instructi authore, 1558, Paris. 

6. Mithob, Burchard; Structura et usus annuli 

sphærici, 1558, Paris. 

7. Regiomontanus, Johannes; Ad Bessarionem 

Cardinalem Nicenum ad Patriarcham Constantinopolitanum: 

De compositione meteoroscopi, 

1558, Paris. 

B 120 

Becmann, Gustav Bernhard (1720–1783) and David 

Heinrich Becmann 

Fratrum Becmannorum. Tractatio mathematicojuridica 

de interusurio … 

Year: 1784 

Place: Goettingen 

Publisher: Io. Christian Dieterich 

Edition: 1st 




Collation: )( 2 A–N 4 O 2 


Gustav Becmann was a professor at Göttingen and was 

known for his writings on legal and financial concerns in 

tax and legacies. This work appeared a year after he died. 

123

The final process of seeing it through the press was done 

by his younger brother. 

While Becmann and his brother are known to have 

published other works on law, this book on the calculation 

and legal aspects of interest is not known in any other 

collection. It includes a discussion of both simple and 

compound interest as well as tables and formulas for 

calculating and the use of logarithms. 

124 


Title page 

Interest table 

B 121 

Bede Venerabilis (672/3–735) 

De computo per gestum digitorum. Idem de loquela. 

Idem de ratione unciarum. 

b/w: Probus, Marcus Valerius; De notis Romanor[um] 

ex codice manuscripto castigatior, auctiorque, 

quam unquam antea, factus. 

b/w: Petrus, Deacon; De eadem re ad conradum 

primum imp. Ro[manorum]. 

b/w: Alabaldus, Demetrius; De minutiis. Idem de 

ponderibus. Idem de mensuris. 

b/w: Leges XII tabularum, leges pontificiæ 

Ro[manorum]. Variæ verborum conceptiones, 

quibus antiqui cuz in rebus sacris, tum prophanis 

uterentur, sub titulo de Ritibus Romanorum 

collectæ. Phlegontis Trallani epistola de moribus 

Ægytiorum. Aureliani Cæsaris epistola de officio 

tribuni militum. Iscriptiones antiquæ variis in 

locis repertæ, atq[ue] aliæ, q[uam] quae in 


Bede Venerabilis Bede Venerabilis 

B 120 

Romano codice continentur. Hæc omnia nunc 

primum edita. 

Year: 1525 

Place: Venice 

Publisher: Joh. Tacuino 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: main title in red and black 

Binding: stamped vellum over wooden boards 

Pagination: ff. [4], XXIIII 

Collation: a 4 A–C 8 


Reference: Ada CBCE, P2122; Smi Rara, p. 140 

The Venerable Bede (Beda) was an English monk who 

spent his entire life (from the age of 7) in a monastery 

near what is now Newcastle upon Tyne. Although he 

never traveled more than fifty miles from his base, he 

became one of the great scholars of his day and wrote 

extensively on every major subject, even writing a tourist 

guide to sites in the Holy Land and other places. Bede’s 

monastery seems to have been the gathering place for 

many. It attracted people from around Europe, Ireland 

and even North Africa, all of whom added to the rich 

resources available to Bede. 

Volume title page, B 121 

Colophon, B 121


Bede Venerabilis Bede Venerabilis 

Bede documented the medieval form of hand gestures 

known as finger numerals, and his is the first printed 

record we have of them. Bede’s description is short and 

contains no diagrams. It simply lists the finger positions 

used to represent integers from 1–9,999 and adds a very 

short remark on the Greek alphabetic number system. 

The work is bound with different works by Bede and 

others (see the title page). 

For a succinct discussion of Bede finger reckoning, see 

Sachiko Kusukawa, A manual computer for reckoning 

time, In Claire Richter Sherman, Writing on hands. 

Memory and knowledge in early modern Europe. 

University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2000, pp. 28– 

34. 


Title page of the entire volume 

Title page of the computo 

Four pages of text of the computo (in three images) 

Colophon 

B 122 


De natura rerum et temporum rationes. Libri duo. Nunc 

recens inventi, & in lucem editi. 

Year: 1529 

Place: Basel 

Publisher: Henricus Petrus 

Edition: 1st (two texts together) 


Figures: 16 plates 

Computo title page, B 121 

Binding: later quarter vellum heavy paper boards 


Collation: å 6 ß 6 ð 4 a–l 6 m 8 


Reference: Smi Rara, p. 159; Sart Vol. I, pp. 510–11; DSB I, 

pp. 564–66; Smi HM II, p. 200; Zin GBAL, #1374 

This volume, like the 1525 work mentioned above, 

is composed of a number of different works. Bede’s 

De computu digitorum is the same, very short, work 

previously described. The one obvious difference is that 

a more complete list of the Greek alphabetic number 

symbols is given. 


Main title page 

Title page of Bede’s De natura rerum 

Complete text (in two images) of Computu digitorum 

Colophon 

B 123 


Bede first page, B 122 

Colophon, B 122 

Opuscula cumplura de temporum ratione diligenter 

castigata: atque illustrata veteribus quibusdam 

annotationibus una cum scholiis in obscuriores aliquot 

locos, authore Johanne Noviomago. 

125

w: Anselm, In omnes Pauli … 

126 

Year: 1537 

Place: Cologne 

Publisher: Johannes Prael for P. Quentel 

Edition: 1st (collected) 


Binding: Flemish blindstamped over wooden boards, rolls of 

medallion heads and foliage forming a double panel; 

clasps and catches; corner bosses 

Pagination: ff. [14], 18, [6], 30 (misnumbered 19 as 21, 24 as 

20), XXXI–CXXVI (misnumbered 35 as 25, 37 as 27, 

38 as 138, 45 as 46, 53 as 46, 54 as 49, 60 as 54, 78 

as76), [4] 

Collation: A 4 B 6 C 4 D–G 6 a–x 6 y 4 


Reference: Ada CBCE, #A1174; Zin GBAL, #1657; Smi Rara, 

p. 159; Ada CBCE, #B448 

This edition of Bede’s work on finger numerals (De 

computu) is identical to that appearing in the 1529 edition. 

After this very short section, the rest of the volume 

contains works by Bede on arithmetic, astronomy, the 

calendar and chronology. 


Title page for the volume (Anselm title page) 

Title page for Bede’s work 

Complete text of De computu in two images 

Colophon of Bede’s work 


See Artabasda, Nicolaus of Smyrna; Græci 

Mathematici ΕΚΦΡΑΣΙC numerorum notationis per 

gestum digitorum, 1614. 


Bede Venerabilis Bedwell, William 

B 123 

B 124 

Bedwell, William (1561–1632), translator and editor 

De numeris geometricis. Of the nature and proprieties 

of geometricall numbers. First written by Lazarus 

Schonerus, and now Englished, enlarged and illustrated 

with divers and sundry tables and observations 

concerning the measuring of plaines and solids; all 

teaching the fabricke, demonstration and use of a 

singular instrument, or rular, long since invented and 

perfitted by Thomas Bedwell Esquire. 

b/w: Digges, Leonard; Tectonicon: briefly shewing 

the exact measuring, and speedy reckoning all 

manner of land, squares, timber, stone, steeples, 

pillers, globes, &c. 

Year: 1614 

Place: London 

Publisher: Richard Field 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 1 large letterpress folding table 


Pagination: pp. [viii], 82 

Collation: A–L 4 M 1 


Bede title page, B 123 

Often considered the first English translation of Lazarus 

Schoner’s treatise on the Greek theory of numbers (first 

published as an appendix to his edition of Peter Ramus, 

Arithmetices libri duo, Frankfurt, 1586), in fact it is an 

enlarged, and rewritten, version of this material rather than 

a translation. Bedwell’s motive was to provide a basis for 

the explanation of the use of the trigonicum, which was 

a ruler invented by his uncle, Thomas Bedwell, about 

forty years earlier. This ruler was similar to instruments


Bedwell, William Beghin, Auguste 

described by Digges in the other work bound in this 

volume. The first chapter considers geometrical numbers 

in general (he makes a point of not calling them figurate 

or cossick numbers, which would have been the more 

common terminology) and chapters 2 and 4 deal with 

square and cubic numbers. Chapters 3 and 5 are the 

practical application of these ideas in the measurement 

of cloth, painting, wainscoting, timber, etc. 

In the preface Bedwell indicates that he would publish 

more on his uncle’s ruler, a promise he kept with his 

Mesolabium architectonicum of 1631 (see Addenda). 


Title page 

B 125 

Beebe, Levi N. 

B 124 

First steps among figures. A drill book in the 

fundamental rules of arithmetic. Teachers’ edition. 

b/w: Beebe, Levi N.; First steps among figures. A 

drill book in the fundamental rules of arithmetic. 

Pupils’ edition. 

Year: 1883 

Place: Syracuse, NY 

Publisher: C. W. Bardeen 

Edition: 6th 


Binding: original cloth boards; stamped in black ink on spine 

and front cover; rear cover blind stamped and water 

stained 

Pagination: pp. 192, 140 


These two works illustrate the teaching of arithmetic in 

the United States during the last portion of the nineteenth 

century. The teacher’s edition gives detailed instructions 

as to exactly what should be taught and suggestions (e.g., 

“Teach in counting that the second of two things is not 

itself two, but one”) as to where misunderstandings might 

occur. The work is full of drill exercises and arithmetical 

word problems. The teacher’s edition contains the 

answers to all the drill problems in the pupil’s edition. 


Title page 

B 126 

Beghin, Auguste 

B 125 

Règle a calculs. Instruction - application numériques 

- tables et formules. 

Year: 1904 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Chez Béranger and Tavernier-Gravet 

Edition: 3rd 


Figures: 135 in text 


Pagination: pp. xi, [1], 127, [1] 

Collation: π 6 1–8 8 


Beghin is known as the person who first designed a slide 

rule with a displaced scale—where the indices are not 

127

at the ends of the scale but near the middle, a situation 

that lessens the amount the slide has to move in many 

calculations. 

This is a large work on the use of a special slide rule 

created by Auguste Beghin in 1898. The instructions are 

illustrated with seventy-four problems and 135 figures. 

128 


Title page 


Beghin, Auguste Bell, Eric Temple 

B 127 

Beghin, Auguste 

B 127 

Règle à calculs. Instruction - application numériques. 

100 problèmes pratiques et industriels. Tables et 

formules. 

Year: 1912 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Chez Béranger and Tavernier-Gravet 

Edition: 5th 


Figures: 190 in text 


Pagination: pp. x, 185, [5] 

Collation: π 5 1–11 8 12 7 


An expanded edition of the instructional manual by 

Beghin on the use of his slide rule—this edition claims 

to have 190 figures, almost all of which are simple line 

drawings. 


Title page 

B 128 

Bell, Eric Temple (1883–1960) 

The development of mathematics. 

Year: 1945 


Publisher: McGraw-Hill 

Edition: 2nd 





A native of Aberdeen, Scotland, Eric Temple Bell first 

attended the University of London before moving to the 

United States, where he earned his A.B. degree in 1904 

at Stanford University. He later received an A.M. degree 

at Washington University and a Ph.D. at Columbia. After 

beginning as an instructor in the mathematics department 

at Washington, he rose to become a full professor and then 

left to take a professorship at the California Institute of 

Technology. He was extensively involved with scientific 

associations, serving as president of the Mathematical 

Association of America and vice president of the 

American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Well known as a writer of technical mathematical papers, 

he was also a successful popularizer through his writings 

on historical aspects of mathematics. While accessible to 

the interested amateur, his historical writings remain a 

significant source for the professional historian. 

Organized by subject rather than by time, this history 

of mathematics begins with the concept of proof and its 

place in mathematics and ends with the development of 

statistics. 


Title page 

B 129 


The magic of numbers. 

Year: 1946 



Edition: 1st 


Figures: photograph frontispiece 


Pagination: pp. viii, [2], 418 


This volume covers the development of the concepts of 

numbers. Bell starts from Pythagoras and leads up to the 

realm of physics via set theory and other branches of 

mathematics.


Title page 

B 130 


Mathematics. Queen and servant of science. 

Year: 1952 

Place: London 

Publisher: Bell 

Edition: 1st (English) 


Binding: original cloth boards; with dust Jacket 

Pagination: pp. xx, [2], 437, [1] 

Size: 202x138 

A history of pure and applied mathematics. 


Title page 

B 131 


Men of mathematics. 

Year: 1937 


Publisher: Simon and Schuster 

Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. xviii, 3–592, [2] 



Bell, Eric Temple Bell, T. F. 

B 129 B 131 

This volume describes the lives of the great 

mathematicians. Organized chronologically, Bell begins 

with Zeno and ends with Cantor. 


Title page 

B 132 

Bell, John Fred (1898–) 

A history of economic thought. 

Year: 1953 


Publisher: Ronald 

Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. x, 696 

Size: 228x145 

A history of economics from ancient times to the early 

twentieth century. 


Title page 

B 133 

Bell, T. F. 

Jacquard weaving and designing. 

Year: 1895 

Place: London 

129

130 

Publisher: Longmans, Green and Co. 

Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. viii, 303, [1] 

Collation: A 4 B–U 8 


The design and operations of the Jacquard loom and its 

variants are described herein, as well as the manner in 

which they are set up to produce weavings of various 

kinds. 

Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752–1834) was a mechanic in 

Lyons who had invented a machine for weaving fishing 

nets. He appears to have begun experiments on improving 

ordinary weaving looms about 1790—a model of a 

machine of this date is in the Conservatoire des Arts et 

Métier in Paris, but it is not a Jacquard loom as we know 

it today. About 1804, he was brought to Paris to repair 

Vaucanson’s loom (an earlier punched tape version of 

the automatic loom), and it seems that his attention was 

drawn to the potential of this technology at that time. 

Jacquard’s birth name was Joseph Marie Charles—the 

extended family had nicknames for each branch, and he 

adopted the nickname Jacquard as his formal surname. 


Title page 

B 134 

Belli, Silvio Vicentin (–1575) 

Libro del misurar con la vista …. Nel quale 

s’insegna, senza trauagliar con numeri, a misurar 

facilissimamente le distantie, l’altezze, e le profondità 

con il quadrato geometrico, e con altri stromenti, de’ 


Belli, Silvio Vicentin Belli, Silvio Vicentin 

B 133 

quali in ogni luogo quasi in un subito si puo prouedere. 

Si mostra ancora una bellissima uia di ritrouare 

la profondità di qual si uoglia mare; & un modo 

industrioso di misurar il circuito di tutta la terra. 

Year: 1565 

Place: Venice 

Publisher: Giordano Ziletti 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 54 woodcut diagrams in text 

Binding: 18th-century Italian paper boards 


Collation: * 4 A–N 4 O 2 


Reference: Rcdi BMI Vol. I, p. 107; Kie SI, p. 116 

B 134 

Belli taught mathematics in Vicenza and was a founding 

member of the Accademia Olimpica in 1555. He later 

became an architect, practicing in Ferrara, Modena, 

Rome and Venice. 

His work on surveying was very popular and had at least 

six editions in the sixteenth century. It was later combined 

with another of Belli’s works (Della Proportione, 1573) 

and published as Quattro libri giometici in 1595. 

In this book Belli deals mainly with simple survey 

problems for which rough estimates of distances and 

heights suffice and describes the use of a geometrical 

square with a sighting vane. He gives many examples 

of estimating the solution to a problem by creating 

scale drawings on drumheads (essentially using them 

as a plane table), improvising survey instruments from 

a pair of sticks and even estimating distances using the


Beman, Wooster Woodruff Benese, Richard 

peak of the surveyor’s cap, all methods that would have 

been quite useful in military campaigns or emergency 

situations. 

The final chapters discuss means for measuring the 

depths of the oceans and finding the circumference of 

the earth. 


Title page 

Geometric square and sight 

Estimating using the peak of a cap 

Drumhead surveying 

Drumhead and geometric square surveying 

Drumhead surveying, B 134 

Drumhead surveying, B 134 

Beman, Wooster Woodruff (1850–1922) and David 

Eugene Smith (1860–1944) 

See Fink, Karl; A brief history of mathematics, 1910 

B 135 

Benese, Richard de (fl.1537–1547) 

The boke of measurying of lande as well of woodland as 

plowland, & pasture in the feelde; & to compt the true 

nombre of acres of the same … 

Year: ca.1565 

Place: London 

Publisher: Thomas Colwell 

Edition: 4th 


Binding: Straight grained green morocco by W. Pratt for F. S. 

Ellis; marbled end papers; gilt edges; gilt tooled spine 


Collation: A–G 8 


Reference: Win ESTC, 1876; Hymn AC, #277; Ken, #1457 

B 135 

Benese (sometimes de Benese) was the author of the 

first book on surveying in English. He was Canon of 

the Augustinian priory of Merton and was forced to 

surrender it to Henry VIII upon the dissolution of the 

monasteries in 1538. Nevertheless, his career prospered, 

for his expertise led to his appointment as Surveyor of 

Works at Hampton Court and Chaplain to Henry VIII. 

This very simple book on surveying practices was first 

published around 1537. It remained the standard work 

on the subject in the English language for almost forty 

years, this fourth edition being the last. The demise 

of serfdom in England, and the rise of individual land 

ownership, spurred interest in and the development of 

surveying techniques. This little work was timely and 

popular in its day because survey techniques were little 

known, and unscrupulous sellers would often overstate 

the amount of land being sold. 

Earlier editions of this book contain tables (evidently the 

first ever printed in English) relating lengths in perches 

of the sides of rectangular fields to the area they contain 

in acres. This edition contains a table that relates money 

to area, as Benese explains: 

By cause in coumptyng of money it is not muche 

used to compte anye summes in markes, but 

most comomlye in poudes. Thefore because 

Marks do sygnyfye acres in comptynge the 

measures of lande, & poundes be no lyghtly 

turned into Markes by them that bee not experte 

in reakenynge, and castyng of a compt. Therefore 

in these sumes folowyine ye shall se pence turned 

131

132 

into perches grotes turned into dayeworkes. xl.d 

into a roode, a noble into di. acre, a Royal into .iii. 

roodes: a marke into an acre, & poundes turned 

into Markes, the which there be name acres. 

A short section at the end discusses how To measure 

Tymber or Stone, in length, breadth and depthe by the 

foote square. 

Like many other books of this era, for example, the 

illustration of Ptolemy in Gregor Reisch’s Margarita 

philosophica (of which the woodcut in this volume is 

only a crude copy), this work continues the suggestion 

that Ptolemy was the inventor of the quadrant (see 

illustration of the goddess of astronomy showing Ptolemy 

how to use a crude quadrant). It also continues the error 

that Ptolemy was a king of Egypt (note the crown and 

royal robes). The old typeface and random spelling make 

this a quite interesting book. 


Title page 

Ptolemy 

Table 


Bennett, Wendell Clark Berkeley, Edmund Callis 

B 136 

Bennett, Wendell Clark (1905–1953) 

Ptolemy, B 135 

Numbers, measures, weights and calendars. 

Year: 1949 


Publisher: Smithsonian Institution U.S.G.P.O. 

Edition: Extract 



Pagination: pp. [2], 601–610 


weights and measures, and calendar systems of major 

native groups in South America. 


Title page 

B 137 

Berkeley, Edmund Callis (1909–1988) 

Circuit algebra - introduction. 

Year: 1952 


Publisher: Edmund C. Berkeley Associates 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 24 figures in text 


Pagination: pp. [1], i, 34 


Berkeley, a native of New York, graduated with an A.B. 

summa cum laude in mathematics from Harvard in 1930, 

entered the computer field in 1938 as an actuary using 

punched card machines for the Prudential Insurance 

Company of America, and worked with Howard Aiken 

during the war as an active-duty naval reserve officer. 

After the war, he returned briefly to Prudential, where 

he participated in studies that led to the purchase of a 

UNIVAC I. In 1947, a meeting to which he invited seven 

friends resulted in the establishment of the Association 

for Computing Machinery, better known as the ACM. 

Berkeley was the first member and acted as secretary 

until 1953. He went into business for himself as Edmund 

C. Berkeley and Associates in 1948 (later Berkeley 

Enterprises), started a publication known as Computers 

and Automation in 1951, consulted for industry, and 

This small extract was originally published in the 

Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, 

Bulletin 143, Handbook of South American Indians Vol. 

5, pp. 601–610. It briefly describes number systems, B 137


Berkeley, Edmund Callis Berkeley, Edmund Callis 

devised and sold several relay computers and small 

robots (Simon, Squee, Relay Moe, etc.) as educational 

projects in kit form. 

This work covers Boolean algebra and how it can be 

used to describe circuits composed of tubes, relays, delay 

lines and other devices. 


Title page 

B 138 

[Berkeley, Edmund Callis (1909–1988)] 

Geniacs: Simple electronic brain machines, and how 

to make them. Also: manual for Geniac electric brain 

construction kit No. 1. 

Year: 1955 

Place: New Haven 

Publisher: Oliver Garfield 

Edition: 1st 





In 1950, Berkeley Associates produced a small 

educational computer known as Simon intended to teach 

the basic principles of switching circuits. Because the 

parts for Simon cost $300, it was decided to market it as 

a kit. This report is the manual for the resulting Geniac 

kit, which by 1955 sold for only $20. With it you could 

produce a number of ultra-simple devices ranging from 

a doorbell to a machine for converting from binary to 

decimal. The introduction states that 

We have had great help from several outstanding 

computer men in the design of about one third 

of the Geniac circuits … and regret that they feel 

they have to remain anonymous. 


Cover page 

B 139 

Berkeley, Edmund Callis (1909–1988) 

Giant brains or machines that think. 

Year: 1949 


Publisher: John Wiley 

Edition: 1st 





Reference: Ran ODC, p. 407 

B 138 

This volume was one of the first to popularize computers 

and was a major reason for the association of brain with 

computer. It covers all the major machines of those years 

(differential analyzers, punched card machines, Aiken’s 

machines, Bell Labs machines, ENIAC, etc.) and 

speculates on what the future would bring. The book was 

overly optimistic as to exactly what computers would 

shortly be able to accomplish, but Berkeley insisted all 

his life that he was correct and that it just would take 

a little longer. He published fourteen other books and 

continued to publish his Computers and Automation 

(later renamed Computers and People) until his death. 

In later life Berkeley became more interested in people 

and anti-nuclear causes. Portents of this shift in interests 

can be seen from the fact that the last chapters of this 

book are devoted to social issues. In 1972, ACM honored 

Berkeley as its founder at its 25th Anniversary Dinner. 

His acceptance speech was a direct denunciation of those 

in computing who worked on the killing devices used in 

the Vietnam war, of computing companies that built such 

horrors, and of ACM for ignoring this immorality. He 

said that it was a gross neglect of responsibility that ACM 

was not investigating whether computer applications 

were good or evil and how computers could be used to 

increase the good of society. Several prominent ACM 

members, employees of the firms and government 

agencies that Berkeley had identified, ostentatiously 

walked out of the banquet room while he was speaking. 

133

The leaders of ACM were embarrassed by their honoree, 

and the ACM never publicly referred to the incident in 

any way. 

This copy is inscribed by the author to Erwin Tomash. A 

second copy of this work is available in the collection. 

134 


Title page 

Inscription 


Bernard, Edward Bernard, Edward 

B 140 

Bernard, Edward (1638–1696) 

B 139 

Inscription, B 139 

De mensuris et ponderibus antiquis libri tres. Editio 

altera, purior et duplo locupletior. 

Year: 1688 

Place: Oxford 

Publisher: Sheldonian Theatre 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 3 folding plates 

Binding: 18th-century olive morocco; gilt spine and edges 

B 140 

Numerals, B 140


Bernard, Edward Bernegger, Matthias 

Pagination: pp. [16], 261, [83] 

Collation: § 4 §§ 4 A–Z 4 2A–2U 4 


Bernard was a Fellow of St. John’s College Oxford, 

where he had earlier been a scholarship student and an 

expert in weights and measures. He is known to have 

created star tables that were published in Hooke’s 

Philosophical Collections in 1684 and was well enough 

thought of to be appointed as Christopher Wren’s 

successor to the Savilian chair of astronomy in 1673. He 

was a keen collector of ancient manuscripts and spoke 

many oriental languages. 

This work is an enlarged and amended version of a letter 

prefixed to Dr. Pocock’s Commentary on Hosea, 1685. 

It discusses the numerical systems of several different 

civilizations, both ancient and of his own day, and it 

incorporates material from European, Far Eastern, 

Middle Eastern and African sources. The typesetting 

must have been problematic because of the numerous 

instances of Hebrew, Arabic, Greek and other alphabets. 


Title page 

System of numerals 

Chinese table 

B 141 

B 141 

Bernecker, C. (1760–a.1778) 

The Birmingham ready calculator; shewing in twenty 

tables, the sums necessary, from one shilling to fifty 

pounds, to produce real profits, from 2½ to 50 per cent. 

on prime cost; after allowing discounts from 2½ to 50 

per cent. on the selling prices. 

Year: 1778 

Place: Birmingham 

Publisher: Printed by Pearson and Rollason; and sold by R. 

Baldwin 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: contemporary marbled boards; rebacked 

Pagination: pp. iv, 140 

Collation: A 2 B–S 4 T 2 


This is a ready reckoner for financial affairs. Little seems 

to be known about the author. 


Title page 

Page from the tables 

B 142 

Bernegger, Matthias (1582–1640) 

Manuale Mathematicum, darinn begriffen. Die 

Tabulae Sinuum, Tangentium, Secantium: sowol 

die Quadrat- und Cubictafel; sambt gründlichem 

unterricht wie solche nützlich zugebrauchen. Allen Baw 

un[d] Kriegsverständigen, Feldmessern und andern 

Kunstliebenden hiebevor in Teutsche Sprach an tag 

geben, An jetzo aber wider ubersehe[n], und auffs New 

in truck gegeben … 

Year: 1619 

Place: Strasbourg 

Publisher: Anton Bertram for Paul Ledertz 



Binding: contemporary vellum; title cropped at bottom with 

no loss 

Pagination: pp. [8], 64, [184], [94], [26] 

Collation: )( 4 A–D 8 A–L 8 M 4 N–T 8 V 4 


Reference: Pogg Vol. I, p. 155 

Matthias Bernegger was a professor of mathematics 

and rhetoric at the University of Strasbourg. He is 

best known for his unauthorized 1612 translation of 

Galileo’s work on the sector (see entry for Galilei, 

Galileo [Bernegger, Matthias, translator]; Tractatus de 

proportionum instrumento, quod merito compendium 

universæ geometriæ dixeris, 1635), to which he added a 

set of notes that almost doubled the size of the text. The 

notes are a description of the construction of the sector, 

135

(the lines inscribed, not the physical construction of the 

mechanism) and many added examples of its use. 

This present volume is a set of trigonometric tables 

designed for use in surveying and other similar tasks. 

It begins with a description of elementary geometry 

and trigonometry, followed by a quadrant with the 

calculations for finding heights of towers. The majority 

of the work is taken up by a table of sines, tangents and 

secants, all done to a radius (see the sector essay) of 

10,000,000. The last two sections of the work contain 

tables for squares and cubes of numbers. 

136 


Title page 

Title page of trigonometric table 

Title page of squares table 

Title page of cubes table 

Sample page from trigonometric table 


Bernegger, Matthias Bernoulli, Jacob 

B 142 

B 143 

Bernoulli, Jacob (1654–1705) 

Ars conjectandi, opus posthumum, Accedit tractatus de 

seriebus infinitis, et epistola Gallicè scripta de Ludo 

Pilæ Reticularis. 

Year: 1713 

Place: Basel 

Publisher: Thurneisen Brothers 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 2 engraved folding charts (p. 24 & p. 172), 1 engraved 

folding plate (p. 306) 

Binding: original semi-stiff boards; uncut 

Pagination: pp. [4], 306, [2], 36 

Collation: π 2 A–2P 4 2Q 2 a–d 4 e 2 


Reference: Horb 100, #12 

Jacob Bernoulli was the first of what became a large 

and important family of mathematicians. The eldest 

of three brothers, Jacob originally studied philosophy 

and theology then, against his father’s advice, also 

took up mathematics and astronomy. His youngest 

brother, Johann (from whom the majority of the family 

mathematicians are descended), was also advised against 

the sciences, but under Jacob’s tutelage, he too became 

a mathematician. Despite their early collaboration, 

continued work on similar problems led to bitterness 

and a lifelong rivalry. Jacob traveled extensively and 

met with scientists in France, Germany, Britain and the 

Netherlands. He occupied the prestigious position of 

professor of mathematics at Basel. 

Bernegger, Matthias (1582–1640) 

See entries for [Galilei, Galileo] - Matthias 

Bernegger, De proportionum instrumento, 1612 

and Tractatus de proportionum instrumento, 1635. B 143


Bernoulli, John III Beutel, Tobias 

While making contributions in many areas of mathematics 

and mechanics, this volume contains Jacob’s most 

famous work. It is considered as the foundation of the 

mathematical theory of probability and, indeed, has 

been termed the foundation of the field of mathematical 

statistics. The editing of the manuscript was incomplete 

when Jacob died and his nephew Nicolas (the son of 

Jacob’s brother of the same name) saw it through the 

press. This work, whose title means casting, as in the 

casting of dice (not counters), is divided into four parts. 

The first is a discussion of Huygens’ De ratiociniis in 

alae ludo, and the second deals with permutations in 

which Bernoulli derives a number of fundamental notions 

about series. The third applies the theory developed in 

Part II to twenty-four examples of games of chance for 

which Bernoulli calculates the odds. The final section 

is more philosophical in nature and makes reference to 

moral as opposed to mathematical expectation and the 

law of large numbers (the fundamental underpinning of 

most simulations). This last section also contains some 

comments on jeu de paume—a game similar to modern 

tennis having little to do with the major topic of the 

work. This is Jacob’s thinly disguised satirical response 

to some caustic criticisms made earlier of his views on 

scholarly logic. 


Title page 

B 144 

Bernoulli, John III (1744–1807) 

A sexcentenary table; exhibiting at sight, the result of 

any proportion, where the terms do not exceed 600 

seconds or 10 minutes with precepts and examples. 

b/w: Taylor, Michael S.; A sexagesimal table …, 1780 

Year: 1779 

Place: London 

Publisher: William Richardson 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: contemporary half-bound leather, marbled boards; 

rebacked; red leather label 


Collation: a–b 2 A–2S 2 T 1 


See the entry for Taylor, Michael S.A.; A sexagesimal 

table…,1780. 

John (Johann) Bernoulli, a member of the famous Swiss 

mathematical family—the grandson of Johann and 

grandnephew of Jacob Bernoulli, was a child prodigy, 

obtaining a master of jurisprudence degree at age 

fourteen. By the age of twenty, he was asked by Frederick 

II to reorganize the observatory in Berlin. While his 

mathematical works are not of great importance today, 

he wrote many papers on diverse subjects and eventually 

became the trustee of the family documents. 


Title page 

B 145 

Beutel, Tobias 

B 144 

Neu auffgelegte Arithmetica, Oder sehr nützliche 

und schöne Rechen-Kunst mit kurtzen Regulen und 

Exemplis, Nach der Practica, welche ausführlich 

hierinnen beschriben ist, nebenst der Coss oder 

Algebra. 

Year: 1670 


Publisher: Printed by Johann Wittigau for Philip Fuhrman 

Edition: 4th 


Figures: engraved frontispiece; title in red and black 

Binding: Contemporary vellum; with ties 

Pagination: pp. [24], 502, [2] (interleaved from p. 1 to p. 475) 

Collation: ):( 12 A–X 12 



This copy is interleaved with contemporary inscriptions 

in finely penned handwriting in brown ink. 

This arithmetic book begins with numeration (including 

an example of Roman numerals using some of the 

alternate forms for “M”) and continues with the four 

basic operations and rule of three, multiplication being 

illustrated with an unusual triangular table. The same 

material is repeated in the next section, this time dealing 

137

with fractions rather than integers. The latter sections 

contain a discussion of elementary algebra, and the final 

quarter of the book is devoted to tables dealing with 

money and similar practical matters. 

138 


Title page (color) 

Frontispiece 

Roman numerals 


Handwritten gelosia multiplication 


Beutel, Tobias Bevan, Benjamin 

B 145 


B 146 

Bevan, Benjamin (fl.1804–1838) 

A practical treatise on the sliding rule. In two parts. 

Part the first being an introduction to the use of the rule 

generally as adapted for calculations that usually occur 

to persons in trade. Part the second containing formulæ 

for the use of surveyors, architects, civil engineers, and 

scientific gentlemen. 

Year: 1822 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 


Binding: original paper boards 


Collation: A–F 4 G 2 H–O 4 


Reference: Tay MP II, #1084 

Roman numeral forms, B 145 

Multiplication table, B 145 

Benjamin Bevan was an engineer and architect/surveyor 

who lived in Bushey Heath, England. Little is known 

about him, but he notes in the preface that he had spent 

eighteen years in very extensive public undertakings and 

had taught the use of the slide rule to a number of young 

persons. He developed his new slide rule, with divisions 

to three places of decimal, some time about 1813. He 

was obviously well connected because he was able to use 

Jesse Ramsden’s dividing machine for the markings. The 

rule was manufactured, beginning about the time of this 

publication, by William O. Carey (1789–1891), whose 

shop was on the Strand in London. Carey advertised the 

rule as being for accountants and surveyors.


Beveridge, William Beyer, Johann Hartmann 

After a brief introduction to the slide rule, the majority of 

the work is taken up with examples from many different 

trades. Each example is shown with a clear diagram that 

illustrates how the slide rule should be set to accomplish 

the task (see illustration of simple interest calculations). 


Title page 

Interest calculation 

B 147 

Beveridge, William (1637–1708) 

Institutionum chronologicarum libri II. Unà cum 

totidem arithmetices chronologicæ libellis. 

Year: 1669 

Place: London 

Publisher: Thomas Roycraft for Walter Kettilby 

Edition: 1st 




Collation: A–2L 4 


Reference: Win ESTC, B.2095 

B 146 

William Beveridge was a scholar at St. John’s College 

Cambridge and an expert on oriental languages. He 

was ordained in 1660 and took up the post of Vicar of 

Ehling, which position left him enough time to follow 

his scholarly interests. He stayed there twelve years, and 

it was during that period this book was written. In 1704, 

he was made Bishop of St. Asaph. 

This work, on ancient number systems and the calendar, 

is described by DeMorgan, Arithmetical books as 

learned, but not always judicious. It is of interest from 

both a typographical and historical standpoint for the 

many different fonts of exotic character sets used to print 

out the tables, ranging from Hebrew and Greek to various 

Middle Eastern languages, including Arabic, Samaritan 

and Syriac. The complexity of the problem facing the 

printer may be seen from the table illustrated. 


Title page 

Numerical systems table (3) 

B 148 

Beyer, Johann Hartmann (1563–1625) 

B 147 

Ein newe und schöne Art der Vollkommenen Visier 

- Kunst: Derengleichen hiebevor niemaln in keiner 

Spraach gesehen worden. Wie man nemlich vierlerlen 

unterschiedne Visierstäbe zurichten auch mit den 

selbigen allerhand regulierte hole Cörper. Sie seyen 

so gross oder kleyn sie immer mögen als mancherley 

Särcke Röhrcästen Brunnen, Fass, Bütten, Eymer, 

Gläser, Kugeln, & visieren und deren inhallt gantz 

leichtich erfündigen soll. 

Year: 1603 

Place: Frankfurt 

Publisher: Palthenium for J. Rosen 

139

140 



Binding: later vellum over boards 

Pagination: pp. [12], 68, 192, [38] 

Collation: )( 4 )()( 2 2A–2H 4 2I 2 A–2A 4 2A–2D 4 2E 3 



Johann Beyer was not only a well-known Frankfurt 

physician and mathematician but was also a person of 

civic eminence due to his position as Bürgermeister. His 

wide contact with the scientific community is illustrated 

by a letter he is known to have written to Kepler in 1616 

in which he used a combination of both the decimal 

point (actually a comma) and the old system of accents 

to represent decimal fractions. For example, Beyer wrote 

the number 314.15926 (100π) as 314,1’5’’9’’’2’’’’6’’’’’ 

(using a comma as the decimal indicator but still using 

the accents as well) and claimed this system of notation 

as his invention. This may well have been true as far as 

Beyer was concerned; however, Simon Stevin had used 

the decimal point notation years earlier. The same system 

of notation, this time with multiple and inconsistent uses 

of the decimal point and Roman numerals for the accents, 

can be seen in this work. 


Beyer, Johann Hartmann Beyer, Johann Hartmann 

B 148 

Accents denoting decimal places, B 148 

This book is an early basic work on gauging, with 

emphasis on the calculation of the volume contained in 

various solid geometric figures. Beyer also discusses 

the extraction of cube roots, gives practical examples 

of gauging and includes tables for such things as the 

circumference and area of circles having diameters from 

0.1 to 108 units in steps of 0.1 unit. Unfortunately, the 

value of π Beyer used appears to be 3.14172 rather than 

3.14159, and this value limits their usefulness (accurate 

values for π had been calculated to 35 decimal places 

prior to the date of this publication). 


Title page 

Decimal point example 

Table page 

B 149 

Beyer, Johann Hartmann (1563–1625) 

B 149 

Stereometriae inanium nova et facilis ratio, geometricis 

demonstrationibus confirmata & necessariis 

obscuriorum quorundam delineationibus illustrata: 

Qua corporum regularium omnium, tam rectilineorum 

quam curvilineorum capacitates promtissime 

explorantur. 

Year: 1603 

Place: Frankfurt 

Publisher: Zacharias Palthenius for Jonas Rhodius 

Edition: 1st (Latin) 


Figures: 67 woodcut text diagrams, numerous charts 

Binding: contemporary vellum over boards


Bianchini, Giovanni Bianchini, Giovanni 

Pagination: pp. [12], 268, [38] 

Collation: )( 4 2)( 2 A–2K 4 L 2 2A–2D 4 2E 3 



This is a Latin version of the work described above. 

While the works are similar, containing the same woodcut 

diagrams and tables, the examples of calculations often 

differ, and the accuracy of the tables suffers from the 

same problem as in the German version. See comments 

in Beyer, Johann Hartmann; Ein newe und schone Art 

der Vollkommenen Visier-Kunst, 1603. 


Title page 

B 150 

Bianchini, Giovanni (ca.1410–1469) 

Tabulae celestium motuum eorumque canones. 

Year: 1460–1470 

Place: Italy 



Figures: Manuscript tables in red and black 

Binding: contemporary vellum over boards 

Pagination: ff. [b], [1], [2b], [16], 1–122, [2b], [4], [4b], [1], 

[2b] 


According to Thorndike’s History of magic and 

experimental science, Bianchini was probably the 

fifteenth century’s foremost astronomer. He lived and 

worked for many years in the service of three successive 

D’Este Dukes at Ferrara, where he was in contact with 

several of the greatest astronomers of the century. Georg 

Peuerbach (1423–61), the teacher of Regiomontanus 

(1436–76), lectured in Ferrara in 1450, and Rose states 

(Italian Renaissance of Mathematics, p. 14) 

Regiomontanus himself visited Ferrara in the 

1460’s, having perhaps been lured there by the 

prospect of meeting Bianchini with whom he 

initiated a scientific correspondence. 

At this time Bianchini would have been in his late 

forties or early fifties and as the leading figure of the last 

generation of astronomers would have been an impressive 

person to the young Peuerbach and his even younger 

student and collaborator, Regiomontanus. At an even 

earlier date than that cited by Rose, Regiomontanus 

and Peuerbach were both calculating ephemerides from 

Bianchini’s tables around 1456. Of their contemporaries 

(Regiomontanus’ &. Peuerbach’s), only Bianchini … 

possessed a comparable proficiency and originality. 

(DSB Vol. 15, pp. 474–475). 

B 150 

In this manuscript work, Bianchini set out to reconcile 

the Alfonsine tables—for two centuries the standard in 

Europe by the time he wrote—with those of Ptolemy. 

He was a great admirer of Ptolemy and critical of the 

corrupted Ptolemaic and Alfonsine texts then in current 

use. Thorndike observes that historically 

… many have erred by neglecting, because of 

their difficulty, the Alfonsine Tables for longitude 

and the Ptolemaic for finding the latitude of the 

planets. Accordingly in his Tables Bianchini has 

combined the conclusions, roots and movements 

of the planets by longitude of the Alfonsine Tables 

with the Ptolemaic for latitude, and with the rules 

of Ptolemy which Alfonso too had employed. 

Bianchini’s Tables must have been useful and perhaps 

even popular since they went through three printed 

editions. The text was first published in 1495 at Venice. 

A second edition was printed in 1526, and another 

appeared in Basel in 1553. 

The manuscript is roughly divided into two parts: the 

first of fifteen leaves includes an introduction and the 

Canones, which explain how the tables were calculated 

and how to use them. The second comprises tables and 

occupy the balance of the work. Manuscript copies of 

the tables alone are recorded in some European libraries, 

but here they appear together with the Canones. Of 

additional interest is a letter from the Venetian humanist 

and Senator Marco Sanuto (ca.1466–1533) starting on 

folio 10v and 11r, running onto the lower margin of 

141

the latter, relating to certain astronomical problems, 

which suggests possible avenues of inquiry relating 

to provenance. Sanuto was the dedicatee of Pacioli’s 

Summa de arithmetica. 

There is a purchase inscription on the last leaf dated 1474 

that reads I bought these tables in 1474 (see illustration). 

Various watermarks—“R” similar to Briquet 897-0-71, 

scissors-Briquet 3668, crossed arrows-Briquet 6269, four 

flowers similar to Briquet 6689 & 6690—all indicate 

Italy mid-fifteenth century. 

A fifteenth-century coat of arms with a rampant lion 

watercolor flanked by the initials B and L on the first 

page of the introduction is similar to the lion found 

in Rietstap’s Armorial General Illustre, vol. 4, for 

the Loredano family of Venice (see illustration). The 

Loredano family provided Venice with several Doges, 

beginning with Leonardo Loredano (1438–1521); 

however, we have not been able to attach the initials 

B.L. to any of the descendants. The inner front cover 

of the binding bears the large bookplate of the sixteenth 

century collector Ferdinand Hoffman (1540–1607) 

(see illustration). This copy was dispersed along with 

other books from Hoffman’s library in the Gilhofer & 

Ranschburg sale of the Bibliothek Alexander Fürst 

Dietrichstein, November, 1933. 

According to C. U. Faye and W.H. Bond, Supplement to 

the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in 

the United States and Canada, 1962, only one manuscript 

copy of the Tabulae was recorded in the United States, 

that being the Honeyman copy, which was subsequently 

sold when the library was dispersed in 1979. 

The above material was adapted from that supplied by 

New York City bookseller Richard Lan of Martayan 

Lan. 

The manuscript shows a late transition phase between 

the Arabic forms of the numerals and the European forms 

after they were frozen at the invention of printing—note, 

in particular, the form of the figure “5.” 

142 


Book plate of Ferdinand Hoffman 

Purchase inscription of 1474 

First page of introduction with crest (color) 

First page of tables (color) 

Second last page of tables (color) 

Table of days of the year (color) 


Bianchini, Giovanni Biler, Johann Matthes 

Purchase inscription 1474, B 150 

B 151 

Biermann, L. 

Die Gottinger entwicklungen elektronischer 

Rechenautomaten In Probleme der Entwicklung 

programmgesteuerter Rechengerate und 

Integrieranlagen. 

b/w: Cremer, Hubert (editor); Probleme der 

Entwicklung programmgesteuerter Rechengerate 

und Integrieranlagen, 1953 

Year: 1953 

Place: Aachen 

Publisher: Rhein-Westf. Technische Hochschule 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: cloth boards original paper wrappers bound in 

Pagination: pp. [2], XIV, 75, [1], 10 


See entry for Cremer; Probleme der Entwicklung 

programmgesteuerter Rechengerate, 1953, where more 

information and illustrations may be found. 


None 

B 152 

Biler, Johann Matthes 

Hoffman bookplate, B 150 

(Gebrauch) Zweyer Neuen Mathematischen 

Instrumenten. Dass Erste von Herrn Ozanam, Math: 

Profs. zu Paris 1688. Und das Andere von Hn. Joh: 

Matth. Bilern J.V.D. und Käyszl. Post-Meistern in


Biler, Johann Matthes Biler, Johann Matthes 

Jena erfunden. Mit welchen Ersten, man geschwinde 

und accurat alle Auffgaben, so zur Feldmes-Kunst 

gehören, ohn einiges Ausrechnen, gar leichtlich 

auf lösen kan. Und vermittelst des Zweyten, alle 

Proportiones in der Mathesi ohne Circul, Lineal und 

ohne Rechnung, bloss mit einen Seidenen schwartzen 

Faden oder Haar, so wohl in Arithmetica, Geometria, 

Altimetria, Trigonometria, als Stereometria, 

Fortificatio, Astronomia und Astrologia mit ungemeiner 

Geschwindigkeit und sonderbahren Vergnügen des 

Liebhabers können gefunden werden. Sonderlich aber 

denen Ingenieuren und welche auf Academien diese 

Disciplinen, lernen wollen, zu mercklichen Vortheil und 

besten, verfertiget und ans Tages Licht gebracht. 

Year: 1705 

Place: Jena 

Publisher: Henrich Christoph Cröker 

Edition: 2nd 



Binding: later boards 


Collation: A–E 8 F 4 


B 152 

In 1691, Jacques Ozanam published his Dictionaire 

mathématique, which contained a section on practical 

geometry (surveying). The first part of this work is 

actually Ozanam’s surveying section. The instrument 

(a plane table) described here was given a full-page 

illustration by Ozanam. The original Ozanam illustration 

was augmented by adding a pole stand, but it is otherwise 

identical. The text is a short description of its use in 

elementary surveying. 

Bound at the end of this short Ozanam work is the one by 

Biler that illustrates the use of a half-circular instrument. 

This is identical with one that he published in 1696 (Biler, 

Neu erfundenes instrumentum, 1696). Leaving out some 

examples has shortened the text, and the illustrations are, 

for the most part, pasted in where they were included 

with the text in the earlier version. A large foldout plate, 

identical to that from the 1696 version except for an 

inscription, illustrates the instrument. 


Title page 

Instrument 

Surveying example. 

B 153 

Biler, Johann Matthes 

Plane table, B 152 

Surveying example, B 152 

Neu erfundenes instrumentum mathematicum universale 

vermittelst dessen alle proportiones in der Mathesi 

ohne Circul, Lineal und ohne Rechnung, bloss mit 

einen Seidenen schwartzen Faden oder Haar so wohl in 

Arithmetica, Geometria, Altimetria, Trigonometria, alss 

Stereometria, Fortificatio, Astronomia und Astrologia 

mit ungemeiner Geschwindigkeit und sonderbahren 

Vergnügen des Leibhabers können gesuchet und 

gefunden werden. Allen und jeden so hohen alss 

143

niedrigen Stands-Personen so denen Mathematischen 

Wissenschafften beygethan, und der Rechen Kunst nicht 

wohlerfahren. Sonderlich aber denen Ingenieuren und 

welche auf Academien diese Disciplinen, lernen wollen, 

zu mercklichen Vortheil und besten, verfertiget und ans 

Tages Licht gebracht. 

144 

Year: 1696 

Place: Jena 

Publisher: Henrich Christoph Cröker 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 1 folding plate 

Binding: modern heavy paper wrappers 


Collation: π 4 B–D 4 E 2 


See entry for Biler, (Gebrauch) Zwyer Neuen 

Mathematischen Instrumenten, 1705. 

This is a short work on elementary surveying techniques. 

It describes a half-circular sighting instrument and 

illustrates its use with a few simple problems involving 

triangles. 


Title page 

Instrument 


Biler, Johann Matthes Binet, Alfred 

B 153 

Biler’s instrument, B 153 

BINAC 

See Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation; Binac 

demonstrated. New electronic brain 

B 154 

Binet, Alfred (1857–1911) 

Psychologie des grands calculateurs et joueurs 

d’échecs. 

Year: 1894 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Librairie Hachette et Cie. 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: original printed paper wrappers; uncut 

Pagination: pp. viii, 364, 8 

Collation: π 4 1–22 8 23 6 c 4 


Binet was the famous French psychologist after whom 

the Binet scale of the mental age of a child is named. 

He was director of the Laboratory of Physiological 

Psychology in Paris. In the mid 1880s, he began a long 

series of studies into intelligence and thought processes 

that culminated in his 1903 publication of Étude 

experimentale de l’intelligence, in which he reported on 

an in-depth study of the intellectual development of his 

two daughters. 

This volume was part of his studies in mental processes. 

It examines the calculating prodigies, particularly one 

called Jacques Inaudi, an Italian shepherd boy who 

progressed to giving stage performances, and several 

champion chess players. 


Title page 

B 154

B 155 

Bion, Nicholas (ca.1652–1733) 

Traité de la construction et des principaux usages des 

instrumens de mathématique. 

Year: 1709 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Chez La Veuve de Jean Boudot 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: contemporary leather rebacked 


Collation: a 4 A–Y 8 


Reference: Soth/Zeit BCM, Vol III, #875–#508, p. 39 

Nicholas Bion was the king’s engineer for mathematical 

instruments. It is surprising how little is known about 

his life beyond the fact his workshops were in Paris. His 

name is very well known, but it is difficult to determine if 

his fame rests on the quality of his instruments or on this 

respected work. Only a few of his original instruments 

appear to have survived. 


Bion, Nicholas Bion, Nicholas 

Sector measurements, B 155 

B 155 

Bion’s sector, B 155 

The work is encyclopedic and gives descriptions of the 

mathematical instruments commonly available at the 

beginning of the eighteenth century. Bion interpreted 

mathematical broadly, for the work contains information 

on devices used in a variety of scientific and engineering 

fields. It is composed of a preface giving definitions of 

mathematical terms, followed by eight separate books: 

1. rulers and protractors 

2. the sector: containing a line of equal parts (“B” in 

his figure 1), line of planes (“C”), line of polygons 

(“D”), line of chords (“F”), line of solids (“H”) 

and line of metals (“G”). 

3. the compass (including both proportional compass 

and beam compass) 

4. surveying devices (quadrants, chords, chains and 

sighting devices) 

5. water levels and gunner’s instruments (gunner’s 

compass and quadrant) 

6. astronomical instruments (large quadrants and 

micrometers for measuring) 

7. navigational instruments, including, for example, 

the Jacob’s staff and the mariner’s quadrant, which 

were, by then, no longer in use 

8. sundials of all forms at all orientations, the 

nocturnal and a water clock 

Folding sundial, B 155 

145

The volume was intended for the instrument user 

rather than the instrument maker. The descriptions of 

several devices (optical and micrometer instruments in 

particular) are lacking in detail that might indicate that 

Bion was not familiar with them or, perhaps more likely, 

that he did not wish his rivals to be able to reproduce his 

instruments. 

146 


Title page 

The sector 

Usage of the line of lines in the sector 

Gauging rods 

Usage of the line of chords in the sector 

The artillery instruments 

A device showing sundials on various surfaces 

Colophon 



Artillery instruments, B 155 

Gauging rods, B 155 


B 156 



instrumens de mathematique. 

Year: 1716 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: La Veuve Boudot; et al. 

Edition: 2nd 



Binding: contemporary calf 


Collation: a 4 A–2A 8 2B 4 


Reference: Soth/Zeit BCM, Vol. III, #875–#509, p. 39 

This second edition is not quite identical to the first of 

1709. Bion added an extra chapter (the eighth) to Book 

Four on the subject of fortifications and another (the fifth) 

to Book Six on the construction of a pendulum clock for 

astronomical observations (see the entry for the third, 

1723, edition for illustrations from these sections). 


Title page 

Colophon 

B 157 


B 156 


instrumens de mathématique. 

Year: 1723 

Place: The Hague 

Publisher: P. Husson, T. Johnson, P. Gosse et al. 

Edition: 3rd 


Figures: 30 folding engraved plates; engraved frontispiece; title 

in red and black



Binding: contemporary mottled calf 


Collation: π 4 A–3C 4 


Reference: Bru MLAL I, p. 950; Pogg Vol. I, pp. 194–95; Dau 

HTI, 389; DSB II, pp. 132–133 

The text of this, the third edition, is identical to the second 

(1716), containing the same additional sections that Bion 

had included there. It has a new frontispiece illustrating 

the use of some of the simpler instruments. 


Title page 

Frontispiece 

Artillery instruments 

Pendulum clock 

Fortifications 

B 158 


B 157 


instrumens de mathematique. 

Year: 1752 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: C.A. Jombert & Nion fils. 

Edition: 4th 


Figures: engraved frontispiece; engraved portrait; 37 engraved 

folding plates 

Binding: contemporary leather; gilt spine 


Collation: π 4 A–3L 4 3M 2 



Fortifications, B 157 

This fourth edition was published after Bion’s death in 

1733, the printing being supervised by his son. It uses the 

same frontispiece as the second edition (1716) but also 

includes an idealized engraved portrait of Bion—done 

posthumously (c. 1740) by De Larmessin, the King’s 

engraver. The content of the second edition has been 

further augmented with an additional chapter to Book 

6 on octants and other astronomical instruments; two 

very small additions to Book 7 (dignified by being given 

their own chapter); and a completely new Book 9, which 

describes a miscellaneous collection of devices from 

water pumps to burning glasses. 

147

148 


Title page 

Colophon 

Portrait 



B 158 

Nicholas Bion, B 158 


B 159 

Bion, Nicholas (ca.1652–1733) [Edmund Stone (1700– 

1768), translator] 

The construction and principal uses of mathematical 

instruments. Translated from the French of M. Bion, 

chief instrument-maker to the French King. To 

which are added, the construction and uses of such 

instruments as are omitted by M. Bion; particularly of 

those invented or improved by the English. 

Year: 1723 

Place: London 

Publisher: Printed for H.W. by J.Senex and W. Taylor 



Figures: 26 engraved folding plates; title in red and black 

Binding: contemporary paneled leather; red leather label 


Collation: π 2 A–3X 2 


Reference: DSB II, p. 133; Hamb DI, p. 37 

Edmund Stone, the translator of this work, was the son of 

a gardener to the Scottish Duke of Argyle. At the age of 

8, another servant taught him to read. Shortly thereafter 

he noticed an architect working on the duke’s house, 

using instruments and making calculations. Inquiring 

about these, he learned of the existence of arithmetic and 

geometry and purchased a book on the subject. When 

Stone was 18 and a gardener on the estate, the duke saw a 

copy of Newton’s Principia in the grass. Assuming it was 

from his library, the duke called a servant to return it and 

was very surprised when the young gardener intervened, 

claiming it was his own. The duke became his patron 

(this translation is dedicated to him) and provided him 

with employment that allowed time for Stone to study. 

Stone became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1725. 

The patronage continued until the duke’s death in 1743. 

Thereafter, Stone lost his employment and was reduced 

to poverty (he had to resign his membership in the Royal 

Society because he could not afford to pay the dues) and 

eventually died a pauper. 

According to the translator’s preface (see the illustrations), 

Stone had wanted to produce a work on instruments 

and decided that Bion’s provided the best model 

available. Rather than writing one himself, he decided 

to translate the French work and add to it those English 

instruments that Bion had overlooked. An example of 

such an addition—the inclusion of the English gunner’s 

calipers—can be seen by comparing the plate showing 

artillery instruments in the first (1709) edition of Bion 

with the present volume. 

Stone also added, as an example of the power of the 

instruments, a short section on The Use of the Sector in



the Construction of Solar Eclipses, in which he details 

the path, across Europe, of the Moon’s shadow for the 

eclipse of May 11, 1724—the year after the publication 

of this translation. 

This work is translated from the second (1716) edition of 

Bion and includes the additional chapters on fortification 

and the pendulum clock from that edition. It appeared at 

the same time as Bion’s third French edition. 



Plate of artillery instruments 

Translator’s preface (pages v, vi, vii) 

B 159 

Artillery instruments, B 159 

B 160 

Bion, Nicholas (ca.1652–1733) [Edmund Stone (1700– 

1768), translator] 

The construction and principal uses of mathematical 

instruments. Translated from the French of M. Bion, 

chief instrument-maker to the French King. To 

which are added, the construction and uses of such 

instruments as are omitted by M. Bion; particularly of 

those invented or improved by the English… 

Year: 1758 

Place: London 

Publisher: Printed for J. Richardson 

Edition: 2nd (English) 



Binding: contemporary leather; rebacked 

Pagination: pp. viii, 264; [4] 265–326 

Collation: π 2 A–4N 2 O 3 


Reference: DSB II. p. 133; Hambly, DI, p. 37 

Stone, as he indicates in the advertisement to the 

supplement to this addition, was prevailed upon by 

the publishers to produce a second printing of the 

1723 edition, enlarged by the addition of material on a 

number of new and improved instruments. While this is 

undoubtedly true, by this date Stone had lost his patron 

and being forced to live on his own resources must have 

contributed to his decision to produce the supplementary 

material. Hence the allusion to several motives in his 

explanation. 

The text is identical to the first edition, and the 

supplement, while it may have increased sales, contains 

little that adds to the work (see Taylor, E. G. R.; 

Mathematical practitioners of Hanoverian England, pp. 

25–30, for a detailed list of the contents and other relevant 

information). The supplement contains information 

on both reflecting and refracting telescopes and on the 

camera obscura. Most of the improvements noted in the 

supplement come from the Philosophical Transactions 

of the Royal Society, which are referenced frequently. 


Title page 

B 161 

Bion, Nicholas (ca.1652–1733) [Johann Gabriel 

Doppelmayr (1671–1750), translator] 

Neu eröffnete Mathematische Werkschule, oder 

Gründliche Anweisung, wie die Mathematische 

Instrumenten 

Year: 1712 

Place: Frankfurt and Leipzig 

Publisher: Hofmannischen Buchladen 

149

150 



Figures: engraved frontispiece; title in red and black; 28 

engraved folding plates 

Binding: contemporary vellum 

Pagination: pp. [8], 48, 176 

Collation: )( 3 )()( 3 A–3C 4 D 1 


This German edition of Bion’s work is a translation of 

the first (1709) French edition. It does not contain the 

sections Bion added to his second French edition (1716). 

The frontispiece resembles (but is not identical to) that 



B 161 

of the later 1723 French edition, perhaps because they 

were both printed outside of France. 

Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr, the translator, studied 

law at Nuremberg, Altdorf and Halle, but then decided 

to switch to physics and mathematics. After traveling 

in Germany, Holland, and England, he returned to 

Nuremberg and was appointed professor of mathematics 

in 1704, a post he retained for the rest of his life. As 

early as 1705, he is known to have published a number 

of other translations as well as his own works on an 

eclipse, the globes and an atlas. None of his writings 

show much originality but were useful in transmitting 

scientific findings from England, France and Holland to 

Germany. 


Title page 

Frontispiece 

B 162 

Bion, Nicholas (ca.1652–1733) [Johann Gabriel 

Doppelmayr (1671–1750)] 

Weitere Eröffnung der neuen Mathematische Werk- 

Schule, Nicolai Bion. 

Year: 1717 

Place: Nuremberg. 

Publisher: Peter Conrad Monath 



Figures: title in red and black; 12 engraved folding plates 


Frontispiece, B 161 B 162




Collation: π 4 A–F 4 


This short work is bound with the 1712 German 

translation of Bion. Despite the display of Bion’s name on 

the title page, it is written by the translator Doppelmayr 

and illustrates a number of instruments, which, although 

claiming to be from Bion’s workshop, do not appear in 

any of Bion’s French editions. The most inventive are 

optical—binocular and reflecting telescopes (some with 

multiple internal reflections in order to reduce the length 

of the tube), a camera obscura and a lantern projector. 

The copper engraved plates are similar in style to those 

used in Bion’s works. 


Title page 

Telescopes and binoculars 

Camera obscura 

Lantern projector 

B 163 


Telescopes and Binoculars, B 162 

L’ usage des astrolabes, tant universels que particuliers. 

Accompagné d’un traité, qui en explique la construction 

par des manieres simples & faciles, avec les figures 

necessaires pour l’intelligence de ce traité. 

Year: 1702 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Chez Laurent d’Houry & Jean Boudot 

B 163 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: contemporary leather; spine gilt decorated 

Collation: a 5 A–K 12 L 2 


Reference: Bud IOS, p. 32–36 

Nicholas Bion was famous for books on mathematical 

and astronomical instruments. This comprehensive text 

on astrolabes is not as well known as his later, more 

ambitious work on the construction and use of all types 

of instruments. This is the last book entirely about 

astrolabes to be published in the French language. 

The planispheric astrolabe was a relatively welldocumented 

device when Bion wrote this treatise. It is 

essentially a map of the heavens superimposed on a map 

of the earth (or at least significant features of the earth 

such as the observer’s horizon, zenith, tropics, equator, 

etc.) with a movable rete representing the position of the 

stars and sun. Its major shortcoming is that it is limited 

to use at only one latitude. To overcome this handicap, 

larger astrolabes often were fitted with exchangeable 

plates for different latitudes. 

By the time Bion composed this work, a large number of 

variations and modifications had been made, resulting in 

a so-called universal astrolabe. See the Appendix essay 

on the astrolabe for more information. 

The first chapter covers the commonly found planispheric 

astrolabe and describes the improvements due to Gemma 

151

Frisius and Juan de Rojas Sarmiento. The new form of 

universal astrolabe due to Philippe de La Hire is then 

described. La Hire was a well-known astronomer and a 

professor of mathematics who, perhaps not incidentally, 

wrote a one-page endorsement for this volume. 

152 


Title page 

Colophon 

Rete diagram of astrolabe 



Astrolabe rete, B 163 

B 164 

Bion, [Nicholas] Nicolaus (ca.1652–1733) [Johann 

Gabriel Doppelmayr (1671–1750), translator] 

Zwote Eröfnung der neuen mathematischen Werkschule 

Nicolaus Bions in welcher sowohl die Zubereitung als 

der Gebrauch verschiedener anderer mathematischen 

absonderlich der zur Geometrie und Optik gehörigen 

Instrumenten die im besagten Autor nicht zu finden 

denen Liebhabern deutlich vor Augen geleget und 

erkläret werden 

Year: 1765 

Place: Nürnberg 

Publisher: George Peter Monath 

Edition: 2nd (German) 



Binding: contemporary three-quarter bound leather over boards 

Pagination: pp. [8], 48, [12], 176 

Collation: )(4A–F4)(4)()(2A–Y4 


Doppelmayr was the translator of the first edition of 

Bion’s work on mathematical instruments into German 

(see the entry for Bion, Nicholas; Neu eröffnete 

Mathematische Werkschule, oder gründliche Anweisung, 

wie die Mathematische Instrumenten, 1712), and he also 

added several of his own descriptions to the translation. 

He continues that practice here, claiming the instruments 

to be from the workshop of Bion. No description of them 

is found in the French editions of Bion’s work, although 

some similar ones appear in an addenda to the second 

edition of the English translation (see the entry for Bion, 

Nicholas [Edmund Stone, translator]; The construction 

and principle uses of mathematical instruments, 1758, 

London). 

This posthumous edition is devoted to surveying (usually 

sighting devices) and also includes some of the optical 

instruments (telescopes and binoculars) that are found in 

his earlier work. 


Title page 

B 164 

B 165 

Bion, [Nicholas] Nicolaus (ca.1652–1733) [Johann 

Gabriel Doppelmayr (1671–1750), translator] 

Dritte Eröfnung der neuen mathematischen Werkschule 

Nicolaus Bions in welcher die Zubereitung und der 

Gebrauch verschiedener astronomischen Instrumenten 

bescrieben wird 

b/w: Bion, Nicholas; Zwote Eröfnung der neuen 

mathematischen Werkschule Nicolaus Bions 

in welcher sowohl die Zubereitung als der 

Gebrauch verschiedener anderer mathematischen 

absonderlich der zur Geometrie und Optik 

gehörigen Instrumenten die im besagten Autor


Bion, Nicholas Bird, John 

nicht zu finden denen Liebhabern deutlich vor 

Augen geleget und erklaret werden 

Year: 1765 


Publisher: George Peter Monath 

Edition: 2nd (German) 



Binding: contemporary bound three-quarter bound leather 


Collation: )( 4 A–F 4 )( 4 )()( 2 A–Y 4 


Reference: Bud IOS, pp. 32–36 

This posthumous edition, like the one bound with 

it, continues Doppelmayr’s practice of adding his 

own descriptions to the original work. He claims the 

instruments are from the workshop of Bion, however, 

with a few exceptions (such as the pendulum clock), no 

description of them is found in the French editions of 

Bion. This edition is devoted to astronomical devices 

and draws on Doppelmayr’s early work on globes. It also 

illustrates devices such as large astronomical quadrants 

and transit sighting instruments. 


Title page 

B 166 

Biot, Edouard Constant (1803–1850) 

B 165 

Table génerale d’un ouvrage Chinois intitulé [title in 

Chinese] souan-fa-tong-tsong ou collection des régles 

du calcul. Extract from Journal Asiatique. VIII, 1839. 

Year: 1839 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Imprimerie Royale 

Edition: offprint 





Presentation copy: Offers à Monsieur Boner[?] de la par 

de l’auteur. E Biot 

This is a short note commenting on elementary Chinese 

mathematics that Biot found in a book from the Royal 

Library. 


Title page 

B 166 

Biot, Edouard Constant, translator 

See Babbage, Charles; Traité sur l’économie des 

machines et des manufactures, 1833. 

B 167 

Bird, John (1709–1776) 

The method of constructing mural quadrants. 

Exemplified by a description of the brass mural 

quadrant in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. 

Year: 1768 

Place: London 

Publisher: W. Richardson and S. Clark 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 3 folding engraved plates separately housed in a cloth 

folder 

Binding: later paper wrappers 

153

154 


Collation: A–C 4 E 2 


Reference: Pogg Vol. I, p. 200; Gun AOW II, 319 

See also the entry for Bird, John; The method of dividing 

astronomical instruments, 1767, London. 

This volume is the second half of Bird’s commitment to 

produce a full description of how he created the 8-foot 

mural quadrant. It is interesting in that Bird describes 

not only the details of his successful construction of 

the quadrant but also his failures (such as an attempt to 

create the telescope without bracing). 


Title page 

B 168 

Bird, John (1709–1776) 

The method of dividing astronomical instruments. 

Year: 1767 

Place: London 

Publisher: J. Nourse; and Mess. Mount and Page 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 1 large engraved folding plate 

Binding: later paper wrappers 

Pagination: pp. vi, 14 

Collation: A–E 2 


John Bird was a major instrument maker in London. 

He began his career as a weaver but soon developed a 

part-time business helping watch face makers. He later 

worked for an instrument maker named Graham before 

opening his own instrument shop. He was commissioned 

to construct a large (8-foot radius) mural quadrant at 

the Royal Observatory at Greenwich (completed in 

1749) when the earlier one done by Graham began to 

deform under its own weight. The Commissioners of 

Longitude (and, in particular, the Astronomer Royal, 

Neville Maskelyne) were responsible for the quadrant’s 

construction and wanted to ensure that the methods used 

by Bird (then in business for some thirty-four years) 

would be available to his successors. In return for a sum 

of £500 (plus an additional £60 for engraved plates), Bird 

agreed to take an apprentice and instruct him for seven 

years and to present to the commissioners a full and 

complete description of how the quadrant scales were 

divided. This volume is the fulfillment of the written 

part of that commitment. The quadrant had actually been 

constructed seventeen years earlier, and one can presume 

that the commissioners were anxious to have all the plans 

and descriptions finished. 


Bird, John Birkhoff, Garrett 

Great care was obviously taken with the division of the 

scales. Bird describes how the brass quadrant scales and 

the pine beam compasses were left in a locked room over 

night so that they might stabilize to the same temperature. 

He also sketches out a method of dividing a scale by 

establishing a few elementary basic measurements and 

then using repeated bisections to create the other marks. 

The one diagram is marked Plate iv because it is the 

fourth plate from his engraved plates of the quadrant (see 

entry for Bird, John; The method of constructing mural 

quadrants. Exemplified by a description of the brass 

mural quadrant in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, 

1768, for the other three). 


Title page 

B 169 

Birkhoff, Garrett (1911–); K. O. Friedrichs and T. E. 

Sterne, editors 

Transactions of the symposium on fluid mechanics and 

computing held at New York University, April 23–24, 

1953. The first symposium on applied mathematics 

sponsored by the American Mathematical Society and 

Office of Ordnance Research, U. S. Army 

Year: 1954 


Publisher: Interscience Publishers 

B 168


Bishop, Calvin Collier Blachman, Nelson Meri 

Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. [iv], 243, [1] 


Fluid flow is of interest to both the physics and military 

communities. In particular, the military applications are 

in the areas of airflow around planes and projectiles, 

through jet engines and in the behavior of explosives. 

Thus it was appropriate for both the academic and 

military groups to sponsor such a meeting. 

This volume includes the papers presented at the 1953 

meeting (with the exception of a talk given by John von 

Neumann on the Role of Computing Machines, but one 

can speculate that it was similar to a number of such talks 

he gave around this time in which fluid dynamics played 

a prominent role). The papers that are produced here deal 

with the theoretical aspects of problems, and there are 

few detailed references to any military applications. 


Title page 

B 170 

Bishop, Calvin Collier (1882–) 

Practical use of the slide rule 

Year: 1944 


B 170 

Publisher: Current Publishing 

Edition: 1st 





Bishop was a teacher in the Technical High School in 

Buffalo, New York. 

This is a generic text on the use of the slide rule. It 

contains a series of problems for the student, with 

answers, at the end. 


Title page 

B 171 

Bishop, Calvin Collier (1882–) 

[Slide rule] 

b/w: Keuffel & Esser Company; Elementary 

instructions for operating the slide rule. 

b/w: Harris, Charles O.; Slide rule 

Year: n/d 

Place: Tehran, Shāh’ Ābād 

Publisher: Kit-abfurūshī-i-Zavvār 

Edition: 1st 

Language: Farsi 




This is a Farsi edition of this classic work on the slide 

rule. First published as Practical use of the Slide rule, 

1944. 


Title page 

B 172 

Blachman, Nelson Meri (1923–) 

A survey of automatic digital computers 

Year: 1953 


Publisher: Office of Naval Research 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: original cardboard wrappers 

Pagination: pp. vi, 109, [1] 


Blachman worked for the Office of Naval Research in 

Washington, D.C. Earlier surveys of computers had 

been done, but the rapid development of the technology 

had made them out of date. Blachman, with help from 

the others acknowledged in the Preface, undertook to 

bring the survey up to date. The work is useful because 

155

it covers not only electronic stored program computers 

but also machines such as those constructed at Harvard 

by Aiken, relay computers built in Tokyo, British and 

European machines, and little-known projects such as 

the University of Toronto UTEC computer. No mention 

is made of the Zuse machines. Each entry gives technical 

details of the machine and short remarks that do not fit 

into any of the pre-assigned entry categories. 

156 


Title page 

ERA 101 page 


Blackburn, John E. Blagrave, John 

B 173 

Blackburn, John E. 

Components handbook 

Year: 1949 


Publisher: McGraw-Hill Book Company 

Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. xviii, 626 


B 172 

This is No. 17 in the Radiation Laboratory Series 

publications. It was intended as a reference work to 

accompany volumes 18–23 of the series. The volume was 

intended to be a broad survey of the field of electrical, 

mechanical and electronic components that were used 

by the Radiation Laboratory, but because of the decision 

to shut the Office of Publications, several chapters were 

omitted. It represents a state-of-the-art survey of the 

technology in use at the time and includes everything 

from simple cables to elementary electronic devices, 

instrument motors, relays and vacuum tubes. It is heavily 

illustrated with photographs and diagrams of the devices 

as well as numerous tables giving characteristics and test 

results as determined by the Radiation Laboratory. 


Title page 

B 174 

Blagrave, John (1558?–1612) 

B 173 

The mathematical jewel. Shewing the making, and most 

excellent use of a singuler instrument so called: in that 

it performeth with wonderfull dexteritie, whatsoever is 

to be done, either by quadrant, ship, circle, cylinder, 

ring, dyall, horoscope, astrolabe, sphere, globe, or any 

such like heretofore devised: yea, or by most tables 

commonly extant: and that generally to all places from 

pole to pole. 

Year: 1585 

Place: London 

Publisher: Walter Venge 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 3 engraved frontispiece plates; 2 engraved full-page 

tables 

Binding: contemporary limp vellum 


Collation: 4 2 A–P 4 Q 2 


Blagrave was a mathematician, surveyor and instrument 

maker from Reading. Educated at St. John’s College, 

Oxford, he never took a degree but returned to Reading, 

where he lived off the legacy of land left to him by his 

father. He left a legacy to the town of Reading (the sum 

of 20 nobles annually) to be competed for by three maid


Blagrave, John Blagrave, John 

servants selected by town parishes who were to cast lots 

for their prize money each Good Friday. 

The instrument described is a planispheric astrolabe that 

had a universal projection modified from the Catholicon 

of Gemma Frisius—a description of which can be 

found in the second booke. Blagrave added a movable 

rete (often found on standard astrolabes but not on the 

Catholicon), which simplified its use for astronomical 

calculations. This astrolabe was universal in the sense 

that it did not require a number of different plates or 

maters to be used at different latitudes. The instrument 

is illustrated in a number of full-page engravings serving 

as frontispieces to the work—engraved by the author 

according to the title page. This was an expensive 

instrument to build and consequently was not much 

used. While this is the only edition of this work, the 

Jewel was described ten years later in a work by Thomas 

Blundeville (Exercises, 1622), and instruction in its use 

was also offered by Robert Hartwell, a London teacher 

of mathematics, in 1623 (see Waters, David Watkin; Art 

of navigation, 1958, p. 570). 

B 174 

Arc drawing instrument, B 174 

Mathematical jewel, B 174 

The work is divided into six bookes. The first deals with 

elementary concepts of astronomy; the second with 

the design and manufacturing of the jewel; the third 

with the use of the instrument for both navigation and 

astronomical calculations; the fourth considers the same 

material as the third, but the examples and methods of 

working come from Blagrave’s own research; the fifth 

is a treatise on spherical triangles; and the last is a work 

on the use of the jewel in creating sundials of all types. 

For such a small volume, it is remarkably complete and 

would have made a very useful reference work even 

if one did not have a jewel to use. In the fourth book, 

Blagrave mentions that he had made a jewel two feet in 

diameter and that he had problems drawing all the arcs 

on it. He then illustrates a drawing instrument that would 

suffice in such a situation. 

Blagrave is known to have made other instruments, 

in particular a familiar staff, which may have been an 

instrument for artillerymen. 

The work contains a handwritten note which reads: 

Here stands Mr. Gray master of this house 

And his poor catt playing with a mouse. 

John Balgrave marred this Grayes widdow (She was a 

Hungerford) this John was symple had yssue by the widdowe 

1 Anthony who marryed Jane Borlafs. 2 John the author of 

the booke. 3 Alexander the excellent chess player in England. 

Anthony had Sir John Blagrave knight who caused his teeth to 

be all drawn out and after had a sett of ivory teeth in agayne. 

157

158 


Title page 

Instrument plate 1 



Arc drawing instrument 

Inscription 

B 175 

Blaine, Robert Gordon 

Quick and easy methods of calculating. A simple 

explanation of the theory and use of the slide rule, 

logarithms, &c. With numerous examples worked out. 

Year: 1898 

Place: London 

Publisher: E. & F.N. Spon 

Edition: 1st 




Pagination: pp. xii, 144, 2 

Collation: A 6 B–K 8 


Blaine was lecturer at the City and Guilds’ Technical 

College in Finsbury. 

This is a work on the slide rule containing an introduction 

to logarithms and using examples from mechanical 

and hydraulic engineering. The explanations are rather 

pedantic with few illustrations. 


Title page 


Blaine, Robert Gordon Blanquart de Sept-Fontaines, L. M. 

B 175 

B 176 

Blaine, Robert Gordon 

Some quick and easy methods of calculating. A simple 

explanation of the theory and use of the slide rule, 

logarithms, etc. With numerous examples worked out. 

Year: 1912 

Place: London 

Publisher: E. & F.N. Spon 

Edition: 4th 





Collation: A 6 B–K 8 L 4 


Note the addition of Some to the title between the first 

edition and the fourth of 1912. 


Title page 

B 177 

Blanquart de Sept–Fontaines, L. M. 

Les intérêts des comptes courans tout calculés, quels 

qu’en soient et le taux et le capital, ou tables qui, pour 

le calcul de ces intérêts, soit qu’on les arrête une fois 

l’an seulemant, ou de six en six mois, soit encore qu’il 

s’agisse de négociations d’effets ou de prêt d’argent 

pour un nombre de jours quelqonque, n’exigent que la 

simple ouverture d’une page, et le secours de l’addition 

substituée aux longues opérations employées jusqu’à 

présent. Ces tables accommodées également aux deux 

styles francais et grégorien, le dernier en faveur des 

lieux où l’on suit l’ere ancienne. 

Year: 1802 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Henri Agasse 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: contemporary leather, tree grained; spine gilt; red 

leather label 


Collation: a–b 4 A–3A 4 3B 1 


The most fascinating aspect of this work is that these 

interest tables were produced for use with both the old 

Gregorian and the new French calendar. The introduction 

states that Sept-Fontaines was attempting to produce a 

set of tables for commercial activity that would be as 

useful as those available to mathematicians. 


Title page 

Page of tables


Blaschke, Ernst Blaschke, Ernst 

B 178 

Blaschke, Ernst (1856–1926) 

Vorlesungen über Mathematische Statistik. (Die lehre 

von den Statistischen Masszhalen) 

Year: 1906 

Place: Leipzig and Berlin 

Publisher: B. G. Teubner 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 5 photographic plates 



Collation: a 4 1–16 8 17 6 


Ernst Blaschke was a professor at the Technischen 

Hochschule in Vienna. 

This volume is not directly concerned with calculating 

machinery until the last chapter, when the author 

describes some of the new punched card machinery. In 

particular, he briefly describes the Hollerith machines 

used for the U.S. census and also equipment developed 

specifically for the insurance industry by John K. Gore, 

an actuary at the Prudential Life Insurance Company. 

Gore’s little-known system is illustrated with his card 

punch and sorting machine. 


Title page 

Gore’s card punch 

Gore’s sorting machine 

B 177 

Gore’s card sorter, B 178 

Gore’s card punch, B 178 

B 178 

159

Bloch, Richard Milton (1901–2000) 

See Mathematical tables and other aids to 

computation (MTAC) 

B 179 

Blom, Frans Ferdinand (1893–1963) 

Commerce, trade and monetary units of the Maya 

160 

Year: 1935 


Publisher: Smithsonian 

Edition: Extract 


Binding: wrappers, uncut 



This is an extract from the Smithsonian report for 1934, 

pp. 423–440. It is uncut. 


Title page 

Blount, Thomas (1857–1911) 

See Addenda entry: Estienne, Henri; The art of making 

devises: treating of hieroglyphicks, symbols, 

emblemes, ænigma’s, sentences, parables, reverses 

of medalls, armes, blazons, cimiers, cyphres and 

rebus. Fisrt written in French by Henry Estienne 

… Translated into English, and embelished with 

divers brasse figures by T[homas] B[lount]. 

Whereunto is added, a catalogue of coronetdevises, 

both on the Kings and the Parliaments 

side, in the late warres. Paris, 1894. 


Bloch, Richard Milton Blundeville, Thomas 

B 180 

B 180 

Blundeville, Thomas (fl.1560–1602) 

His exercises, containing sixe treatises, the titles 

whereof are set down in the next printed page: which 

treatises are verie necessarie to be read and learned 

of all yoong gentlemen that have not bene exercised 

in such disciplines, and yet are desirous to have 

knowledge as well in cosmographie, astronomie, and 

geographie, as also in the arte of navigation, in which 

arte it is impossible to profite without the helpe of these, 

or such like instructions. To the furtherance of which 

arte of navigation, the said M. Blundevile speciallie 

wrote the said treatises and of meere good will doth 

dedicate the same to all young gentlemen of this realme. 

Year: 1594 

Place: London 

Publisher: John Windet 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 4 woodcuts with volvelles (3 original moving parts, 

one replacement), 1 folding plate, 2 folding tables 


Pagination: ff. [7], 350 (misnumbered ff. 151 as 149) 

Collation: A 7 B–2X 8 2Y 6 


Reference: Cro CL, #90 

Nocturnal, B 180 

Thomas Blundeville was educated at Cambridge, where 

he almost certainly met Edward Wright, who was to 

play a major role in the reform of navigation in England. 

After leaving Cambridge, he resided near Norwich, 

where he taught mathematics to the sons of the nobility.


Blundeville, Thomas Blundeville, Thomas 

He is known as the author of a number of works, mostly 

dealing with horsemanship; however, some were about 

maps, globes and the use of instruments in navigation. 

He was well connected to the scientific establishment 

of his day, for among his friends were such notables as 

Henry Briggs, Edward Wright, William Gilbert, etc. 

This is an important book in the history of navigation. 

Here for the first time the modern forms of the 

trigonometric functions of sine, tangent and secant 

were published in English (see essay on the sector for 

a description of the old forms based on a circle of given 

radius). These new tables, first suggested by Peuerbach 

and Regiomontanus about a hundred years earlier, had 

been long known to astronomers and mathematicians but 

had seldom been considered in the context of navigation. 

It is also the first description of navigation based on 

Mercator’s projection (as revised by Edward Wright) 

to be available in English and also included the latest 

navigational techniques of continental European authors. 

Blundeville occasionally added his own observations on 

minor points (such as noting that large astrolabes are 

more accurate, but they have a tendency to blow in the 

wind, and thus the smaller, heavier Spanish astrolabes 

are more practical for use on a ship). 

The work begins with the elements of arithmetic, 

including fractions and square roots. The necessity 

for knowing of square roots is justified by the strange 

example, occasionally seen in other works from this 

era, of a sergeant needing to arrange his men in square 

formation on the battlefield. The arithmetic proceeds 

with a discussion of sexagesimal numbers (degrees, 

minutes and seconds) and how they are manipulated 

and included is a large foldout multiplication table for 

sexagesimal numbers. 

The second major section contains the tables of sines, 

tangents and secants. In his introduction he credits 

Peuerbach and Regiomontanus with the concept and 

indicates that the tables he is reproducing were first done 

by Regiomontanus in folio and recently corrected by 

Clavius. The values given for sine range between 4 and 

7 places of decimals, depending on their position in the 

table. Tangent values range from 4 to 11 decimal digits 

while secants are between 8 and 11 digits. 

The third book describes spherical trigonometry and 

the calculations necessary for navigation. It presents a 

graphical process (using only a protractor and straight 

edge) for determining the distances between any two 

points when knowing only their longitude and latitude. 

A treatise on the use of the terrestrial and celestial globes 

then follows. 

The next section discusses the map, not shown, created 

by Petrus Plancius in 1592. Not only does Blundeville 

describe the areas shown on the map, but he also covers 

the people, rulers and climates of each location. The 

descriptions are often remarkably detailed. For example, 

the city of Catan (Canton?) in China is noted as being 

surrounded by walls that extend for twelve Italian miles 

and three hundred fifty paces and which is more than 

foure houres journey, not reckoning the suburbs, which 

are very large and full of people. He also mentions the 

Great Wall (which hath in length 400 Spanish Leagues) 

and explains why it was constructed. Some of these facts 

so impressed an earlier owner that they are pointed out 

in marginal inscriptions. The facts about the Great Wall 

have been recopied onto the blank first leaf. 

Pages 280 to 303 contain a description of the mathematical 

jewel or astrolabe of Blagrave. While the instrument is 

not illustrated, each of its component parts is described 

in some detail. Blundeville does not present Blagrave’s 

entire text but limits himself to the subject of navigation. 

For example, he does not describe, as did Blagrave, the 

use of the instrument in creating sundials. It seems clear 

that if a jewel were at hand, Blundeville’s text would be 

sufficient for use by a navigator. 

The last section of the book is entitled A new and 

necessaire Treatise of Navigation, a title that gives 

only a general indication of its wide-ranging content. 

The section begins with a description of the cross-staff 

(Jacob’s staff), the mariner’s astrolabe (mariner’s ring) 

and the magnetic compass. Notable is a description of a 

nocturnal or Rectifier of the North Star (one of the few 

instruments illustrated). There is also a section on calendar 

computation, in particular the calculation of Easter and 

other movable festivals. This latter can be considered an 

example of finger reckoning in that the calculation of 

calendar items such as the Epact are accomplished by 

counting off various spaces on the left thumb. 

It was in this last section on navigation that Blundeville 

(p. 326) indicates that (see illustration) 

… Mercator hath in his universal carde or Mappe 

made the spaces of the Parallels of latitude to be 

wider euveie one than other from the Equinoctiall 

towards either of the Poles, by what rule I knowe 

not, unlesse it be by such a Table, as my friend 

E. Wright of Cais colledge in Cambridge at my 

request sent me (I thanke him) not long since for 

that purpose… 

There was a second edition in 1597 and a seventh in 

1636. 

161

162 


Title page 

Sexagesimal multiplication table 

Sine table 

Tangent table 

Secant table 

Nocturnal 

Wright’s table 


Blundeville, Thomas Boehn, Otto 

B 181 

Blundeville, Thomas (fl. 1560–1602) 

B 181 

His exercises, contayning eight treatises, the titles 

whereof are set downe in the next printed page: which 

treatises are very necessary to be read and learned 

of all yong gentlemen that have not beene exercised 

in such disciplines, and yet are desirous to have 

knowledge as well in cosmographie, astronomie, and 

geographie, as also in the art of navigation, in which 

art it is impossible to profit without the helpe of these, 

or such like instructions. To the furtherance of which 

art of navigation, the sayd Master Blundevile specially 

wrote the said treatises, and of meere good will doth 

dedicate the same to all young gentlemen of this realme. 

Year: 1622 

Place: London 

Publisher: William Stansby for Richard Meighen 

Edition: 6th 


Figures: 2 folding plates [pp. 72, 695], 3 folding plates [pp. 

786 (2), 798]; 4 volvelles [pp. 315, 660, 720, 744] 

Binding: modern three-quarter bound morocco 

Pagination: pp. [16], 799, [1] 

Collation: A–3E 8 


Reference: Tay MP1, #27; Ken, #1499 

Although this edition is corrected and augmented 

according to the title page, it is substantially identical to 

the first edition. Included are Blagrave’s Mathematicall 

Jewel (1585), Molyneaux’s globes (1592), Hood’s crossstaff 

(1590) and Gemma Frisius’ quadratum nauticum 

and accounts of a number of explorations, including the 

voyages of Drake and Cavendish. The closing section 

entitled A brief description of universall maps and cards 

contains several references to America. 


Title page 

B 182 

Boehn, Otto 

B 182 

Von geheimnisvollen Massen, Zahlen und Zeichen 

Year: 1929 


Publisher: Bernhard Sporn 

Edition: 1st 




Collation: 1–7 8 8 3 


This is a work describing mathematical ideas in 

architecture. The examples are drawn mainly from 

churches in Austria and Germany. It includes a short 

discussion of π and its calculation. 


Title page


Boesel, Rudolf Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus 

B 183 

Boesel, Rudolf 

B 183 

Die Lochkarte im Fabrikbetrieb. Rationalisierung 

des industriellen Rechnungswesen mit Hilfe des 

Lochkartenverfahrens. 

Year: 1930 

Place: Berlin 

Publisher: Carl Heymann 

Edition: unknown, likely 1st 




Pagination: pp. [2],100 

Collation: π 1 1–6 8 7 2 


This is a tutorial on the use of the Powers punched 

card tabulating equipment in industrial accounting. In 

Powers tabulating machine, B 183 

general, the Powers equipment is similar in function to 

the punched card tabulating equipment produced by IBM 

but differs in that while the IBM equipment transmits its 

signals via electrical connections, the Powers equipment 

performs the same job mechanically via moving wires. 


Title page 

Powers tabulating machine 

B 184 

Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus (ca.480–524/525) 

Arithmetica Boetij 

Year: 1488 


Publisher: Erhard Ratdolt 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 7 pp. of ms. notes and figures at end 

Binding: modern brown morocco 


Collation: a–f 8 


Reference: Smi Rara, p. 25; Goff IAL, B828; Rcrdi BMI I, p. 

139 

From a distinguished patrician family, Boethius has 

been described as the last Roman and the first scholastic 

philosopher. While little is known of his early life and 

how he obtained his formidable Greek education, 

it is speculated that he studied in either Athens or 

Alexandria. Boethius’s abilities secured him one of the 

highest positions in the Ostrogothic kingdom, but the 

Arian king Theodoric, apparently suspecting a plot with 

the Byzantine emperor Justin I, had him arrested and 

executed. While awaiting execution, he wrote his famous 

philosophical work Consolatione Philosophiae. 

First page, B 184 

163

This Arithmetic, dedicated to Boethius’s father-in-law, 

Aurelius Memmius Symmachus, was part of a project 

to produce a text for each of the four mathematically 

oriented disciplines: arithmetic, music, geometry 

and astronomy. He termed these four subjects the 

quadrivium, a term that was in use in European schools 

until well after the Middle Ages. There is no indication 

he ever managed to complete this project—as only his 

works on arithmetic and music survive. In this volume, 

Boethius adheres to the early Greek idea of arithmetic 

as something more akin to modern number theory than 

anything of a practical nature (the Greeks would have 

termed the process of doing arithmetical operations as 

logistic rather than arithmetic). 

This work is loosely based on the Greek Arithmetica 

Eisagoge of Nicomachus of Gerasa (fl.100AD). It 

contains little or nothing original to Boethius, but it 

was presented in Latin in such a way that it appealed 

to the medieval scholar and became the standard work 

from which such subjects were taught for almost 1,000 

years. The subject matter originated with Pythagoras (ca. 

540 BC) and his followers, who developed a philosophy 

based on numbers and their symbolism. Nicomachus 

was a Pythagorean, and we can easily trace the origins 

of most of this work back to Pythagoras himself (or at 

least to his era). 

The work is heavily concerned with sequences and ratios 

between values—something that stemmed from the 

Greek difficulty with fractions and fractional notation. 

A large, well-laid-out multiplication table is the same 

as in earlier manuscript copies with the exception that 

here, and in the rest of the text, the newer Hindu-Arabic 

164 


Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus 

numerals are used rather than the original Roman variety. 

Another major topic, again stemming from Pythagoras, 

is figurative numbers (those that can be arranged into 

geometric shapes such as triangles, squares, cubes, etc). 

This copy ends with seven pages of early (contemporary?) 

manuscript notes and diagrams relating to the movements 

of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the sun and the 

moon. 


Diagram with sequences 

First page 


Page with triangular numbers 

Venus manuscript diagram and notes 

Colophon 

B 185 

Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus (ca.480–524/525) 

Arithmetica, duobus discreta libris; adiecto 

commentario, mysticam numerorum applicationem 

perstríngente, declarata. 

Year: 1521 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Simon Colines [Colinaeus] 

Edition: 16th 




Collation: a–s 6 t 8 v–x 6 y 10 


Reference: Rcrdi I, 140; DeMorgan, p. 13 

This is the first edition of Boethius’ Arithmetica with the 

addition of the commentary by Girardus Ruffus (Gérard 

Roussel). Smith (Rara) indicates that This commentary 

greatly exceeds the text in extent, and as to ponderosity 

it leaves little to be desired. As a piece of typography, 

however, this is one of the best editions of Boethius. To a 

great extent, the commentary by Ruffus seems to rely on 

the work of Nicolaus Cusanus. For what little is known 

of the commentator, see the listing in this catalog for 

Roussel, Gérard. The work includes several diagrams, 

which help in the explanation. In particular, there is a 

large circular diagram that relates the Greek alphabetical 

number system to the Hindu-Arabic (on the innermost 

circles of the illustration) and indicates some of the 

properties of each value. 

Triangular numbers, B 184 Colophon, B 185


Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus 


Title page 

Circular diagram relating numbers 

Page with figurative numbers 

Page with numerical sequences 

Colophon 

B 185 

B 186 

B 186 

Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus (CA.480–524); 

[Faber Stapulensis (1455–1536) and Clichtove, Josse 

(1472–1543), editors] 

In hoc libro contenta. Epitome compendiosaque 

introductio in libros arithmeticos divi Severini 

Boëtii: adjecto familiari commentario dilucidata. 

Praxis numerandi certis quibusdam regulis 

constricta. Introductio in geometriam breviusculis 

annotationibus explanata sex libris distincta. Primus 

de magnitudinibus et earum circumstantiis. Secundus 

de consequentibus contiguis & continuis. Tertius de 

punctis. Quartus de lineis. Quintus de superficiebus. 

Sextus de corporibus. Liber de quadratura circuli. 

Liber de cubicatione sphere. Perspectiva introductio. 

Insuper astronomicon. 

Year: 1503 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Wolfgang Hopyl [Hopilius] & Henry Estienne 

[Stephens] 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: modern suede leather 


Collation: a–o 8 

Size: 263x190 mm. 

Reference: Smi Rara, pp. 29, 80–81; Ada CBCE, F17 Ren, p. 

1; Rcrdi BMI I, p. 142–143; DeM AB, p. 3 

Jodocus Clichtoveus was born Josse Clichtove in 

Nieuport, Belgium but spent most of his life in France 

editing early books in mathematics. See the entry for 

Jordanus, 1514, for remarks on Faber Stapulensis. 

As Smith (Rara, p. 30) points out, the various early 

editions of Boethius’ Arithmetic differ only in the 

combination of works they contain. In this edition 

Clichtoveus and Faber Stapulensis added material 

that would have fitted neatly into the curriculum of the 

quadrivium, namely works on the basic arithmetical 

operations, geometry and astronomy. The work on 

geometry is richly illustrated with marginal diagrams. 


Title page 

Geometry page 

Astronomy colophon 

Astronomy colophon, B 186 

B 187 

[Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus (CA. 480–524)]; 

Jacobus Faber Stapulensis (1455–1536) and Johann 

Jacobi Scheubel 

Fabri Stapulensis in arithmetica Boëthi epitome, unà 

cum difficiliorum locorum explicationibus & figuris 

(quibus antea carebat) nunc per Joannem Scheubelium 

adornatis & adjectis. Accessit Christierni Morsiani 

arithmetica practica, in quinqe partes digesta: 

quarum I. est de numeris integris. II. de fractionibus 

vulgaribus & physicis. III. de regulis quibusdam. 

165

IIII. de progressione & radicum extractione. V. de 

proportionibus. 

166 

Year: 1553 

Place: Basel 

Publisher: Henricus Petrus 

Edition: 10th 


Binding: paper wrappers 


Collation: A–I 8 


Reference: Smi Rara, p. 522; Rcrdi BMI II, p. 165 

This edition of Boethius’ Arithmetic, with comments by 

Faber Stapulensis, was produced by Johann Scheubel 

(1494–1570), who was a professor of mathematics 

at Tubingen. See the entry for Jordanus, 1514, for 

comments on Faber Stapulensis. 


Title page 

Colophon 

[Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus] 

See Jordanus de Nemore; In hoc opere contenta 

arithmetica decem libris demonstrata, 1514. 

B 188 

Boffito, Giuseppe (1869–1944) 

Gli strumenti della scienza e la scienza degli strumenti. 

Con l’illustrazione della tribuna di Galileo 

Year: 1929 


Publisher: Seeber 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 136 lithograph plates 



Collation: π 8 1–13 8 14 6 


Reference: Not in Rcdi BMI 

The prolific Barnabite priest and bibliographer Boffito, is 

noted not only for his exegesis of Dante’s Divine Comedy, 

but also for initiating the Bibliografia Galileiana. 


Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boisseau, Jean 

Galileo sector, B 188 

The present work, which discusses a collection of 

scientific instruments, emphasizing those associated 

with Galileo, was issued in an edition of three hundred, 

only a hundred and eighty being offered for sale. The 

others were apparently distributed to scholars—this 

is the copy owned by Henry Guerlac. The first part of 

the text discusses the origins and evolution of scientific 

instruments, including other European and Arabic 

devices, and the second part discusses the origin of 

museums devoted to them. 

The plates illustrate scientific instruments from all fields, 

mainly as shown in early printed books but occasionally 

as photographs. The plates also include a copy of the 

eleven-page manuscript of the first inventory of the 

Collezione Medicea agle Uffizi, 1654. 


Front cover 

Title page 

Photo of Galileo sector 

B 189 

Boisseau, Jean (fl.1637–1658) 

Methode tres facile pour se servir de sinopse ou tableau 

circulaire tres utile et necessaire pour toutes sortes de 

personnes, & principalement ceux qui se plaisent à 

la science d’arithmetique avec une declaration de la 

valeur des poids & measures 

Year: 1637 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Jean Boisseau 

Edition: Broadside 


Figures: broadside 

Binding: none 

Pagination: two sheets joined together. 


B 188


Boissière, Claude de Boissière, Claude de 

Jean Boisseau was a French geographer and genealogist 

who had an appointment as Enlumineur du Roi. 

This is a multiplication table in the form of a large 

circular volvelle (lacking the movable pointer). The 

device consists of thirty-seven concentric circles 

containing multiples of numbers found in the innermost 

circle. To multiply, one found the number (or one of its 

components, as after 10, only multiples of 10, 100, or 

1000 are shown) in the innermost circle, then moved 

the pointer (which evidently had the same markings as 

the sector with the multiples of 1 inscribed in it) to that 

sector. The product could be found by inspecting the 

value in the outer circle corresponding to the multiplier 

(or one of its components). 

The conversion table on the second sheet gives various 

systems of weights and measures for different goods: 

cloth of various kinds and origins, grains, wine, gold, 

time and distance, with the factors for converting them 

to the French systems. 

This device was known to Harsdörffer (see entry for 

Schwenter, Daniel and Harsdörffer, Georg Phillip; 

Deliciae physico-mathematicae, 1651), who reproduced 

a modified version. Leupold (Theatrum, 1727) also 

reproduced a version but had to rely on Schwenter’s 

example as he could not find an original. No other 

original example of this work is known. 


Several scans, each showing a portion of the large instrument. 

B 190 

Boissière, Claude de (1554–1608) 

L’ art d’arythmetique contenant toute dimention, tres 

singulier et commode, tant pour l’art militaire, que 

autres calculations 

Year: 1554 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Annet Briere 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: modern leather; covers gilt embossed; gilt spine 




Reference: Smi Rara, pp 260–262 

Claude de Boissière was a philosopher, astronomer, 

mathematician and musician born near Grenoble. 

This arithmetic book is considered by some to have been 

written for students at the University of Paris. Smith 

(History of mathematics) prefers to classify Boissière as 

a dilettante of mathematics. 

The text is a combination of an elementary practical 

arithmetic and a discussion of theoretical aspects much 

like those treated by Boethius. It not only begins with 

simple numeration but carries this to the extreme. It 

mentions the usual orders such as units, tens, hundreds, 

etc. but also extends the system to Mille de Quintillions 

(thousands of quintillions). It is interesting that this 

section gives names for orders such as bimillions (a 

million million), trimillions (a million million million), 

quadrimillion, etc. but then indicates that it is suitable 

to shorten these names to billion or trillion to avoid 

confusion. 

B 190 

Pythagorean example, B 190 

After treating the four standard arithmetical operations 

(the only interesting variant is that he does subtraction 

very differently from the way it is done today—see 

illustration), he proceeds to a second book, in which he 

treats the more theoretical subjects. He considers not 

only the usual Boethian type of figurative numbers but 

167

also regular solids as well and some elementary survey 

problems illustrated with a diagram of the Pythagorean 

theorem. The work concludes with an interesting 

multiplication table that shows the names of relations 

between various numbers. 

168 


Title page 

Subtraction 

Figures with regular faces 

Pythagorean example 


Colophon 


Boissière, Claude de Boissière, Claude de 

B 191 


Subtraction example, B 190 

L’ art d’arithmetique, contenant toute dimension: tres 

singulier & commode, tant pour l’art militaire, que 

pour la geometrie, & autres calculations … Reveu & 

augmenté par Lucas Tremblay … 

Year: 1563 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Guillaume Cavellat 

Edition: 2nd 






Reference: Smi Rara, pp. 260–262 

This is the second edition of Nobilissimus et antiquissimus 

ludus Pythagoreus. Other than obvious typographic 

changes that have taken place (non now replaces nõ, 

etc.) the content of this edition is unchanged from that 

of the first. 


Title page 

Gaming pieces, B 192 

B 192 


B 191 

B 192 

Nobilissimus et antiquissimus ludus Pythagoreus (qui 

Rythmomachia nominatur) in utilitatem & relaxationem 

studiosorum comparatus ad veram & facilem 

proprietatem & rationem numerorum assequendam … 

Year: 1556 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Guillaume Cavellat 

Edition: 1st Latin 


Binding: contemporary blind stamped leather; vellum end 

papers 


Collation: A–F 8 G 4 

Size: 170x110 mm


Bolaffio, Jozé Vita Bonelli, Maria Luisa Righini 

Originally published in French in 1554, this Latin 

edition followed two years later. Boissière considered 

himself a mathematics teacher and used the game of 

Rythmomachia as a vehicle for teaching arithmetic. 

Smith (History of Mathematics) indicates that Of the 

three standard treatises on the ancient number game 

of Rythmomachia … this is the clearest. All three are 

represented in this collection (see entries for Barozzi, 

1572, and Jordanus, 1514), and the other entries should 

be consulted for details. It is perhaps the clearest because 

it is, by far, the longest of the three and thus contains 

more detailed explanations of everything from the shape 

of the game board to the shapes of the pieces. According 

to Folkerts, Boissière’s history of the game is faulty. 

An English translation of this work is in J. F. C. Richards, 

“Boissière’s Pythagorean game,” Scripta Mathematica, 

vol. 12 (1946) pp. 177–217. 


Title page 

Some of the gaming pieces 

B 193 

Bolaffio, Jozé Vita 

B 193 

Numeros certos para formar as combinaçoens de 

cambio entre a Praça de Lisboa e diversas outras 

Praças da Europa que tem cambio estabelecido com a 

mesma. 

Year: 1803 

Place: Vienna 

Publisher: Mathias André Schmidt 

Edition: 1st 

Language: Portuguese 

Figures: printed engraved table 

Binding: contemporary paper wrappers 

Pagination: pp. [14], [2] 


This set of tables relates the currency of Lisbon to that of 

several major European trading centers. 


Title page 

B 194 

Bolle, Georges, editor 

Conférence sur les applications des machines 

statistiques au P. -L.- M. 

Year: 1930 

Place: Nancy 

Publisher: Imprimerie Berger-Levrault 

Edition: 1st 






These are the proceedings of a conference on punched 

card tabulating machines held in Paris. There is little 

technical detail, but several interesting photographs show 

the participants at the conference banquet or watching 

demonstrations of the equipment in use. 


Front cover 

Bond, Henry (ca.1600–1678) 

See Phillippes, Henry; The sea-mans kalendar: or, an 

ephemerides of the sun, moon, and certain of the 

most notable fixed stars, 1674. 

B 195 

Bonelli, Maria Luisa Righini 

Catalogo degli strumenti del Museo di Storia della 

Scienza 

Year: 1954 


Publisher: Olschki 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 16 photographic plates (1 folding) 

Binding: contemporary quarter leather boards; spine gilt 



Reference: Not in Rcdi BMI 

This is a catalog of the scientific instruments in the 

collection housed in the Museo di Storia della Scienza 

in Florence. The section on mathematical instruments 

169

is significant as it contains an entry for and photograph 

of the mechanical geared sector invented by Samuel 

Morland. 

170 


Title page 

Samuel Morland’s mechanical sector 

Catalogue entry for Morland’s mechanical sector 


Boneto, Hebræo Bonocchi, Giovanni Battista 

Morland’s sector, B 195 

B 196 

Bonet de Lates (Boneto, Hebræo) (? –1514 or 1515) 

Annuli astronomici utilitatu[m] liber ad Alexandrum 

sextu[m] Po[n]tifice[m] maximum 

Year: 1558 

Place: Paris 

B 196 

Publisher: G. Cavellat 

Edition: 1st (Collected, 2nd issue) 



Pagination: ff. 8, 159, [1] (i.e. ff. 103v–117) 

Collation: A 8 a–v 8 


Reference: H&L, #2589, p. 588 

Bonetus Hebraeus, as he is sometimes known, was a 

physician and astrologer to Pope Alexander VI. This 

work deals with a design for an astrolabe that could be 

made into a ring for his Pope. The device is completely 

impractical because of its small size but would have 

made a very impressive bit of jewelry. 


Title page with ring illustration 

Bonnycastle, John, editor 

See Bossut, Charles; A general history of mathematics 

from the earliest times, to the middle of the 

eighteenth century, 1803 

B 197 

Bonocchi, Giovanni Battista 

B 197 

Breve, et universale risolutione d’aritmetica, con la 

quale facilmente ogn’uno potrà rittouar, qual si voglia 

sorte di misura di terra all’uso del stato di Milano, & in 

ogni parte, doue si và à pertica. 

Year: 1617 

Place: Lodi 

Publisher: Paolo Bertoetti


Boole, George Boole, George 

Edition: 2nd 




Collation: * 2 A–I 4 


Reference: Smi Rara, p. 347; Rcdi BMI, Vol. I, p. 154 

This is a set of tables for converting units of measurement 

used in and around Milan. The first two pages provide a 

very short explanation, and the rest of the work is made 

up of the tables. 


Title page 

Page of tables 

B 198 

Boole, George (1815–1864) 

An investigation of the laws of thought on which 

are founded the mathematical theories of logic and 

probabilities 

Year: 1854 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 


Binding: modern leather; gilt spine; red leather label 


Collation: * 6 B–2E 8 


The son of a Lincolnshire cobbler who was also an 

amateur mathematician and lens grinder, George Boole 

was a promising student, but his family circumstances 

prevented him from obtaining more than an ordinary 

school education. After leaving school at age 15, he 

found work as an assistant teacher in the area and, with 

his father’s encouragement, set up his own school. In 

his spare time he mastered Latin, Greek and several 

European languages, as well as mathematics. 

He found ample opportunity to satisfy his wide-ranging 

intellectual curiosity when, in 1834, the Mechanics 

Institution was founded in Lincoln, and Boole was 

hired to be in charge of the reading room. His first 

mathematical paper appeared in 1840, when he was 25 

years old, and in 1844 his seminal paper, “On a general 

method of analysis,” appeared in the Philosophical 

Transactions of the Royal Society, which resulted in 

his receiving the first Royal Society Gold Medal for 

Mathematics. His most famous work, which established 

the principles of symbolic logic, is The mathematical 

analysis of logic, being an essay towards a calculus of 

deductive reasoning, published in 1847. 

B 198 

In 1849, he was appointed to the professorship of 

mathematics at Queen’s College, Cork, despite his lack 

of formal qualifications. He made many contributions 

to mathematics, but his most significant work was the 

creation of mathematical logic. Several people, most 

notably Leibniz and DeMorgan, had attempted some 

type of algebraic treatment of logic prior to Boole, but 

none had managed to overcome the difficulties that 

arose when considering anything beyond the most trivial 

situations. 

Boole’s entry into this field was due to a simple argument 

between DeMorgan and the Scottish philosopher W. 

Hamilton. Hamilton had derided some of DeMorgan’s 

attempts to introduce the systems of algebra into logic, 

asserting that logic was the realm of the philosopher and 

that mathematics was dangerous and useless. Boole, 

using Hamilton’s own arguments, showed that logic was 

not part of philosophy. He then proceeded to examine 

whether logic, like geometry, might be founded on a 

group of axioms (see entry for Boole, The mathematical 

analysis of logic, 1847). 

In recent times, Boolean logic has found widespread use 

in the design of digital computers and communications 

systems. 

In the present book, Boole applied algebraic methods to 

logic and initiated a revolution in mathematics, to say 

nothing of philosophy and linguistics. While his earlier 

171

publications presented preliminary results, this volume 

provided a complete exposition of Boole’s system, 

which was, indeed, the description of an entirely new 

form of algebra. 

The work is dedicated to John Ryall, Professor of Greek 

in Queen’s College, a personal friend and uncle to 

Boole’s wife. 

172 


Title page 


Boole, George Boole, George 

B 199 


B 199 

The mathematical analysis of logic, being an essay 

towards a calculus of deductive reasoning. 

Year: 1847 


Publisher: Macmillan, Barclay & Macmillan 

Edition: 1st 




Collation: π 2 B–F 8 


the first entry for Boole and entries for DeMorgan). It 

was this volume that began the revolution that led to the 

development of mathematical logic. 


Title page 

B 200 


Studies in logic and probability 

Year: 1952 

Place: La Salle, IL 

Publisher: Open Court Publishing 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: portrait frontispiece 



Collation: A–2G 8 2H 10 


This is volume 1 of Boole’s papers, edited by R. 

Rhees. In addition to the original works (from the 1847 

Mathematical analysis of logic to an 1862 work, On the 

theory of Probabilities) and editorial notes, it contains 

Boole’s own annotations and revisions that he may have 

made in subsequent years. 


Title page with frontispiece of Boole’s portrait. 

This is Boole’s first work on logic, in the introduction to 

which he first refuted W. Hamilton’s claim that logic was 

a part of philosophy and that no mathematician could 

possibly contribute anything to this field (see remarks in B 200


Boole, George Booth, Andrew Donald 

B 201 


A treatise on the calculus of finite differences. 

Year: 1860 



Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. [viii], 248 

Collation: π 4 1–15 8 16 4 


This work contains material for which George Boole was 

well known in his lifetime but which is now so completely 

overshadowed by his contributions to mathematical logic 

as to be almost forgotten. 


Title page 

B 202 

Booth, Andrew Donald (1918–) 

Numerical methods 

George Boole, B 200 

Year: 1955 

Place: London 

Publisher: Butterworths Scientific Publications 

Edition: 1st 





B 201 

Booth was a member of staff at Birkbeck College in 

London. He became interested in computation early in 

his career. Immediately after World War II, he had an 

opportunity to visit the United States and see computer 

developments there. In particular, he spent some time 

at the Institute for Advanced Study. Upon his return to 

England, he commenced the construction of a small 

relay-based computer (he was unable to afford electronic 

components, and, more importantly, the infrastructure that 

would be required to both experiment with and construct 

the final circuits). He was aided in this project by his 

father, a fine mechanical engineer, and Miss Kathleen 

Britten, who later became his wife. These projects are 

described in the works noted in other entries. 

Booth was known for the creation of a number of 

computing machines all based upon the same basic 

design. He and his father eventually went into business 

as Wharf Engineering and produced magnetic drums that 

were widely used on early computers. In the early 1960s, 

Booth again visited the U.S., then moved to Canada as 

dean of engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, 

where he continued to make small transistor computers 

for experimental use. He later became president of 

Lakehead University in Canada. 

This work on numerical methods was published just 

as the computer revolution was beginning and was 

one of the first books to be oriented towards this new 

technology. The students who used this text at Birkbeck 

173

174 


Booth, Andrew Donald Booth, Andrew Donald 

College were introduced to the world of computers 

much earlier than others studying numerical methods 

and, as a consequence, were often subjected to much 

less of the drudgery of hand computation than their 

contemporaries. 


Title page 

B 203 

Booth, Andrew Donald (1918–) 

B 202 

Two calculating machines for X-ray crystal structure 

analysis In Journal of Applied Physics, Volume 18, No. 

7, July 1947. 

Year: 1947 

Place: Lancaster, PA 

Publisher: American Institute of Physics 

Edition: 1st 





This short paper describes two analog machines of use 

in the analysis of crystal structures. The first is rather 

specialized, but the second is a simple device for 

summing cosines. 


None 

B 204 

Booth, Andrew Donald (1918–) and Kathleen H. V. 

Booth 

Automatic digital calculators 

Year: 1953 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 



Binding: original boards 




B 204 

This is a very early work on electronic computers. 

After an simple introduction to mechanical calculating 

machines and a description of their electronic equivalents, 

it discusses the design of a computer and how it might be 

implemented using electronics. By this time the Booths 

had acquired considerable experience with the creation 

of different types of memory devices. This experience is 

shown in the very well-developed section on computer 

memories, ranging from mechanical devices invented by 

the Booths (see illustration), through magnetic drums, to 

delay line and electrostatic memory devices. They even 

have a small section on magnetic core memory and an 

aside that implies that they had been thinking about thin– 

film plated memory. The book finishes with a discussion


Booth, Andrew Donald Booth, Andrew Donald 

of programming, the use of subroutines and some 

examples such as X-ray crystal structure analysis—a 

subject in which the Booths had previous experience. 

This book, which has the feel of being written by someone 

who actually knows the material very well and can 

explain it in a way that is easily understood, was a success 

in Britain but, while known and appreciated by some in 

America, did not receive the same acknowledgement 

here. 


Title page 

A.P.E.(R)C. machine 

Disk/pin mechanical memory 

A.P.E.(R)C. machine, B 204 

Disk/pin mechanical memory, B 204 

B 205 

Booth, Andrew Donald (1918–) and Kathleen H. V. 

Booth 

Automatic digital calculators 

Year: 1956 

Place: London 


Edition: 2nd 






This second edition has been extended by the new 

discoveries of the Booths and others. Although the same 

material is covered as in the first edition, there is, for 

example, a more detailed treatment of magnetic core 

memory. 

A third edition (also in the collection) was published 

in 1965 after the Booths had moved from Britain to 

Canada. While they provided a major revision for this 

later edition, it soon became clear that this book was not 

appropriate for the middle of the 1960s. Some of the 

material, for example, the mechanical memory and relay– 

based circuits, was simply out-of-date, and readers were 

in search of programming descriptions more applicable 

to individual machines. The frontispiece was changed to 

show a new M3 computer that the Booths had developed 

at the University of Saskatchewan. 


Title page 

B206. 

Booth, Andrew Donald (1918–) and Kathleen H.V. 

Britten 

Principles and progress in the construction of highspeed 

digital computers. In Quarterly Journal of 

Mechanics and Applied Mathematics, Vol. II, Pt 2, June 

1949. 

Year: 1949 

Place: Oxford 

Publisher: Clarendon Press 

Edition: 1st 




Collation: K–R 8 


At this time Kathleen Britten was an assistant to A. D. 

Booth at Birkbeck College and was shortly to become 

Mrs. Booth. 

This is a very early discussion of the principles of the 

stored program computer as they were understood in 

1947, when the paper was first written. After a brief 

discussion of digital versus analog computers, the basic 

structure of the stored program computer is explained. 

The paper finishes with a discussion of the state of 

computer projects in the United States (A. D. Booth 

having just returned from a trip there), including those 

of Aiken’s Mark II, the Bell Model V, the EDVAC and 

von Neumann’s IAS machine. Several noteworthy items 

appear in this paper, including the distinction between 

175

176 


Borda, Jean Charles de Borghi, Pietro 

serial and parallel machine architecture and a description 

of the operation code for the Booth ARC (Automatic 

Relay Computer). 

It should be noted that this paper was written (but not 

published) before an operating stored program computer 

existed. 


ARC instruction set. 

B 207 

Borda, Jean Charles de (1733–1799) 

Tables trigonométriques décimales, ou table des 

logarithmes des sinus, sécantes et tangentes, suivant 

la division du quart de cercle en 100 degrés, du degré 

en 100 minutes, et de la minute en 100 secondes. 

Précédées de la table des logarithmes des nombres 

depuis dix mille jusqu’à cent mille, et de plusiers tables 

subsidiares. 

Year: 1801 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Imprimerie de la République 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: quarter bound leather, marbled boards 

Pagination: pp. [4],120, [510] 

Collation: π 2 a–p 4 a–2d 4 2e 2 A–2N 4 2O 1 


Reference: Glais RCMT, pp. 88–89; Kno NTMV, p. 71 

Borda was a major figure in the French Navy who 

participated in several scientific voyages and in the 

American Revolution. He was a member of the group 

B 207 

responsible for measuring the length of the meridional 

arc from the North Pole to the equator and thus was 

active in establishing the metric system. He attained 

the rank of Capitaine de Vaisseau and was appointed as 

inspector of the French naval academy in 1784. Borda 

was taken prisoner by the British during a naval action 

in the Antilles in 1782; thereafter his health suffered 

to the point where he was unable to take up his former 

sea duties. His main contributions were to the design of 

ships and in studies showing Newton was incorrect in his 

theory of fluid flow. He invented a surveying instrument 

(circle de réflexion), and these tables may well have 

begun as an adjunct to its use. 

This is the first publication of a table of logarithms of 

trigonometric functions calculated according to the one 

hundred-degree division of the quadrant that was initially 

proposed for the metric system. The tables have entries 

for each degree, minute and second of this division 

scheme. It contains two prefaces, the first of 38 pages 

by Borda and the second of 76 pages by Delambre, who 

saw the work through the press after Borda died. 


Title page 

Tape of the tables 

B 208 

Borghi, Pietro (–1494) 

Qui comenza la nobel opera de arithmethica ne la 

qual se tracta tute cosse amercantia pertinente facta e 

compilata p[er] Piero Borgi da veniesia. 

First page: SDSU Chi d’arte mathematice ha paicere 

… [17 line sonnet] 

Year: 1484 

Place: Venice 

Publisher: Erhard Ratdolt 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: later limp vellum 

Pagination: ff. [1], 116, [1] (misnumbered 22 as 32, 23 as 32, 

102 as 103) 

Collation: π 8 b–o 8 p 6 


Reference: Smi Rara, pp. 16-18 

Pietro Borghi (Piero Borgi) was a Venetian who died 

sometime after 1494, but nothing more is known of his 

life. 

This is an important book in the history of arithmetic. 

It is the second arithmetic book printed in Italy (after 

the Treviso arithmetic). The description done by Smith 

(Rara) cannot be bettered, and what follows is drawn 

freely from that source.


Borghi, Pietro Borghi, Pietro 

B 208 

The first and last folios contain poems headed by the 

initials SDSU (some read it as SHSU), about which there 

has been much speculation. Smith seems to think that the 

letters S H S U which appear twice are thought to stand 

for J H S U, Jesus, possibly changed on account of some 

conjectured pronunciation. 

This work is more elaborate than the Treviso arithmetic 

and had far greater influence on education. More than 

any other book, it set a standard for the arithmetics of the 

succeeding century. Borghi first treats notation, carrying 

his numbers as high as 1 numero de million de million de 

million and making no mention whatever of the Roman 

numerals. In the same spirit, he eliminates all of the 

medieval theory of numbers, asserting that he does this 

because he is preparing a practical book for the use of 

merchants. 

The sequence of material is unusual because 

multiplication is the first operation Borda considers. 

This is followed by division, despite the fact that both 

of these use addition and subtraction. The multiplication 

table (see illustration) gives the products of all pairs of 

numbers from 1 – 10 but also includes the products of 

12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 36 because they were useful factors 

for the currency then in use. The author gives the method 

of checking by casting out 7s and 9s. Multiplication per 

colonna (i.e., by reference to the columns of the table) 

follows, with its checks by 7 and 9, and per crocetta 

(cross multiplication), showing that these methods 

were in common use in Venice of the day. Division is 

then explained by the galley form; our present method, 

then known as the method of giving, a danda, was 

not mentioned. Then follow addition, subtraction, 

denominate numbers, common fractions (also beginning 

with multiplication), rule of three, partnership, barter, 

alligation and false position. The examples are generally 

practical, and they reveal much information concerning 

business customs at the close of the fifteenth century. 


First folio with “SDSU” poem 

First page 


Galley division 

Last folio with “SDSU” poem and colophon 


Multiplication table, B 208 

177

178 


Borgnis, Giuseppe Antonio Borough, William 

B 209 

Borgnis, Giuseppe Antonio (ca.1781– ) 

Traité complet de mécanique appliquée aux arts, 

contenant l’exposition méthodique des théories et 

des expériences les plus utiles pour diriger le choix, 

l’invention, la construction et l’emploi de toutes les 

espèces de machines … Des machines imitatives et des 

machines théâtrales 

Year: 1820 

Place: Paris 


Edition: 1st 



Binding: half-bound over marbled paper boards 

Pagination: pp. [4], viii, [4], 298 

Collation: π 2 a 2 b 4 1–37 4 38 1 


B 209 

This is volume 8 of an eight-volume set of books in which 

Borgnis attempted to refine the empirical tradition of 

mechanical engineering into a more scientifically based 

approach. His first volume analyzed the elementary 

mechanisms such as the lever, and subsequent volumes 

dealt in depth with machinery from different application 

areas. This eighth volume was devoted to automata, 

calculating and measuring machines, telegraph systems 

and the machinery used in the theatre. The section on 

calculating machines includes linear and circular slide 

rules, Pascal’s machine and various devices for drawing 

curves or producing correct perspective. The illustration 

of the internal workings of Pascal’s machine is taken 

from the Diderot encyclopedia. 


Title page 

Slide rules and top of Pascal’s machine 

Internal workings of Pascal’s machine 

B 210 

Borough, William (1537–1599) 

Pascal’s calculator, B 209 

A discourse of the variation of the compasse, or 

magneticall needle. Wherin is mathematically shewed, 

the manner of the observation effects, and application 

therof, made by W. B. And is to be annexed to the new 

attractive of R. N. 

b/w: Norman, Robert; The new attractive, 1592 

Year: 1592 

Place: London 

Publisher: Edward Allde for Hugh Astley 

Edition: 3rd 


Binding: contemporary half-bound leather over marbled 

boards; spine gilt 


Collation: A–G 4 H 2 


Reference: STC, 18649; Tay MP I, #26 #58 

While most of the items in this collection are directly 

related to the history of computation, there are a few, like 

this one, relating to magnetism.


Borrel, Jean Böschenstein, Johann 

B 210 

Borough, who was a comptroller of the British Navy, 

began his naval career, aged 16, by sailing to Russia in 

1553. He continued in maritime trade for the next ten 

years and spent most of his life connected either with 

trade or the Navy. 

This work on the variation of the compass was not in the 

1581 first edition of Norman. It was added in the 1585 

second edition. Borough edited later editions of this 

work, including this one, and added additional material 

of interest to navigators, such as a table of star positions. 

Some book dealers have claimed that this editing did not 

begin until the fourth edition in 1596, but that is likely 

in error - see entry for Norman, 1592, where it is clearly 

stated on the title page that it has been Newly corrected 

and amended by M.W.B. 

The original work by Norman (1592) was dedicated to 

Borough. 

The date has been incorrectly printed as 1562 on the title 

page. 


Borough’s title page 

Illustration of an instrument for noting variation in the compass 

Borrel, Jean (ca.1492–ca.1564/1572) 

See Buteo, Johannes; De quadratura circoli libri duo, 

ubi multorum quadraturæ confutantur, 1559 

B 211 

Böschenstein, Johann (1472–1540) 

Ain New geordnet Rechen biechlin mit den zyffern den 

angenden schülern zu nutz. Inhaltêt die Siben species 

Algorithmi mit sampt der Regel de Try. Und sechs 

regeln d[er] prüch. Un[d] der regel susti mit vil andern 

güten fragen den kündern zum anfang nützbarlich … 

Year: 1514 


Publisher: Erhart Oeglin 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: woodcut on title page 

Binding: later dark blue morocco; raised bands 


Collation: A 6 B 4 C 6 D–E 4 


Reference: Smi Rara, p. 100 

Böschenstein was a professor of Hebrew at Ingolstadt 

and Heidelberg and also taught for a time at Antwerp 

and Nürnberg. He is chiefly remembered for the fact that 

both Luther and Melanchthon were his students. 

It is interesting that in the same year that Köbel published 

his arithmetic (Ain new geordnet rechen biechlin) 

devoted to teaching the subject only by use of the table 

abacus, Böschenstein should publish this similar work, 

which is completely oriented toward the use of algorism. 

Even the two title pages have a strong similarity—both 

with woodcuts, one showing the abacus and the other 

algorism on a slate. Smith (Rara) describes this work 

as … mercantile in character and presents in condensed 

form the essentials of business arithmetic. Böschenstein 

first starts with consideration of the seven basic operations 

(numeration, addition, subtraction, mediation, duplation, 

multiplication and division) and includes illustrations 

involving fractions as well as integers. He then continues 

with examples of the rule of three, etc. 


Title page 

Division with fractions 

Colophon 

Compas variation instrument, B 210 

179

180 


Bosmans, H. Bossut, Charles 

B 211 



Bosmans, H., editor 

See Stevin, Simon; La “Thiende de Simon Stevin,” 

1924 

B 212 

Bossut, Charles (1730–1814) 

Essai sur l’histoire génerale des mathematiques. 

Year: 1802 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Louis 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: original red cloth boards; spine gilt 

Pagination: v.1: pp. xii, 394, 2; v.2: pp. [4], 426 

Collation: v.1: π 6 1–24 8 25 6 ; v.2: π 2 1–26 8 27 5 (-276) 


Reference: Cre CL, p. 103 

Bossut was raised by a paternal uncle after his father 

died. He began his study of mathematics at the Jesuit 

Collège de Lyon, at the age of 14, as a student of Père 

Béraud, who also taught Jean Etienne Montucla and 

Joseph Lalande. He was a professor at several notable 

universities in France, is known to have authored several 

textbooks, and is remembered for his contributions 

to mathematical education rather than for his own 

mathematical studies. He edited an edition of the work 

of Blaise Pascal and contributed to the editing of Denis 

Diderot’s encyclopedia. 

In this two-volume history of mathematics, Bossut 

laments the lack of a decent history of the subject. 

B 212


Bossut, Charles Bowden, Bertram Vivian 

Montucla had written one previously, but Bossut 

considered it 

… inelegant, and too much embarrassed with 

repetitions; and in his account of some modern 

discoveries, he displays a spirit of nationality, 

which ought never to be found in a strict and 

impartial historian (see 1803 edition). 

The history is of interest mainly because Bossut was a 

contemporary of most of the people mentioned in the 

second volume and was well acquainted with them and 

their work. According to the Biographie Générale, these 

people were not pleased with his biographies, and their 

recriminations may have contributed to his death in 

1814. His translator (see entry for 1803 edition) notes 

in a preface: 

… it remains only to observe that he (Bossut) 

alone must be considered as responsible for the 

opinions he maintains, with respect to certain 

discoveries, and other points, which, involving 

some of the highest claims of genius and 

invention, have given occasion to many violent 

disputes, both of a personal and even of a national 

cast. 

The first volume treats the history of mathematics from 

ancient times to the beginnings of the calculus, while the 

second consists of a history to Bossut’s day. 

The printing is unusual in that the text only occupies the 

top ¾ of each page. The frontispiece is a fine engraved 

portrait of Bossut. 


Title page 

Frontispiece 


B 213 

Bossut, Charles (1730–1814) – [John Bonnycastle 

(1750?–1821), editor and T. O. Churchill, translator] 

A general history of mathematics from the earliest 

times, to the middle of the eighteenth century. 

Year: 1803 

Place: London 

Publisher: J. Johnson 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: later half-bound leather over marbled boards, black 

leather label 

Pagination: pp. xxvi, 540, [4] 

Collation: A 8 a 4 b 1 B–2M 8 


Bonnycastle, in his earlier publications, described himself 

as a teacher of mathematics. From 1782 to 1785, he was 

a professor at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, 

England. Leigh Hunt describes him as having thought 

a little more highly of his talents than the amount of 

them strictly warranted (Leigh Hunt, Lord Byron and his 

contemporaries). 

This is an English translation of Bossut’s history of 

mathematics. Bonnycastle appends a list of the most 

eminent mathematicians of ancient and modern times 

but does not list any alive at the time, perhaps because 

he did not want to be subject to the same problems 

Bossut encountered with his contemporaries (see entry 

for Bossut, 1802). 

Although the translation is rather good, Bonnycastle did 

manage to get the author’s name wrong. On the title page 

it is given as John Bossut when it was actually Charles. 


Title page 

Bossut, Charles, editor (1730–1814) 

See Pascal, Blaise; Oeuvres de Blaise Pascal 

B 214 

Bowden, Bertram Vivian (1910–1989) 

Faster than thought. A symposium on digital computing 

machines 

Year: 1953 

Place: London 

Publisher: Pitman 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 19 photo plates incl. frontispiece; 2 folding plates 

Binding: original boards 



Reference: Ran ODC, p. 408; Dub MWCB, p. 4 

181

182 


Bowden, Bertram Vivian Bowditch, Charles Pickering 

B 214 

Lord Vivian Bowden was an employee of Ferranti 

Ltd., the manufacturer of the Ferranti Mark I originally 

designed at Manchester University. The Ferranti Mark I 

was the first electronic digital computer to be delivered to 

a commercial customer (despite the claims of UNIVAC). 

Ferranti’s first machine was delivered to Manchester 

University. Essentially a highly placed representative 

of Ferranti, Bowden was assigned to publicize their 

machines and, it was hoped, sell several. This book was 

an effort to raise the awareness of this new technology in 

the hopes of kindling interest that would result in sales. 

Lord Bowden told the amusing story of, when he was 

on a trans-Atlantic voyage, meeting a man who was a 

lighthouse salesman and recounting that they spent some 

time debating which of them had the more secure job. 

This is, by far, the best anthology on computing 

from the 1950s. The contributors are a Who’s Who of 

British computing in that era. Chief among them were 

the computer designers T. Kilburn, F. Williams, M. 

Wilkes and A. Turing, but the other names listed all 

made significant contributions to the development of 

computers, software, or education. All the names are 

well known today (perhaps with the exception of Audrey 

Bates, who changed her name to Sharp when she married 

Ian Sharp). 

After a brief history of computing machines, the 

contents are divided into theory (today we would term 

this computer architecture), reports of British computer 

projects, a very short summary of those in America, and 

applications. The last section contains Digital Computer 

Applied to Games by Alan Turing—a very early 

description of programming a computer to play games. 

An appendix contains a reprint of Lovelace’s paper on 

Babbage’s Analytical Engine (see Menabrea, Luigi). 

A number of photographic plates illustrate computers 

or their components of the era, and the frontispiece is a 

portrait of Ada Augusta, Countess of Lovelace. 

The book remained in print until the late 1960s but was 

by then out of date. A second copy of this volume (with 

dust jacket) is available in the collection. 


Title page 

Frontispiece (Countess of Lovelace) 


B 215 

Bowditch, Charles Pickering (1842–1921) 

The numeration, calendar systems and astronomical 

knowledge of the Mayas 

Year: 1910 


Publisher: Cambridge University Press 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 23 engraved plates (19 double-page) 


Pagination: pp. xviii, 346, [38]


Bowditch, Charles Pickering Bowditch, Nathaniel 

Collation: π 9 (-π10)1–20 8 21 6 22 7 (-22 8 )[23] 19 (-23 20 ) 


Charles P. Bowditch was the man who founded the 

Maya collections of the Peabody Museum at Harvard 

University and the person after whom their Bowditch 

professorship is named. 

The system of numeration used by a civilization is not 

a machine, but it certainly is machinery. Without it very 

little could be accomplished in the way of numeration 

or, especially, arithmetic; because of this, works on 

numeration are of particular interest to this collection. 

This work was one of the first attempts to systematically 

set forth the numeration and calendar systems of the 

Maya. It not only explains them but also examines all 

extant Maya material for examples of the glyphs used 

and their interpretation. 


Title page 

Examples of Maya numeration 

Maya numeration, B 215 

B 215 

B 216 

Bowditch, Nathaniel (1773–1838) 

The new American practical navigator 

Year: 1802 

Place: Newburyport, MA 

Publisher: Edmund M. Blount for Brown & Stansbury, New 

York 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 1 engraved folding frontispiece chart, 7 engraved 

plates (1 tinted) 

Binding: contemporary leather; rebacked; red leather label 

Pagination: pp. 246, [274], 533–589, [15] 

Collation: A–2H 4 A–B 4 (A)–(2S) 4 


Reference: Glais RCMT, p. 89; not in Karp MWPA 

Nathaniel Bowditch was a self-educated seaman and 

mathematician who had only three years of schooling 

when he began working in his father’s cooper’s shop at 

the age of ten. Later he was apprenticed to a firm of ship’s 

chandlers who encouraged his mathematical interests. At 

the age of twenty-two he became a seaman and spent the 

next nine years aboard ship, sailing on long voyages to 

the Caribbean, Portugal and the East Indies. 

In the course of these voyages, Bowditch became 

celebrated as a skilled navigator and found himself 

spending long hours correcting the navigational tables 

then in use. He then turned his attention to the standard 

navigational text of his time, John Hamilton Moore’s The 

practical navigator and seaman’s new daily assistant, 

London, 1772. He completely reworked and extended 

Moore’s book and decided to publish his revised version 

as The new American practical navigator, a title clearly 

reflecting its heritage. This work is much more than an 

improved set of navigational tables, for it also contains 

useful sections ranging from a short dictionary of sea 

terms to explanations of the parts of a ship (see the 

illustration of the colored plate and its text). Also included 

are standard forms for various contracts for freight and 

charters and other financial and legal documents. 

Bowditch found and corrected some eight thousand 

errors in the Moore version of the tables. Most were of 

little consequence, but some were quite significant. For 

example, Moore’s incorrect identification of 1800 as a 

leap year introduced a twenty-three mile error in some 

results and caused the loss of both ships and men. 

Bowditch’s reputation as a legendary navigator was 

reinforced when Harvard University awarded him an 

honorary M.A. degree. He knew nothing of this honor, 

but being stranded in the port of Boston by adverse winds, 

he serendipitously decided to visit Harvard. Finding its 

graduation ceremonies in progress, he sat in the audience 

183

184 


Bowman, Elias W. Bowring, John 

and, to his astonishment, heard his name being called out 

as a recipient of an honorary degree. 

In mid-career, Bowditch left the sea to become an 

insurance company executive. He maintained a 

scholarly interest in mathematics for the rest of his 

life and eventually translated Pierre Simon Laplace’s 

Mécanique céleste into English. 

Navigational tables are still often referred to as 

Bowditch’s Tables, whether or not they stem from this 

original publication. 


Title page 

Colored plate of ships 

Colored plate text 

B 216 

B 217 

Bowman, Elias W. and William Shakespeare, Jr. 

“Quick” interest calculator. Time and maturity tables. 

Year: 1939 

Place: Indianapolis, IN 

Publisher: Levey Printing Company 

Edition: 1st 





This is a ready reckoner for interest on any amount from 

$1.00 to $10,000.00 for periods from one day to four 

years. 


Title page 

Sample table page. 

B 218 

Bowring, John (1792–1872) 

B 217 

The decimal system in numbers, coins and accounts: 

especially with reference to the decimalisation of the 

currency and accountancy of the United Kingdom. 

Year: 1854 

Place: London 

Publisher: Nathaniel Cooke 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: engraved portrait frontispiece; 21 engraved plates (p. 

22, 60, 68, 72, 76, 92, 100, 102, 178, 180, 208, 210, 

212) 



Collation: A 2 B–I 8 J 8 K–P 8 Q 3 


John Bowring was a linguist fluent in at least fifteen 

languages, including most of the European ones as 

well as Chinese and Arabic. He traveled the world on 

both commercial ventures and as a representative of 

the British government. At the time of writing, he had 

just been appointed General Consul in Canton (he was 

later Governor of Hong Kong), and he indicates in his 

foreword that he is much rushed by the impossibility of 

delaying his departure for the scene of his duties in a 

distant land. 

Bowring, with support from Prince Albert, Queen 

Victoria’s husband, was responsible for the introduction 

of the 2 Shilling coin, usually called a florin. This was 

the first step in the decimalization of British currency 

(2 shillings were one tenth of a Pound). After this step,


Bowring, John Boyer, Jacques 

B 218 

the process was abandoned until 1968–1971, when a 

complete decimalization occurred, and 2 Shillings was 

equated to 10 new pence (1 Pound = 100 new pence) 

After his success in establishing the florin, Bowring 

published this work. It is an investigation of decimal 

systems in numbers, coins and accounts from various 

parts of the world. It contains examples of decimal 

coins; the uses of decimal numbers in societies from 

China, Egypt and Greece; and reports from Members of 

Parliament. The difficulty of working in a non-decimal 

system is illustrated with problems involving calculating 

the worth of an impure bar of gold. The arithmetic is 

pedantically set down, and after two pages of work, the 

much simpler decimal solution of the problem is shown. 

In the discussion of decimal numbers, he refers to the 

work Arithmetic by George Peacock, then Dean of Ely 

Cathedral and life-long friend of Charles Babbage. The 

discussion is illustrated with examples from Peacock’s 

book and a portrait of Peacock, the only one known to 

have been published (another hangs in Ely Cathedral). 

The work also contains similar portraits of other Babbage 

friends and associates, namely Herschel, DeMorgan, 

Airy (with whom Babbage disagreed) and others. The 

frontispiece illustrates Bowring himself. 


Title page 

Portrait of Peacock 

Portrait of DeMorgan 

Portrait of Herschel 

First step in solving a non-decimal problem 

Frontispiece of Bowring 

Peacock, B 218 

B 219 

Boyer, Jacques (1869–) 

Histoire des mathematiques 

Herschel, B 218 

DeMorgan, B 218 

Year: 1900 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Gauthier-Villars 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: contemporary three-quarter bound cloth boards; 

original paper wrappers mounted 


Collation: π 6 1–16 8 17 2 


Jacques Boyer should not be confused with Charles B. 

Boyer, who also wrote a history of mathematics in 1968. 

Jacques’ history of mathematics is noteworthy for its 

description of French mathematics and mathematicians 

in the nineteenth century. It contains a number of portraits 

185

186 


Boys, Charles Vernon Boys, Charles Vernon 

of mathematicians, mainly French, and a frontispiece 

reproducing a seventeenth-century engraving showing 

the construction and use of mathematical instruments. 

Boyer does not indicate the source of the frontispiece, 

but it is the same as that published in later editions 

of Bion, and the work does contain reproductions of 

mathematical instruments from Bion. 


Title page 

Frontispiece 

B 220 

Boys, Charles Vernon (1855–1944) 

B 219 

Calculating machines. In Journal of the Society of Arts 

Vol. XXXVI, No. 1737, March 3, 1886 

Year: 1886 

Place: London 

Publisher: George Bell and Sons 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: half-bound marbled boards 



Sir Charles Boys was born in Leicestershire and 

became a well-known physicist and designer of 

scientific instruments. He is best remembered for his 

radiomicrometer, improvements to the torsion balance, a 

calorimeter and a special camera with movable lens. 

Boys presented this paper in conjunction with an exhibit 

of calculating machines at the London International 

Inventions Exhibition. While Boys clearly knew a lot 

about calculating machines, judging from his answers to 

questions after the presentation, his time was obviously 

limited. The paper itself only mentions the well-known 

machines such as those of Thomas, Edmondson and 

Tate, with a few short references to items such as log 

tables, ready reckoners and Napier’s bones. 

At the end of the paper are indicated the machines 

exhibited and their owners. Prominent among the names 

is General Babbage, Henry P. Babbage, the son of 

Charles Babbage. After Charles’ death in 1871, Henry 

Babbage became his father’s champion. Evidently, 

the machines collected by Charles during his lifetime, 

(Morland, Stanhope, etc.) were now owned by Henry. 


none 

Integrating instrument, B 221 

B 221 

Boys, Charles Vernon (1855–1944) 

An integrating machine. In The London, Edinburgh 

and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, and Journal of 

Science. Fifth Series. No. 69, May 1881 

Year: 1881 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 

Language: English


Bradbury, Fred Brahe, Tycho 




In this paper, Boys proposes and describes a new type 

of integrating mechanism in contrast with existing 

integrating machines such as Amsler’s planimeter, 

where rolling mechanisms were employed to form the 

integral of the area being traced by a pointer. At the time 

this paper was written, Boys had built only a feasibility 

model. A few years later, Bruno Abdank-Abakanowicz 

described in great detail a complete design using the 

same principle. The Abakanowicz book acknowledges 

the fact that Boys had presented this same approach at 

the meetings of the British Association in 1882. 


Plate showing instrument. 

B 222 

Bradbury, Fred 

Jacquard mechanism and harness mounting 

Year: 1912 

Place: (Halifax) 


Edition: 1st 


Figures: 1 photolith plate 


Pagination: pp. 355, xii, [1] 

Collation: A–Y 8 (+W 8 ) 


Bradbury was known for his books on various industrial 

subjects. He had already produced similar works 

on Carpet manufacture and Calculations in Yarns 

and Fabrics, and this book has advertisements and 

testimonials for both. 

After an introduction to the history of pattern weaving, 

this work deals with the Jacquard loom in all its forms, 

including a discussion of the creation of Jacquard cards. 

The book is well illustrated with technical drawings of 

the various devices. 


Title page 

B 223 

Brahe, Tycho (1546–1601) 

Astronomiæ instauratæ mechanica 

Year: 1602 


Publisher: Levinus Hulsius 

Edition: 2nd 


B 222 

Figures: engraved portrait of Brahe on title, 25 illustrations (7 

engraved, 18 woodcut), 4 smaller illustrations in text 



Collation: )::( 4 A–E 6 F 4 G–H 6 I 4 


Reference: Gin HLB, Vol. XIX, #2, p. 129; Cro CL, #104 

Tycho Brahe, one the greatest and most celebrated 

astronomers in history, was born in Knudstrup, Denmark 

(present-day Sweden), into a noble family. His Danish 

given name was Tyge, and he adopted the Latinized 

version (Tycho) when he was fifteen years old. From the 

age of two, Tycho lived with and was reared by his paternal 

uncle, Jörgen Brahe. Jörgen saw to it that he was tutored 

in Latin and Greek and otherwise prepared for university 

studies. As befitted a person of his rank and position, he 

studied law at the University of Copenhagen and later 

at the University of Leipzig. His interest in astronomy 

was aroused by attending lectures on the subject, but his 

uncle strongly discouraged further studies, and he was 

reduced to learning the subject in secret. 

The conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in August 1563 

seems to have been a seminal event for Tycho. He followed 

it meticulously and recorded his observation of the time 

of closest approach. When he computed this same time 

using both the Alphonsine tables and the Prutenic tables, 

the discrepancy between the observed and calculated 

results was striking. In fact, the Alphonsine tables were 

off by nearly a month and the Prutenic tables by a few 

187

188 


Brahe, Tycho Brahe, Tycho 

B 223 

days, and this discrepancy forced him to conclude that 

the tables were seriously flawed. 

Brahe understood that it would require an extended 

program of observations, made with the best instruments 

available, to correct the tables. It took more than a decade 

for him to obtain the necessary facilities and financial 

support, but in early 1576, King Frederick II offered 

Brahe the life-long use of the island of Hven in the Danish 

Sound for the erection of an observatory there to be fitted 

with the most accurate instruments to be had. The offer 

brought with it sources of income, which, when added 

to Brahe’s not inconsiderable means, meant that Brahe 

could build the finest observatory in the world. 

Uraniborg, B 223 

Armillary sphere, B 223 

This book describes Brahe’s observatory, Uraniborg, on 

the island of Hven and gives a catalog of the instruments 

he used to obtain the precise measurements that allowed 

Kepler to determine planetary orbits. The work also 

contains Brahe’s autobiography and a description of how 

he divided his scales with transverse lines in order to make 

more accurate observations. Brahe was the last of the 

great observational astronomers before the invention of 

the telescope, although others after him also used nakedeye 

sights on their instruments. Although dated after 

Brahe’s death, this work was first published privately in 

1598 in a very limited edition of about forty copies. This 

1602 edition was the first sold commercially and is today 

the only one generally available. The engraving of the 

equatorial armillary sphere on C6 appears for the first 

time in this edition, replacing a woodcut, and the title 

page has an engraved portrait of Brahe, also replacing 

a woodcut. 

The instruments described here are unlike those shown 

in most other instrument volumes of this period. These 

are precision instruments of the highest caliber, whereas 

many of the other works of the time describe instruments 

that could be obtained by amateur gentlemen interested 

in astronomy. 


Title page (portrait of Brahe) 

Diagonally divided scale 

Armillary sphere 

Uraniborg – Brahe’s “heavenly castle” observatory 

Large quadrant


Brahe, Tycho Brainerd, John Grist 

B 224 

B 224 

Brahe, Tycho (1546–1601) [Hans Henning Ræder; Elis 

Strömgren and Bengt Strömgren, translators] 

Tycho Brahe’s description of his instruments and 

scientific work as given in Astronomiæ Instauratæ 

Mechanica, Wandesburgi, 1598. 

Year: 1946 


Publisher: I Kommission Hos Ejnar Munksgaard 

Edition: 1st (?) 


Binding: original paper wrappers; uncut 


Collation: 1–16 4 17 2 18 6 


Brahe had published a description of his instruments in 

Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica in 1598. At the time 

he had left his observatory in Denmark but had not yet 

gone to Prague. The Royal Danish Academy of Science 

and Letters decided that there should be Danish and 

English versions of this important work and, to celebrate 

the quadricentennial of Brahe’s birth, commissioned this 

translation. The original Latin was first translated into 

Danish by H. Raeder, and then, after consultation with 

astronomers, the English text was produced. The volume 

includes reproductions of the original 1598 illustrations. 


Title page 

B 225 

Brainerd, John Grist (1904–1988) and T. Kite Sharpless 

(1913–1967) 

The ENIAC. In Electrical Engineering, Vol. 67, No. 2, 

February 1948 

Year: 1948 


Publisher: American Institute of Electrical Engineers 

Edition: 1st 






The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and 

Computer) was the first large-scale, electronic, general 

purpose, digital calculating machine. This paper, while 

not the first to mention it in print, is an early description 

of the device. 

Brainerd, while technically in charge of the Moore 

School of Electrical Engineering, had little to do with the 

actual creation of the ENIAC. His role was very much as 

an administrator; however, he and Sharpless would have 

been the only ones from the original ENIAC team left in 

the Moore School when this paper was written. Sharpless 

was a graduate of the Moore School and a skilled 

Accumulator panel, B 225 

189

190 


Brainerd, John Grist Bramer, Benjamin 

engineer on the project. After the ENIAC team broke up 

in 1945, he remained on staff as chief engineer for the 

EDVAC project. He left in 1947 to become one of the 

founding partners of Technitrol Engineering Company 

which, among other things, manufactured components 

for many of the first-generation computer projects. 

While considerable portions of the paper are taken up 

with a discussion of basic concepts such as electronic 

versus mechanical, this paper does provide some items 

that are otherwise difficult to find. Diagrams are given 

for the exact layout of the ENIAC and for the front 

control panels of the accumulators. 


Layout of ENIAC 

Accumulator control panel 

Accumulator front panel 

Accumulator, B 225 

B 226 

Bramer, Benjamin (ca.1588–1650) 

B 226 

Apolonius Cattus, oder, Kern der gantzen Geometriæ in 

drei Theil. In dessen ersten Theil Euclidis Geometrische 

demonstrationes erhoben, und zu ihrem Objecto 

perfectionis angefüret werden… Apolonius Catti, 

oder, Kerns der gantzen Geometriæ in ander Theil. 

De sectione cylindri … Dritter Theil oder Anhang 

eines Berichts von M. Johsten Burgi. Geometrischen 

triangular Instrument, zu gar leicht kurtzen, und doch 

gewissen Land und Feldmessen. Wie auch andere 

höhen, tieffen, längen und breiten zuermessen dienlich 

b/w: Kohlhans, Johann Christoph; Neu-erfundene 

Mathematische und Optische Cüriositaten, 

bestehend So wohl in einem sattsamen Unterricht, 

zum Feldmessen und itzt üblichen Fortification. 

Year: 1684 

Place: Kassel 

Publisher: Ingebrands 

Edition: 2nd 


Figures: engraved portrait (Burgi) frontispiece; title in red and 

black; 51 copper plates (23 double page, 26 single page, 

2 folding) 


Pagination: pp. [14], 102, [2], 61, [1], [8], 22, [2] 

Collation: ):( 3 ):():( 4 A–N 4 A–G 4 H 3 A–D 4 



After the death of his father in 1591, Benjamin Bramer 

was taken care of by his sister, who was married to the


Bramer, Benjamin Bramer, Benjamin 

Joost Bürgi, B 226 

clock and instrument maker Joost (Jobst) Bürgi. He 

spent five years with Bürgi at the imperial court in Prague, 

returning to Kassel in 1604. In 1612, he was appointed 

master builder in the court at Marburg. He is known 

for earlier publications on mathematics and surveying 

instruments that are almost unique in that he credits his 

predecessors (including Bürgi) with the ideas he expands 

upon—this in an era in which most instruments makers 

were very secretive about their sources and techniques. 

In this work Bramer continues his unusual 

acknowledgement of the work of his predecessors, 

particularly Bürgi, whose portrait appears in the 

frontispiece. Leone Battista Alberti (1435), Albrecht 

Dürer (1525) and Joost Bürgi (1604) had each 

investigated the problem of how to create an instrument 

that would allow one to produce accurate geometric 

perspective drawings. Bramer continued this tradition 

by developing his own set of instruments, particularly 

one to draw conic sections. The device was evidently an 

improvement on one devised by Christoph Scheiner. 

After describing conic curves and instruments for 

drawing ellipses, Bramer introduces his universal conic 

instrument and then illustrates its use. The latter part of 

the book is mainly concerned with the production of 

sundials on all orientations of surfaces—a process that 

makes use of many conic section curves. 


Title page – color 

Frontispiece – Joost Bürgi portrait 

Conic instrument 

B 227 


Bericht und gebrauch Eines Proportional Linials: 

Neben kurtzem Underricht Eines Parallel Instruments 

Year: 1617 

Place: Marburg 

Publisher: Paul Egenolff 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 3 engraved plates, (2 folding) 

Binding: modern full morocco 




Reference: Cro CL, #133 

Bramer’s sector, one of the three main instruments 

described in this work, is interesting for its use of a 

removable arm, hinged with a pin through a hole at the 

end of each scale, which avoids the problem of making 

a complex hinge. This innovation also allowed him to 

construct each scale on an individual line, thus avoiding 

the problem of interfering scale graduations near the 

hinge (where all scales come together at a point in the 

Hingeless sector, B 227 

191

192 



usual form of the instrument). The sector was equipped 

with scales for arithmetic (usually termed a line of 

lines), a line of circles, a geometric line (for working 

with triangles), a line of planes (for manipulating areas) 

and a line of solids (for volumes) as well as others for 

gnomic calculations. This instrument is notable for the 

early date, just eleven years after Galileo published his 

Le operazioni del compasso geometrico in 1606. 

The second device was simply a parallel frame with 

pointers, of use in drawing figures or etching lines. The 

third instrument, a combination of plumb bob and angle 

measuring device, was of use in architectural situations. 


Title page 

Portrait of Bramer 

Bramer sector 

Triangulation instrument 

B 228 


B 227 

Beschreibunge und Underricht Eines Neuwen leicht 

und sehr bequemen Instruments zum Grundtlegen und 

Theylung der Circkel Linien. 

Year: 1616 



Edition: 1st 


Figures: Figures of protractor and sighting instruments in text 

Binding: later vellum 


Collation: A–D 4 



This small volume is a description of a simple sighting 

instrument and a protractor-like device, both for use by 

surveyors. 


Title page 

Protractor 

Sighting instrument 

Benjamin Bramer, B 227 

Sighting instrument, B 228



B 229 


B 228 

Dritter Theil oder anhang eines berichts von M. 

Johsten Burgi. Geometrischen Triangular Instrument, 

Zu gar leicht kurtzen, und doch gewissen Land und 

Feldmessen, wie auch andere Höhen, Tieffen, Längen 

und Breiten zuermessen dienlich 

b/w: Kohlhans, Johann Christoph; Neu-erfundene 

Mathematische und Optische Cüriositaten, 

bestehend So wohl in einem sattsamen Unterricht, 

zum Feldmessen und isstüblichen Fortification. 

b/w: Bramer, Benjamin; Appolonius Cattus, Oder, Kern 

der gantzen Geometriæ In Drei Theil. 

Year: 1684 

Place: Kassel 

Publisher: Ingebrands 

Edition: 2nd 


Figures: engraved portrait (Burgi) frontispiece; 21 engraved 

copperplates 





Bramer credits the instrument described here to his 

brother-in-law, Joost (Jobst) Bürgi. Bürgi is most 

famous for his independent invention of logarithms. 

However, he did not publish until 1620, about six 

years after John Napier had produced his work. A 

fine instrument maker and mathematician, Bürgi was 

responsible for the design of several different sectors and 

other instruments. Little is known of his early life, but 

from 1579 on, he was a watch and instrument maker at 

the court of Duke Wilhelm IV. The instruments he made 

there brought him to the notice of Emperor Rudolf II, and 

Bürgi moved to his court at Prague about 1603. While 

Survey instrument in use, B 229 

193

194 



there he worked as an assistant to Kepler, mainly doing 

calculations. See Bramer, 1684 (Apolonius Cattus), for 

a portrait of Joost Bürgi. 

This volume is a description of a simple triangular 

instrument used for surveying tasks. Its use is illustrated 

with many examples taken from civilian and military 

life. One of the most interesting is the description of the 

instrument being used underground in a mine. 


Title page 

Triangular instrument in use. 

B 230 


B 229 

Trigonometria planorum mechanica. Oder Unterricht 

unnd Beschreibung eines neuwen und sehr bequemen 

Geometrischen Instruments zu allerhand Abmessung 

und Solvirung der Planischen Triangel derogleichen 

bisshero nicht gesehen geworden 

Year: 1617 



Edition: 1st 


Figures: 3 engraved folding plates, 



Collation: A–M 4 N 3 



This small work describes a plane table (see Ceneri, 

Angelo Maria; L’uso dello strumento geometrico detto 

la tavoletta pretoriana, 1728, and the Appendix essay 

on surveying instruments) that is slightly different from 

others in that the table is marked with angles and divided 

to resemble squared graph paper to make it easier to read 

distances from scaled drawings. 

Bramer wrote at least three of these small volumes in 

the 1616–1617 period, and the publisher used the same 

title page format on this volume as on the 1616 work 

(Beschreibunge und Utterricht). 


Title page 

Plane table 

B 230 

Plane table, B 230


Brander, George Friedrich Brander, George Friedrich 

B 231 

Brander, George Friedrich (1713–1783) 

Arithmetica binaria sive dyadica, das ist Die Kunst nur 

mit zwey Zahlen in allen vorkommenden Fällen sicher 

und leicht zu rechnen 

Year: 1769 


Publisher: Widow of Eberhard Kletts 

Edition: 2nd 


Figures: 1 engraved folding table 

Binding: contemporary marbled boards 


Collation: A–B 8 C 4 



An instrument maker in Augsburg, Brander was known 

as one of the finest workmen of his day, and many of his 

instruments are in museums today. He is known to have 

had almost a hundred different instruments of his own 

design for sale and is also known to have written several 

books on these instruments and their use (see Brander, 

Beschreibung und Gebrauch …, 1780). 

This work on binary numbers was a very early explanation 

of the system. In the introduction he credits Leibniz with 

earlier work. The slim volume starts with an explanation 

of the system; proceeds to describe addition, subtraction, 

multiplication, division and the extraction of roots; 

then concludes with a table of the binary equivalents of 

numbers from 0 to 500,000. 


Title page 

Binary multiplication examples 

Binary table 

B 231 

B 232 

Brander, George Friedrich (1713–1783) 

Beschreibung und Gebrauch eines geometrischen 

Instruments in Gestalt eines Proportionalzirkels, 

welches in allen praktischen Fällen der Feldmesskunst 

leicht und gut zu gebrauchen; auch zu astronomischen 

Vergnügen dienet, und auf Reisen sehr bequem mit sich 

geführet werden kann: nebst angehängter Beschreibung 

eines Systems von Maassstäben zu Zeichnungen 

Year: 1780 


Publisher: Eberhard Kletts 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: paper boards 





Binary table, B 231 

Binary multiplication, B 231 

195

196 


Brander, George Friedrich Brasser, Franciscus 

This work describes a sighting instrument that could be 

used for general survey work. It is constructed much 

like a sector with sights, but some care has been taken 

in the mechanical arrangements with various locking 

devices and finely graduated scales. There is also a 

description of other simple instruments, such a plane 

scale. An interesting item is a list, produced by Johann 

Gabriel Doppelmayer, of temperature variation around 

Nurnberg throughout the year. 


Title page 

Sighting instrument 

Temperature variations 

Sighting instrument, B 232 

B 232 

B 233 

Brasser, Franciscus 

B 233 

Ein Newe Rechens-Buch Auff alle Kauffmans- 

Handlunge für die anfangende Schülers … Nun aber 

durch einem Liebhaber der Kunst auffs new mit fleisse 

corrigiret und auf begehren mit vielen nützlichen 

Exempeln vermehret 

Year: 1658 

Place: Lübeck 

Publisher: Schmalhertz? 

Edition: late 


Binding: later blue paper boards 


Collation: A–I 8 K 4 


Reference: Smith Rara, p. 393; H&J AM, Vol. I, B23.17, p. 53 

Little is known about the author, but DeMorgan 

(Arithmetical books) indicates that Brasser seems to 

have been a celebrated teacher. 

The work begins with a short description of the 

traditional table abacus and the balance based on the use 

of algorism. It deals with the elementary arithmetical 

operations, including very short mentions of duplation 

and mediation, then repeats the same material when 

dealing with fractions. The rest of the work is concerned 

with examples of various types of commercial arithmetic, 

including a table of various conversion factors at the 

end of the book. At one point he uses a strange set of 

symbols, the origin and uses of which are obscure (see 

illustration).


Brasser, Franciscus Breckenridge, William Edwin 

Although printed a hundred years after Adam Riese’s, 

the book is reminiscent of his publications, with a title 

page portrait of Brasser that is similar to the one used by 

Riese in 1550. 


Title page 

Table abacus 

Conversion table 

Numerical symbols 

Numeral symbols, B 233 

Table abacus, B 233 

B 234 

Brearley, Harry C. 

Time telling through the ages 

Year: 1919 


Publisher: Doubleday, Page & Co. for Robert H. Ingersoll & 

Bro. 

Edition: 1st 






This is a history of clock and watch making from the 

earliest times to the beginning of the twentieth century. 

A series of appendices describe how a modern watch 

movement operates and provide a list of manufacturers 

and an Encyclopedic Dictionary of names and terms 

associated with the subject. Examples of timekeeping 

and mechanisms are provided on the photolith plates. 


Title page 

B 235 

Breckenridge, William Edwin (1869–) 

B 234 

The log log duplex slide rule. A self teaching manual 

with tables of settings, equivalents and gauge points. 

Year: 1926 

Place: Hoboken 

Publisher: Keuffel & Esser 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: original printed stiff paper wrappers 



197

198 


Breckenridge, William Edwin Breckenridge, William Edwin 

Breckenridge was with the Mathematics Department at 

Columbia University in New York City. 

This instruction manual illustrates the use of the Keuffel 

& Esser model N4092-3 rule. 


Title page 

B 236 


B 235 

The Mannheim slide rule. A self teaching manual with 

tables of settings, equivalents and gauge points. 

Year: 1924 



Edition: 1st 





This instruction manual contains advertisements that 

illustrate some of the types of slide rule that were being 

produced by the Keuffel & Esser Co. They include 

Mannheim, Polyphase, Duplex, Stadia, Roylance 

Electrical, Surveyor’s, Merchant’s and Chemist’s Slide 

Rule. 


Title page 

Slide rules 

B 237 


The Mannheim slide rule. A self teaching manual with 




Edition: unknown 





This edition of the Breckenridge instructional manual 

for the Mannheim rule is essentially identical to that 

produced in 1924 (see that entry). 


None 

B 238 


The Mannheim slide rule Nos. 4031S, N4035S, N4041 

and 4051. A self teaching manual with tables of 

settings, equivalents and gauge points. 

Year: 1938 








The contents of this are almost identical to 1927 edition, 

but the title page has been changed slightly. 


Title page 

Year: 1927 B 238


Breckenridge, William Edwin Brentel, Georg 

B 239 


The polyphase duplex slide rule. A self teaching manual 

with tables of settings, equivalents and gauge points. 

Year: 1924 



Edition: 1st 


Binding: original printed stiff paper wrappers; split 



This is another of Breckenridge’s variations on his 

instruction manual. A second copy of this is in the 

collection. 


Title page 

B 240 


B 239 

The polyphase duplex slide rule No. 4088. A self 

teaching manual with tables of settings, equivalents and 

gauge points. 

Year: 1938 



Edition: late 





A later edition of the instruction manual that is essentially 

identical to the 1924 version. 


Title page 

B 241 


The polyphase slide rule. A self teaching manual with 


Year: 1925 



Edition: 1st 





Another variation on Breckenridge’s manuals. A second 

copy of this is in the collection. 


Title page 

B 242 


The polyphase slide rule. No. N4053. A self teaching 

manual with tables of settings, equivalents and gauge 

points. 

Year: 1938 



Edition: 1st 





A later version, essentially identical to the 1925 edition. 


Title page 

B 243 

Brentel, Georg (fl.1610) – [Galgemair, Georg (1495– 

1552)] 

Herrn Georgij Galgemairs Kurtzer gründlicher 

gebesserter unnd vermehrter underricht, zubereitung 

und gebrauch, Der hochnutzlichen mathematischen 

Instrumenten, Proportional Schregmäss und Circkels, 

benebens dem fundament dess visierens. Allen 

Künstliebenden zu sonderen Ehren unnd wolgefallen. 

Year: 1615 

Place: Ulm 

199

200 


Brentel, Georg Brentel, Georg 

B 243 

Publisher: Johann Meder 

Edition: 2nd 


Figures: 1 large folding plates 


Pagination: pp. [8], 48, 47–130 (misnumbered 47 as 45, 110 as 

100), [2] 

Collation: A–R 4 S 3 


Reference: Zin GBAL, p. 61, 271, 318, 324, 330, 339, 347, 

353, 362, 364, 367, 371, 384, 395; Not in Pogg Vol. I 

Georg Brentel was a painter and engraver who published 

plans for sundials (the paper could be glued to boards to 

make a dial). Little is known about him other than that 

he was a pupil of Philipp Apian (the son of the famous 

mathematician and instrument maker Peter Apian). See 

Galgemair, Georg, in the Addenda. 

Proportional compass, B 243 

This expanded version of Brentel’s 1610 publication 

treats the same basic instruments (sector and proportional 

compass) but includes many examples of finding 

volumes, gauging, weights and measures, etc. 

The illustration of the sector has been redone and much 

improved from the earlier work, but the one for the 

proportional compass was little changed. Gaspar Schott 

(Mathesis Caesarea, 1662) used this same illustration in 

his description of the sector in 1662. An unusual printer’s 

device occupies the final page. 


Title page 

Sector illustration 

Proportional compass illustration 

Gauging example 

Printer’s mark and colophon 

Printer’s device and colophon, B 243 

Gauging, B 243


Brentel, Georg Brentel, Georg 

B 244 

Brentel, Georg (fl.1610) 

Quadrantis astronomici et geometrici utilitates. Ein 

Tractat vom Astronomischen und Geometrischen 

Quadranten, auss welchem dess Tags oder dess Nachts, 

durch die Sonn, Mond und andere Planeten oder 

Firstern die Stunden mögen gefünden: dess gleichen 

allerley höhe, länge, tieffe ohn oder durch Rechnung 

künstlich und gewiss abgemessen werden… 

b/w: Hulsius, Ocularis …, 1596 

Year: 1611 


Publisher: Jacob Winter 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: title enclosed by 4-piece woodcut border, each page of 

text enclosed by borders of type ornaments, 3 woodcuts 

in text 

Binding: contemporary red stained vellum. 




Reference: Zin GBAL, #4302 

Brentel’s other work in this collection (Georgii 

Galgemaris Kurtzer unnd gründtlicher underricht, 

wie der Künstliche Proportional-Circul ausszutheilen 

und ausszuzeichnensen auff etlicher begern, 1610) 

is remarkable for including fine full-sized diagrams 

of his instruments. In contrast, this work is lacking in 

illustrations, showing only two crude diagrams of a 

quadrant in use for surveying related to aqueducts. In the 

text he notes surveying applications of a quadrant and 

provides tables listing the positions of major stars and 

other markings on a quadrant for both astronomical and 

survey uses. 


Title page 

Aqueduct survey problem 

B 245 

Brentel Georg (fl.1610) [Galgemair, Georg (1495–1552)] 

Georgij Galgemaris Kurtzer unnd gründtlicher 

Underricht, wie der Künstliche Proportional-Circul 

ausszutheilen und auffzuzeichnen sey. Auff etlicher 

begern. Allen denen so sich dess Circuls gebrauchen, 

zu sonderlichem Nutz und vilfeitigem Vortheil in Truck 

gegeben durch Georgen Brentel… 

separate title page (ff. E1r): 

Fundament der Proportional-Circul … was ober dem 

mond, ewig bsteht. Was unter dem mond, bald vergeht 

Year: 1610 

Place: Lauingen 

Publisher: Jacob Winter 

B 244 

Aqueduct survey, B 244 

201

202 


Brentel, Georg Brerewood, Edward 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: modern marbled boards 


Collation: A–C 4 D 8 


B 245 

In these two works Brentel has used information given 

to him by Georg Galgemair (see Addenda entry for 

Galgemair) to write about both the proportional compass 

and the sector, which he called Schregmess. The dates for 

Galgemair are uncertain. Following Brental’s practice of 

producing full-size broadsheets for sundials, he includes 

full-sized plans for both instruments in this work. He also 

includes tables giving the positions at which each scale 

should be marked. Any instrument maker possessing this 

work could easily have reproduced each device. 


Title page 

Proportional compass 

Sector 

B 246 

Brerewood, Edward (1565–1613) 

De ponderibus, et pretiis veterum nummorum, 

eorumque; cum recentioribus collatione, liber unus. 

Year: 1614 

Place: London 

Publisher: Joannem Billium (John Bill) 

Edition: 1st 




Collation: A–H 4 


Reference: STC, 3612 

Brerewood was born and educated in Chester. At the 

age of fifteen, he enrolled in Oxford. In 1590, after 

graduating with an M.A., he applied for a fellowship 

there, but lacking the right connections, he was not given 

the position. However, Oxford did recommend him for 

the job as the first professor of astronomy at Gresham 

College. Ward describes him (Lives of the Professors 

of Gresham College, 1740) as very communicative, 

and ready to impart what he knew to others, either in 

conversation, or by writing, but he never published 

anything during his lifetime. A nephew, Robert 

Sector, B 245


Bressieu, Maurice Brewster, David 

Brerewood, saw this (and nine other works) through the 

press after his uncle died of a sudden fever. 

This is a treatise on the weights and values of Greek, 

Roman and other ancient coins. The book is set up in 

three columns. References are given in the left column, 

with monetary values or weights in the right-hand 

column. 


Title page 

B 247 

Bressieu, Maurice (a.1608) 

B 246 

Astronomical libri quatuor hæc maximam partem 

nova est rerum astronomicarum & geographicarum 

per plana sphericáque triangula dimensionis ratio, 

veteríque impendiò expeditior & compendiosior. 

Year: 1581 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: Ægidius Gorbinus 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 1 large folding plate 



Collation: a 4 b 6 c 4 c 8 e 2 A–B 6 C 4 D 6 E 4 F 4 G–H 6 (e1 signed C1) 


Bressieu, a native of Grenoble, held the chair of 

mathematics at the University of Paris from 1576 until 

his death in 1608. Pierre de la Ramée, who is mentioned 

in the colophon, endowed this chair before his death 

in 1572. The colophon also mentions the hospitality of 

Ronsard, a poet. 

This is a treatise on spherical geometry as used in 

astronomical calculations. It contains a number of 

tables, one being printed in red and black to differentiate 

different columns of entries. 


Title page 

Sample table page (color) 

B 248 

Brewster, David (1781–1868) 

B 247 

Letters on natural magic, addressed to Sir Walter Scott, 

Bart. 

Year: 1832 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 




Collation: π 6 A–Y 8 



Best remembered for his work on optics and polarization 

of light, the Scottish physicist David Brewster displayed 

his scientific abilities early. He had made a telescope 

by the age of ten and started at Edinburgh University at 

the age of twelve. After abandoning a wish to become 

203

204 


Brewster, David Brewster, David 

a clergyman because of extreme nervousness in public 

speaking, he became a private tutor. He then edited the 

Edinburgh Encyclopedia for twenty-two years before 

becoming principal of Edinburgh University (1859– 

1868)—an institution that had earlier refused him the 

chair of mathematics. 

The term natural magic in the title arises from natural 

philosophy, a term used in Scotland up until the 1970s— 

it was, for example, only then that the University of 

Glasgow changed the name of their department from 

Natural Philosophy to Physics. He was an admirer of 

Charles Babbage and strongly supported his attempts 

to construct a Difference Engine. This work describes 

optical and aural illusions, mechanical automata, 

chemistry, secret writing, etc. He mentions Babbage’s 

engine on pp. 291–296. 


Title page 

B 249 

Brewster, David (1781–1868) 

B 248 

On machinery for calculating and printing 

mathematical tables. In Edinburgh Philosophical 

Journal Vol. VII 

Year: 1822 


Publisher: Archibald Constable and Co. 

Edition: 1st 





Reference: Van S CBCP, #70; Babb CBLP #71, #73; Ran 

ODC, p. 405 

Brewster presented this paper in Edinburgh as part of 

a concerted effort to obtain funding for development 

of the Difference Engine. Brewster indicates that his 

material was drawn mainly from Mr. Babbage’s printed 

letter on the subject (see Babbage, Charles; A letter to 

Sir Humphrey Davy, 1822). After explaining the concept 

of the difference engine, he describes the proposed 

implementation and concludes with a plea for financial 

support for Babbage. 


Title page 


Brewster, David, editor 

See Babbage, Charles; On the theoretical principles of 

the machinery for calculating tables, 1823. 


M.A. F.R.S. &c. [A Collection of seventeen items by 

and about Babbage].

B 250 

Briggs, Henry (1561–1631) 

Arithmetica logarithmica sive logarithmorum chiliades 

triginta, pro numeris naturali serie crescentibus ab 

unitate ad 20,000: et a 90,000 ad 100,000. 

Year: 1624 

Place: London 

Publisher: W. Jones 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: contemporary reverse leather; rebacked; brown 

leather label 

Pagination: pp. [8], 88, [300] 

Collation: a–m 4 A–Q 6 R 4 4H 8 4I–4O 6 * 6 


Reference: Pogg Vol. I, p. 298; DSB II, p. 462; Hend BTM, 

#18, p. 40; Horb CC, #38, pp. 33; Car PMM, #116, pp. 

69–70 

Henry Briggs graduated from Oxford with an M.A. in 

1585 and remained there as a junior academic. He was 

elected as a Fellow of St. John’s College in 1589. In 1596, 

he was invited to be the founding professor of geometry 

at the newly created Gresham College in London, where 

he worked lecturing and creating navigational tables. 

Shortly after Napier published his Mirifici logarithmorum 

canonis descriptio in 1614, Briggs obtained a copy 

and immediately recognized their value for navigation 

and other computations. He began to teach them to his 

students and soon saw that they would be easier to use if 

the base was changed to 10. Briggs visited with Napier 


Briggs, Henry Briggs, Henry 

B 250 

Briggs’ logarithms, B 250 

in the summer of 1615 and again in 1616, and after the 

two men had agreed on the proposed changes, Briggs 

began calculating the new base 10 logarithms. Napier 

took no part in this work as he was not well and died the 

following year. In 1617, Briggs supervised the printing 

of a translation of Napier’s work produced by Edward 

Wright, who had also died shortly after finishing it. In a 

preface to this translation, he justifies the change to base 

10 and includes a small table of logarithms of numbers 

from 1 to 1000 (the first chiliad). 

This volume contains logarithms for numbers from 1 to 

20,000 and from 90,000 to 100,000. It took until 1624 

to produce the table in this volume. Briggs did not start 

calculating logarithms in succession, but he used a number 

of critical logarithms (see illustrations) for 0, 10 1/2 , 10 3/4 , 

etc. to calculate the others. Briggs wrote a preface in 

which he explained how to use logarithms and gave a 

plan for calculating the missing 70,000 numbers—even 

offering to supply special paper divided into columns 

for anyone willing to help. He provided the difference 

between each adjacent value (see illustrations) and a 

method of calculating logarithms by interpolation from 

differences. The missing seventy chiliads were included 

in the second edition of this work published by Adrian 

Vlacq in 1628, although Briggs had, by this time, nearly 

completed the calculations himself. It was in the preface 

to this work that Briggs coined the terms characteristic 

and mantissa for the two portions (on either side of the 

decimal point) of a logarithmic number. 

Some copies of this work have an additional six pages 

containing the logarithms for 100,001 to 101,000 and a 

table of square roots from 1 to 200. This volume does 

not contain these extra pages, but they are to be found 

in another issue in this collection (see entry for Briggs, 

Henry; Arithmetica Logarithmica, 1624–another issue). 

These logarithms, together with those of Adriaan Vlacq 

mentioned above, form the basis from which almost all 

other logarithm tables were produced. At the end of the 

eighteenth century, the French produced the Tables du 

Cadastre, which are only available in manuscript form 

(see entry for Prony). Towards the end of the nineteenth 

century, Edward Sang (1805–1890) published a seven- 

205

206 



figure table of logarithms for numbers up to 200,000, 

the last half of which had been newly calculated. With 

these two exceptions, all other pre-twentieth century 

tables were simply edited copies of the original Briggs 

and Vlacq computations (see the entry for Babbage, 

Charles; Notice respecting some errors common to 

many tables of logarithms, 1829). 


Title page 

Critical logarithms 

First page of log table 

B 251 


Arithmetica logarithmica sive logarithmorum chiliades 

triginta, pro numeris naturali serie crescentibus ab 

unitate ad 20,000: et a 90,000 ad 100,000. Quorum 

ope multa perficiuntur arithmetica problemata et 

geometrica. 

Year: 1624 

Place: London 

Publisher: W. Jones 

Edition: 1st (another issue) 


Binding: contemporary leather; gilt embossed covers 

Pagination: pp. [8], 88, [300], [12] 

Collation: a–m 4 A–Q 6 R 4 4H 8 4I–4O 6 * 6 6 


Reference: Pogg Vol. I, p. 298; DSB II, p. 462; Hend BTM, 

#18, p. 40; Horb CC, #38, pp. 33; Car PMM, #116, pp. 

69–70 

This is another issue of the first edition of Briggs’ 

logarithms. It is identical to the first issue with the 

exception that it contains six additional pages with the 

logarithms for number from 100,001 to 101,000 and 

a table of square roots for the numbers from 1 to 100. 

These six additional sheets are pasted in. 


Title page 

Square root table 

B 252 


The first chiliad of logarithmes, called in the discourse 

aforegoing the table of numbers. 

b/w: Gunter, Edmund; Canon triangulorum, or a 

logarithmeticall table: wherein are set downe 

logarithmes of the sines, & tangents of all 

the degrees, & minutes of the quadrant. The 

logarithme of the radius, or semy-diameter beeing 

100000000, 1626 

Year: 1626 

Place: Oxford 

Publisher: n/p 





Collation: A8B4 –R8S4T1 B 252 


Reference: STC, 3742; Kno NTMV, p. 222 

This is a very small set of logarithmic tables for values 

between 1 and 1,000. The logarithms are to eight decimal 

digits, and the differences between each logarithm are 

noted (differences are useful for interpolating between 

values). There is no explanation of any kind, the only text 

being the title page. This was not the first time Briggsian 

logarithms had been printed, but it is the first in such a 

portable format and the first in English (if you count an 

English title page). The Briggs tables occupy the first 22 

leaves and Gunter’s the rest of the volume. 


Title page 


B 253 


Logarithmicall arithmeticke. Or tables of logarithmes 

for absolute numbers from an unite to 100000, as also 

for sines, tangentes and secantes for every minute 

of a quadrant, with a plaine description of their use 

in arithmetike, geometrie, geographie, astronomie, 

navigation, &c 

b/w: de Decker, Ezechiel; Tweede deel van de nievwe 

tel-konst ofte wonderliicke konstighe tafel, 

inhoudende de logarithmi, voor de getallen van 1 

af tot 100000 toe. Eerst ghevonden van Iohanne 

Nepero, …



Year: 1631 

Place: London 

Publisher: George Miller 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: 18th-century half-bound leather; red leather label, red 

edges 


Collation: A–H 4 


Reference: Pogg Vol. I, p. 298; Hend BTM, #26.0, p. 58 

This work is bound with the very rare work by Ezechiel 

de Decker. The tables themselves are not present in this 

copy. When Vlacq issued his Arithmetica Logarithmica, 

Gouda, 1628, he printed more copies than were needed. 

After the death of Briggs, Miller bought up copies of 

the tables and issued them with a new title page and 

introduction in English. 


Title page 

B 254 


B 253 

Table des logarithmes, pour les nombres d’un, à 10000 

b/w: Wells, John; Sciographia, or the art of shadowes. 

Plainly demonstrating, out of the sphere, how to 

project both great and small circles, upon any 

plane whatsoever: with a new conceit of reflecting 

the sunne beames upon a diall, contrived on a 

plane, which the direct beames can never shine 

upon … 

Year: 1626 

Place: Gouda 

Publisher: Pierre Rammasein 

Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. [264] 

Collation: A–K 8 L 4 M 2 A–E 8 F 6 


Reference: Hend BTM, #24.0, p. 56 

These tables were published by Rammasein prior to his 

publishing the famous tables by Vlacq in 1628. See entry 

for Wells, John; Sciographia, …, 1635. 


Title page in entry for Wells, John: Sciographia …, 1635 

B 255 

[Briggs, Henry (1561–1631)] – Thomas Smith (1638– 

1710) 

Vitæ quorundam eruditissimorum et illustrium virorum. 

Quorum nomina exstant in pagina sequenti. 

Year: 1707 

Place: London 

Publisher: David Mortier 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: contemporary leather; gilt spine 

Pagination: pp. [2], xvi, [2], 148, [2], 62, [2], 16, 16, 38, 34, 

48, 102, [2] 

Collation: * 3 ** 4 *** 3 A–2G 4 2H 3 3A–3P 4 4A–4N 4 


See entry for Smith, Thomas, 1707, where illustrations 

may also be found. 


None 

B 256 

Briggs, Henry (1561–1631) and Henry Gellibrand 

(1597–1636/7) 

Trigonometria Britannica: sive de doctrina 

triangulorum libri duo. Quorum prior continet 

constructionem canonis sinuum tangentium & 

secantium, unà cum logarithmis sinuum & tangentium 

ad gradus & graduum centesimas & ad minuta & 

secunda centesimis respondentia: A clarrissimo 

doctissimo integerrimoque Viro Henrico Briggio… 

Posterior verò usum sive applicationem canonis 

in resolutione triangulorum tam planorum quam 

sphæricorum e geometricis fundamentis petitâ, calculo 

facillimo, eximiisque compendiis exhibet: Ab Henrico 

Gellibrand… 

Year: 1633 

207

208 


Briggs, Henry British Association 

Place: Gouda 

Publisher: Peter Rammesein 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: modern leather 

Pagination: pp. [8], 112, [272] 

Collation: π 4 A–O 4 a–y 6 z 4 


After completing his calculation (see Briggs, 1624) of 

logarithms of the natural numbers, Henry Briggs began 

the immense task of creating a table of sines, tangents, 

secants, logarithms of sines and logarithms of tangents. 

He completed the calculations but was not able to finish 

an introduction before his death. His friend Henry 

Gellibrand, a professor of astronomy at Gresham College 

in London, took on the task of finishing the preface 

(explaining the tables and their application to plane and 

spherical trigonometry) and seeing the work through the 

press. Adrian Vlacq arranged for the work to be printed 

in Gouda by Peter Rammesein. 

Like Briggs’ logarithms of numbers, this table contains 

the differences between each entry, allowing the user to 

interpolate if necessary. It was seldom necessary because 

these tables contained an entry for each one hundredth 

of a degree (with the equivalent minutes and seconds 

being shown in the rightmost column of each page – see 

illustrations). This move to having an entry for every 

hundredth of a degree was copied by Nathaniel Roe 

(1633), William Oughtred (1657) and John Newton 

(1658), but the tables of Vlacq, based on the old 

sexagesimal division of a degree, were so popular that 

this change was ignored by others. 


Title page 

Page from the tables 


See Vlacq, Adriaan; Arithmetica logarithmica, 1628. 

See Faulhaber, Johann; Zehntausent logarithmi, 

der absolut oder ledigen zahlen von 1. biss auff 

10000,1631 

B 257 

Brink, Raymond Woodward (1890–) 

Logarithmic and trigonometric tables. 

Year: 1928 


Publisher: D. Appleton-Century Company 

Edition: 1st 





B 256 

A small book of logarithms and other useful tables, 

suitable for student use. 


Title page 

B 258 

British Association for the Advancement of Science 

Report of the Fifty-Eighth Meeting of the British 

Association for the Advancement of Science. Held at 

Bath in September 1888 

Year: 1889 

Place: London 


Edition: 1st 


Binding: contemporary buckram 

Pagination: pp. xcvi, 988, 116, 32 

Collation: A 8 a–e 8 B–3Q 8 3R 4 3S 2 A–G 8 H 2 B–C 8 


This contains a very short item reporting on a presentation 

by Henry Babbage, the son of Charles Babbage, about 

his father’s Analytical Engine. It mentions that a section, 

working to twenty-nine digits, including the anticipatory 

carry device, was shown to those at the meeting. 


Entire item.


British Calculators, Ltd. Brodetsky, Selig 

B 259 

British Calculators, Ltd. 

The Bri-Cal adding : : machines 

Year: ca.1912 

Place: Stoke Newington 

Publisher: British Calculators, Ltd. 

Edition: 1st 





The Bri-Cal was a circular, stylus-driven adding machine. 

This is a price list and description for its various models 

A, B, F, U, D, W and R. 


Title page 

Bri-Cal model A 

B 259 

B 260 

Brodetsky, Selig (1888–1954) 

A first course in nomography 

Year: 1925 

Place: London 

Publisher: G. Bell and Sons 

Edition: 2nd 



Pagination: pp. xii; 160 

Collation: π 6 A–K 8 


Brodetsky was a mathematician and Zionist leader. Born 

in the Ukraine, he moved with his family to London in 

1893. He placed first (for all England) in the Cambridge 

local examinations in 1905 and won a scholarship to 

Trinity College. He obtained a Ph.D. in astronomy 

from Leipzig and, in 1914, became a lecturer at Bristol 

University, becoming chair of mathematics in Leeds in 

1924. In 1949, he moved to Israel, where he became 

president of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. 

See the Appendix essay on nomography for details 

about the subject. Brodetsky provides a short history of 

nomography, and the rest of the work teaches various 

aspects of the topic. 


Title page 

BRI-CAL adding machine, B 259 B 260 

209

210 


Brooker, Ralph Anthony Brooks, Edward 

B 261 

Brooker, Ralph Anthony (1925 – ) 

The solution of algebraic equations on the EDSAC. In 

Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 

Vol. 48, Part 2, April 1952, pp. 255–270 

Year: 1952 



Edition: 1st 





Ralph Anthony (Tony) Brooker began his career 

in Cambridge but later moved to the University of 

Manchester, where he became very influential in the 

development of software in Britain. He was responsible 

for the Autocode compilers for Manchester’s Ferranti 

Mark I and Mercury. Along with Derrick Morris, he 

devised the concept of the Compiler Compiler–a program 

that, given the syntactic and semantic description of a 

programming language, would create a compiler for it. 

This is an early paper describing a mathematical 

application for EDSAC. It discusses three different 

methods of solving for the roots of polynomial equations 

and then gives results from EDSAC. 


None 

B 262 

Brooks, Edward (1831–1912) 

Key to the new normal mental arithmetic: And methods 

of teaching mental arithmetic, containing, also, 

methods for arithmetical contractions, and a collection 

of problems of an interesting and amusing character, 

for class exercises. 

Year: 1873 


Publisher: Christopher Sower 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: original printed cloth boards 


Collation: 1–13 6 14 2 


Brooks was the superintendent of public schools in 

Philadelphia and had previously been the principal of 

the Pennsylvania State Normal School. He was known 

for his books on arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, 

algebra, etc., all of which were used as teaching aids. 

This work, designed for the teacher of arithmetic, 

provides a number of instructional hints and games that 

may be played with students. The majority of the work 

consists of the answers to hundreds of drill problems 

that appeared in the student’s text (see another entry for 

Brooks, The new normal mental arithmetic, 1873). 


Title page 

B 263 


The new normal mental arithmetic: A thorough and 

complete course by analysis and induction. 

Year: 1873 


Publisher: Christopher Sower Company 



Binding: original embossed cloth boards 




A student textbook on elementary arithmetic, the vast 

majority of the work is a collection of drill problems. 

The preface makes reference to Recorde’s Whetsone of 

Wit. 


Title page 

B 263


Brooks, Edward Brooks, Edward 

B 264 


The new normal primary arithmetic designed as an 

introduction to a thorough and complete course in 

mental and written arithmetic. 

Year: 1893 


Publisher: Christopher Sower 

Edition: revised 



Pagination: pp. vi, 7–112 



A revised version of Brooks’ earlier work. Brooks had, 

in the meantime, apparently earned a Ph.D. that was not 

noted in his earlier publications. 


Title page 

B 265 


The normal mental arithmetic. A thorough and complete 

course by analysis and induction. Revised edition with 

a treatise on mental algebra 

Year: 1863 


Publisher: Sower, Potts & Co. 

Edition: revised 



Pagination: pp. [2], viii, 7–168 

Collation: 1–14 6 15 2 


See earlier entries for Edward Brooks. 


Title page 

B 266 


The normal union arithmetic, graded course. Part II 

Year: 1877 







Collation: 1–9 12 10 7 


This volume is more advanced than Brooks’ other mental 

arithmetic publications. After a much shorter introduction 

to the standard arithmetical operations, there are sections 

on fractions, factoring, mixed radix numbers (lengths, 

weights, etc.), and calendar and business problems. An 

interesting paragraph in the section on numeration lists, 

after Roman numerals, the lumbermen’s notation. 

The union in the title refers to his union of mental and 

written arithmetic in one volume and has nothing to do 

with trade unions. 


Title page 

Lumberman’s notation 

B 267 


B 266 

Notation system, B 266 

The normal union arithmetic, graded course. Part III 

Year: 1877 





211

212 


Brooks, Edward Brooks, Edward 


Pagination: pp. viii, 231–429, [1] 



This is Part III of Brooks’ advanced treatment of 

arithmetic. This volume contains sections on business 

problems such as percentages on bonds and investments, 

ratios, arithmetic and geometric series, and menstruation 

of surfaces and volumes. An appendix contains problems 

on the metric system and insurance of various kinds. 


Title page 

B 268 


The normal written arithmetic, by analysis and 

synthesis. Designed for common schools, normal 

schools, high schools, academies, etc. 

Year: 1869 



Edition: 2nd (?) 



Pagination: pp. vi, 9–337, [1] 



This is a more advanced work than Brooks’ mental 

arithmetic series. It treats the same elementary 

numeration and arithmetic operations, but then deals 

with decimal fractions and many of the same types of 

advanced problems that were repeated in the union 

publications. 


Title page 

B 269 


The philosophy of arithmetic as developed from the 

three fundamental processes of synthesis, analysis, and 

comparison containing also a history of arithmetic. 

Year: 1880 


Publisher: Normal Publishing 

Edition: 2nd 



Pagination: pp. x, 11–570, 2 

Collation: 1–35 8 36 6 


This is by far the most significant of Brooks’ publications, 

although perhaps the least popular. It begins with a 

history and comments on the origins and old names for 

arithmetical processes, particularly the old Latin and 

Italian names for the various methods used for division. 

The chapter on Arithmetical Language includes the 

erroneous speculations on the shapes of the digits arising 

from the number of straight lines or angles contained 

in the character but also includes, without illustration, 

the more plausible theory of their origin from Sanskrit 

characters. A section of different number bases discusses 

the origin of the binary system, which, he indicates, was 

communicated to Leibniz by Bouvet, a Jesuit missionary 

in China. An extensive description of the base 12 scale 

is complete with a proposed set of names and characters 

for the digits as well as an addition and multiplication 

table. The last half of the book tends to treat the same 

topics as were in his union series of arithmetic books, but 

from a much more academic standpoint. In his discussion 

of decimal fractions, he points out that they were first 

used by Simon Stevin and that the first English work to 

use them with regularity was by Richard Witt in 1613, 

although Stevin’s Disme was translated into English by 

Richard Norton in 1608. 

Despite the inclusion of several speculations, this 

work has much to recommend it as a study of early 

arithmetic. 


Title page 

Origin of numeral shapes 

Description of the creation of decimal fractions 

B 269


Brown, George Brown, George 

B 270 

Brown, George (1650–1730) 

Arithmetica infinita or the accurate accomptant’s best 

companion contriv’d and calculated … 

Year: 1717/1718 Julian/Gregorian 

Place: [Edinburgh] 

Publisher: Brown 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: contemporary panelled leather 

Pagination: pp. [4], 14, 126, 10 

Collation: π 2 a 7 A–H 8 I 4 


B 270 

George Brown was a Scottish minister who apparently 

graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 1675 

(another account has him graduating from Edinburgh 

University in 1664, but he would only have been 14 at 

that time – not impossible for the time, but unusual). 

He apparently served in various parishes in Scotland, 

but after the revolution of 1688, he lost his license to 

practice. He created a device known as a Rotula, a 

circular instrument for performing elementary arithmetic 

operations, and published works on arithmetic and tables 

for the conversion of English to Scots currency. For 

information on the Rotula, see Duncan Wilson, “The 

Rotula, a seventeenth century calculating device,” The 

Scottish Educational Journal, April 14, 1933, pp. 432– 

433. 

Brown’s last publication, this small book of tables was 

engraved, excepting one typeset page bearing a letter 

from the astronomer John Keill recommending the use 

of the tables. The two tables are each concerned with 

interest and do not use a decimal point but rather a small 

∟ symbol. A manuscript page, pasted into the front, 

explains that the tables are artificial numbers, adopted to 

our English money: 1₤ or twenty shillings sterling being 

the Integer (see illustration). 


Title page 

Frontispiece of Brown 


Manuscript page of explanation 

B 271 

Brown, George (1650–1730) 

George Brown, B 270 

Table, B 270 

A compendious, but a compleat system of decimal 

arithmetick, containing more exact rules for ordering 

infinites, than any hitherto extant. 

Year: 1701 


Publisher: Brown 

Edition: 1st 




Collation: A–E 4 F–G 2 H–I 4 K 2 


This is an elementary arithmetic beginning with a 

description of the four basic operations. The last half 

presents the rule of three and a few simple business 

problems. The final section on compound interest 

illustrates the process with logarithms but does not 

include a table. 


Title page 

213

214 


Brown, Gordon Stanley Brown, John 

B 272 

Brown, Gordon Stanley (1907–) and Donald Pierce 

Campbell 

Principles of servomechanisms. Dynamics and 

synthesis of closed-loop control systems 

Year: 1948 


Publisher: John Wiley 

Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. xiv, 400 


Brown was the director of the MIT Servomechanisms 

Laboratory, the organization that was responsible for 

the development of the Whirlwind computer. Campbell 

was a professor of electrical engineering at MIT. This 

book is not about the Whirlwind but about the closed 

loop control equipment that was a mainstay of industrial 

machinery. It was the failure of this type of control 

system as applied to aircraft trainers that led them to 

investigate the electronic digital systems that eventually 

resulted in Whirlwind. 

This highly technical description of control systems was 

produced at the end of the era of mechanical/hydraulic 

systems, when they were about to be replaced by their 

electronic equivalents. 


Title page 

B 271 

B 273 

Brown, John (fl.1648–1695) 

The description and use of the carpenter’s-rule: 

Together with the use of the line of numbers commonly 

call’d Gunter’s-line. Applyed to the measuring of all 

superficies and solids, as board, glass, plaistering, 

wainscot, tyling, paving, flooring &c. Timber, stone, 

square or round, gauging of vessels, &c. Also military 

orders, simple and compound interest, and tables of 

reduction, with the way of working by arithmetick, in 

the most of them. Together with the use of the glasiers 

and Mr. White’s sliding rules. Rendered plain and easie 

for ordinary capacities. 

Year: 1704 

Place: London 

Publisher: Printed for R. Mount 

Edition: 4th 


Figures: 1 engraved plate (follows p. 6) 





Reference: Tay MP I, p. 418 

This work examines the use of Gunter’s line of numbers— 

a logarithmic scale first proposed by Edmund Gunter; 

later, by incorporating two such scales, Oughtred created 

the slide rule. Initially, Gunter’s line was to be used by 

measuring distances with a pair of dividers. 

After explaining the use of the rule for simple arithmetic, 

this work illustrates its use by various problems from the 

domestic purchase of coal to interpretation of surveys 

White’s title, B 273


Brown, John Brown, John 

and currency exchange. A small table of squares and 

cubes appears, at first glance, to be for arbitrary values 

but in fact demonstrates that to use the logarithmic scale 

to find roots requires the user to appreciate the number of 

digits being used (e.g., the cube root of 1728, 17576 and 

175616 are easily confused). 

Brown’s revision of White’s Use of the line of numbers 

on a sliding (or Glasier’s) rule has its own separate title 

page, but with continuous pagination. 


Brown’s title page 

White’s title page 

Table of roots 

Brown’s title, B 273 

Table of roots, B 273 

B 274 

Brown, John (fl.1648–95) 

Horologiographia: or the art of dyalling, being the 

second book of the use of the trianguler-quadrant. 

Shewing the natural, artificial, and instrumental way, 

of making of sun dials, on any flat superficies: with 

plain and easie directions, to discover their nature and 

affections, by the horizontal projection. With the way 

of drawing the usual ornaments on any plain: also, a 

familiar easie way to draw those lines on the ceiling of 

a room, by the trianguler quadrant. Also the use of the 

same instrument in navigation; both for observation, 

and operation. Performing the use of several seainstruments 

still in use. 

Year: 1671 

Place: London 

Publisher: Printed by John Darby for John Wingfield, also by 

John Brown and John Seller 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 25 engraved plates pasted to text leaves 

Binding: contemporary leather; spine gilt in compartments 


Collation: A–T 8 V 4 


This is a very nice book on dialing. It manages to cover 

almost every possible aspect of the subject and discusses 

dials on all surfaces. Brown has added an appendix On 

the use of the Triangular Quadrant in Navigation. 


Title page 

B 274 

215

216 


Brown, John Brown, Richard 

B 275 

Brown, John and John Wallace 

Mathematical tables, containing the logarithms of 

numbers, logarithmic sines, tangents, and secants, and 

a traverse table; to which are prefixed, logarithmical 

arithmetic, and plane trigonometry; also examples on 

the mensuration of heights and distances. For the use of 

schools. 

Year: 1808 


Publisher: Peter Hill and Longman [et al.] 

Edition: 2nd 



Pagination: pp. [4], 72, [86], 8 

Collation: π 2 A–I 4 2a–2r 2 2s 4 2t–2u 2 2x 5 


Reference: Hend BTM, #120.0, pp. 104–105 

Nothing is known about Brown other than the fact he 

calls himself a mathematician on the title page. The 

name of the Rev. John Wallace, although not on the title 

page, comes from the initials J.W., which appear on an 

advertisement prior to the table of contents. 

This table of logarithms begins with an introduction 

including the use of the tables for both scientific and 

business calculations. The table itself would have been 

particularly difficult to use as it is set in small type 

with few breaks in the layout to guide the eye (see 

illustration). 

On the front fly leaf is penciled in a contemporary 

hand: 

May angles help my lovely favir impowered by 

heaven above come & g[?] yee power vouchsafe 

you to gauird the maid I love. The author Jane 

Thoms, Chesninton by Dundee NB 


Title page 

Log table typography, B 275 

Table page 

Fly leaf notation 

B 276 

Brown, Richard (1856–1918) 

A history of accounting and accountants 

Year: 1905 


Publisher: T. C. & E. C. Jack 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: half bound; uncut 


Collation: π 8 A–2E 8 2F 6 


B 275 

On the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of 

accountants in Scotland (the first country in which 

Chartered Accountants were created), it was decided to 

produce a volume about the history of the organization. 

This plan soon grew to include a history of accounting 

itself. While not ready in time for the actual anniversary, 

this is a comprehensive work beginning with the 

development of numerical notation in ancient Greece, 

showing early forms of accounts from Egypt and 

elsewhere and culminating with the creation of the 

accounting profession in Britain, Europe, America, 

Japan, South America and a few other places.


Brozek, Jan Brozek, Jan 

This is number 57 of a deluxe limited edition of 250 

signed copies. 


Title page 

B 277 

Brozek, Jan (1585–1652) 

Arithmetica integrorum edita. 

B 276 

Year: 1620 

Place: Cracow 

Publisher: Matthiæ Andreoviensis (Maciej Andrzejowczyk) 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 1 large folding plate 

Binding: later paper boards 

Pagination: pp. [16], 252, [4] 

Collation: A 8 A–Q 8 


Reference: DSB, v2, p. 526 

Jan Brozek is acknowledged as the best Polish 

mathematician of his day. He held a number of different 

positions at Polish universities and eventually became 

Rector of the University of Krakow. He published in 

excess of thirty works, some on mathematical topics but 

also many to do with religious controversies. 

The DSB indicates that this book introduced logarithms 

into Polish schools. Although Brozek was clearly familiar 

with Napier, there is no obvious mention of logarithms 

in this work and certainly no tables or instruction on how 

they were to be used. It would appear that the author of 

the DSB biography has mistaken references to Napier’s 

bones for logarithms. 

This arithmetic begins with numeration and then treats 

the fundamental operations, including mediation and 

duplation. This section is illustrated with an example of 

finger numerals that differ from the usual ones of Bede 

and Pacioli. A very large gelosia diagram illustrates 

multiplication along with another in which Brozek first 

calculates all nine multiples of the multiplicand—a 

technique also used in his illustration of division. After 

discussion of arithmetic and geometric progressions, he 

deals with squares and cubes. 

The most interesting section deals with John Napier and 

his Rabdologiae (1617) and appears a mere three years 

after Napier’s own publication. He not only includes the 

usual Napier’s Bones but also prefaces it with a lengthy 

description of Napier’s binary (chessboard) abacus, 

which Brozek refers to as abaco Scacchiae. This is one 

of the few published references in the contemporary 

literature to this device. 

B 277 

Finger numerals, B 277 

217

218 


Bruno, Giordano Bruno, Giordano 

Gelosia multiplication, B 277 


Title page 

Finger numerals for a problem of 8 times 6 

Gelosia multiplication 

Multiples of the multiplicand 

Napier’s chessboard abacus 

B 278 

Bruno, Giordano (1548–1600) 

De lampade combinatria Lulliana 

b/w: Bruno, Giordano; De specierum scrutinio 

b/w: Bruno, Giordano; De progressu & lampade 

venatoria logicorum 

b/w: Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius von Nettesheim; 

Commentaria Agrippae in artem brevem Lullian 

b/w: Lull, Ramon; Opera ea quæ ad adinventam ab 

ipso artem universalem, scientiarum artiumque 

omnium brevi compendio, firmaque memoria 

apprehendendarum, locupletissmaque vel 

oratione ex tempore pertractandarum, pertinent. 

Ut et in eandem quorundam interpretum scripti 

commentarij: quae omnia sequens indicatbit 

pagina: & hoc demùn tempore coniunction 

emendatiora locupletioraq[ue] non nihil edita 

sunt. Accessit index cum capitum, tum rerum ac 

verborum ac verborum locupletissimus. 

Year: 1598 


Publisher: Lazar Zetzner 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: contemporary vellum; red edges 

Pagination: pp. [24], 992, [32] (mis# 80 as 34) 

Collation: (?) 4 ):( 8 a–z 8 A–2S 8 


See entry for Lull, Ramon; Opera, 1598 


None 

B 279 


De progressu & lampade venatoria logicorum 

b/w: Bruno, Giordano; De specierum scrutinio 

b/w: Bruno, Giordano; De lampade combinatria 

Lulliana 






apprehendendarum, locupletissimaque vel 

oratione extempore pertractandarum, pertinent. 


commentarij: quae omnia sequens indicabit 

pagina: & hoc demùn tempore coniunctim 

emendatiora locupletioraq[ue] non nihil edita 

sunt. Accessit index cum capitum, tùm rerum ac 


Year: 1598 



Edition: 1st 




Pagination: pp. [24], 992, [32] (mis# 80 as 34) 





None 

B 280 


De specierum scrutinio 

b/w: Bruno, Giordano; De lampade combinatria 

Lulliana 

b/w: Bruno, Giordano; De progressu & lampade 

venatoria logicorum 






apprehendendarum, locupletissimaque vel 

oratione extempore pertractandarum, pertinent. 


commentarij: quae omnia sequens indicabit 

pagina: & hoc demùn tempore coniunctim 

emendatiora locupletioraq[ue] non nihil edita

sunt. Accessit index cum capitum, tùm rerum ac 


Year: 1598 



Edition: 1st 




Pagination: pp. [24], 992, [32] (misnumbered 80 as 34) 





None 

B 281 

Bruns, Robert A. and Robert M. Saunders 

Analysis of feedback control systems. Servomechanisms 

and automatic regulators 

Year: 1955 



Edition: 1st 





Bruns and Saunders were professors at the University 

of California at Berkeley, but at the time this book was 

written, Bruns had moved to take a position at the Jet 

Propulsion Laboratory. 

This is a highly technical account of both the theory and 

practice of servomechanisms. The theoretical part is 


Bruns, Robert A. Buchholz, Werner 

B 281 

B 282 

balanced by some very practical considerations, e.g., the 

explanation of how to eliminate backlash in spur gears. 


Title page 

B 282 

Bubnov, Nikolai Mikhailovitch (1858–); [Joseph 

Lezius (1860 – ), translator] 

Arithmetische Selbständigkeit der europäischen Kultur. 

Ein Betrag zur Kulturgeschichte. 

Year: 1914 

Place: Berlin 

Publisher: R. Friedländer & Sohn 



Binding: three-quarter leather over marbled boards 


Collation: π 4 1–17 8 18 7 


This is a history of arithmetic in Europe, originally 

written in Russian by a professor at Kiev and translated 

by a professor at the same institution. It contains a 

lengthy section on the use of the European table abacus. 

Unfortunately, it is not illustrated. 

This copy ex-libris Otto Neugebauer. 


Title page 

219

220 


Buchholz, Werner Buchholz, Werner 

B 283 

Buchholz, Werner, editor 

The computer issue. In Proceedings of the I. R. E., Vol. 

41, No. 10, October 1953. 

Year: 1953 


Publisher: Institute of Radio Engineers 

Edition: 1st 





This special issue of the Proceedings of the IRE was 

created by the IRE Professional Group on Electronic 

Computers (PGEC). PGEC was founded two years 

previously and had grown to over two thousand members. 

Like the AFIPS volume (see AFIPS, Proceedings of 

the Joint AIEE-IRE Computer Conference. Review of 

electronic digital computers, 1952) of the preceding year, 

this issue dramatically illustrates the growth of interest, 

and advances made, in the early days of computers. 

The volume contains forty-one papers, of which a number 

are of secondary interest. The following are the major 

papers (the paper’s title is usually a very clear indicator 

of its contents): 

Buchholz, Werner 

The system design of the IBM Type 701 

computer, pp. 1262–1275 

Buchholz was a major designer of IBM 

computers. He worked on the IBM 701 and the 

IBM 7030 (Stretch). 

Burks, Arthur Walter (1915–) and Jesse B. 

Wright 

Theory of logical nets, pp. 1357–1365 

Arthur Burks was a member of the ENIAC 

team and later a professor at the University of 

Michigan. See the entry for Burks, Theory of 

logical nets, 1953. 

Crosman, Loring P. 

The Remington Rand Type 409-2 Electronic, 

pp. 1332–1340 

Crossman was an engineer with Remington 

Rand, Laboratory of Advanced Research, South 

Norwalk, Connecticut. 

Eckert, John Adam Presper, Jr. (1919–1995) 

A survey of digital computer memory systems, 

pp. 1393–1406 

Eckert, one of the principle designers of ENIAC 

and the UNIVAC I, was one of the foremost 

engineers in this field. He was always concerned 

with memory systems and recognized them as 

the key to computer design. This is one of the 

best survey papers on early computer memory 

systems. 

Elbourn, Robert D. and Richard P. Witt. 

Dynamic circuit techniques used in SEAC and 

DYSEAC, pp. 1380–1387 

Both authors were with the National Bureau 

of Standards and were part of the group that 

designed the SEAC and DYSEAC circuits. 

Erickson, Robert S. 

The Logistics Computer, pp. 1325–1332 

Erickson was an engineer with Engineering 

Research Associates (ERA), which by this time 

had become a division of Remington Rand. He 

later joined Control Data Corporation (CDC). 

Frizzell, Clarence E. 

Engineering description of the IBM Type 701 


Frizzell was an engineer with IBM’s Engineering 

Laboratory in Poughkeepsie, NY. 

Gluck, S. E.; H. J. Gray Jr.; C.T. Leondes; 

and Morris Rubinoff 

The design of logical OR-AND-OR pyramids 

for digital computers, pp. 1388–1392 

All the authors were with the Moore School 

of Electrical Engineering of the University of 

Pennsylvania.



Greenwald, Sidney; R. C. Haueter and 

Samuel Nathan Alexander (1910–1967) 

SEAC, pp. 1300–1313 

The authors were with the National Bureau of 

Standards, where they were instrumental in the 

design and construction of SEAC. 

Hopper, Grace Brewster Murray (1906–1992) 

and John William Mauchly (1907–1980) 

Influence of programming techniques on the 

design of computers, pp. 1250–1254 

Grace Hopper began her computer career with 

Howard Aiken at Harvard, but by this time 

she was a member of the staff of the UNIVAC 

Division of Remington Rand. Mauchly was 

one of the principle designers of ENIAC and 

UNIVAC I. 

Huskey, Harry Douglas (1916–); R. 

Thorenson; B. F. Ambrosio; and E. C. Yowell 

The SWAC - Design features and operating 

experience, pp. 1294–1299 

The authors were the principal figures in 

the creation of SWAC, the National Bureau 

of Standards computer at UCLA, their Los 

Angeles site. By this time, Huskey, who had 

started his career as a member of the ENIAC 

team and had worked at the National Physical 

Laboratory with Alan Turing for a year, was on 

the staff of Wayne University, Detroit. 

King, Gilbert W.; George W. Brown and 

Louis Nicot Ridenour, Jr. (1911–1959) 

Photographic techniques for information 

storage, pp. 1421–1428 

The authors were on staff of the International 

Telemeter Corporation in Los Angeles, the 

parent firm of Telemeter Magnetics, an early 

supplier of magnetic core memories. All the 

authors had distinguished careers: King became 

Director of Research at IBM, Brown was a 

professor at UCLA and UC Irvine, and Ridenour, 

who had edited the MIT Radiation Laboratory 

series of books after the war, became the chief 

scientist for the Air Force. 

Lewis, W. D. 

Electronic computers and telephone switching, 

pp. 1242–1244 

Lewis was an engineer with Bell Telephone 

Laboratories. 

Palevsky, Max 

The design of the Bendix Digital Differential 

Analyzer, pp. 1352–1356 

Palevsky joined Bendix Aviation’s Computer 

Division in 1952. He later founded Scientific 

Data Systems (SDS), which produced the Sigma 

line of computers (later purchased by Xerox to 

form XDS). 

Rajchman, Jan A. (1911–1989) 

A myriabit magnetic-core matrix memory, pp. 

1407–1421 

Rajchman was a pioneer research engineer with 

RCA Laboratories. He was very interested in 

memory systems and designed the Selectron 

memory tubes used on the Johnniac computer. 

Ross, Harold D., Jr. 

The arithmetic element of the IBM Type 701 


Ross was a member of the staff at the IBM 

Engineering Laboratory in Poughkeepsie, NY. 

Rubinoff, Morris 

Analogue vs. digital computers - A 

comparison, pp. 1254–1262 

Rubinoff was an engineer with the Moore School 

of Electrical Engineering at the University of 

Pennsylvania and later a faculty member. 

Samuel, Arthur Lee (1901–1990) 

Computing bit by bit or digital computers 

made easy, pp. 1223–1230 

After an early career at MIT and the University 

of Illinois, Samuel moved to IBM in 1949, 

221

222 



where he remained until retiring in 1966 to take 

a post at Stanford University. He is best known 

for his early work in artificial intelligence, 

particularly the creation of an early checkersplaying 

computer program. 

Serrell, Robert 

Elements of Boolean algebra for the study of 

information-handling systems, pp. 1366–1380 

Serrell was an engineer with the RCA David 

Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton. 

Shannon, Claude Elwood (1916–2001) 

Computers and Automata, pp. 1234–1241 

Shannon was a member of the technical staff 

at Bell Telephone Laboratories. He is best 

remembered for his groundbreaking theoretical 

work on coding and information transmission. 

Shannon, Claude Elwood (1916–2001) and 

Edward F. Moore 

Machine aid for switching circuit design, pp. 

1348–1351 

Both authors were with Bell Telephone 

Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ. 

Sherertz, Paul C. 

Electronic circuits of the NAREC computer, 

pp. 1313–1320 

NAREC, the Naval Research (Laboratory) 

Computer, was just being put into operation at 

the Naval Research Laboratory when this paper 

was written. Sherertz was an engineer on the 

project. 

Thomas, Walker H. 

Fundamentals of digital computer 

programming, pp. 1245–1249 

Walker, from IBM’s Engineering Laboratory 

in Poughkeepsie, NY, presented a short tutorial 

on how to program a simple, hypothetical 

computer. 

Ware, Willis Howard (1920–) 

The logical principles of a new kind of binary 

counter, pp. 1429–1437 

Ware, an engineer with the Rand Corporation, 

was one of the principal designers of the 

Johnniac computer. Here he is reporting on 

work that had been done for the von Neumann 

computer project at the Institute for Advanced 

Study, Princeton. 

Wheeler, David J. (1927– 2004) and James E. 

Robertson 

Diagnostic programs for the Illiac, pp. 1320– 

1325 

Wheeler, working as a graduate student under 

Maurice Wilkes, was a designer of the EDSAC 

computer in Cambridge. He is responsible 

for, among other things, the concept of the 

subroutine jump instruction (initially known as 

the Wheeler Jump). He spent his entire career 

at the University of Cambridge, but at the time 

of this paper, he was on leave working at the 

University of Illinois ILLIAC project. 

Wilkes, Maurice Vincent (1913–) 

Can machines think?, pp. 1230–1234 

B 283


Buchner, Johann Paul Buckley, Arabella Burton 

This is a repeat of a paper by Wilkes that was 

originally published in the May 1953 issue of 

Discovery in London. 


Cover page 

B 284 

Buchner, Johann Paul 

B 284 


Tabula radicum, quadratorum & cuborum, In Welcher 

von allen gegebenen Cubis und Quadratis der Radix bis 

auf 12000 alsofort ohne eintziges Rechnensammt der 

darinnen steckenden surdischen oder irrational-Zahl 

extrahiret zu finden: … 

Year: 1701 


Publisher: Johann Helmers 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: engraved frontispiece; title in red and black 



Collation: A 7 B–Q 8 R 6 


Reference: Not in NUC 

This is a set of tables of squares and cubes of all integers 

from 2 to 12,000. A short introduction provides a few 

examples of the use of the tables. The frontispiece is a 

nicely engraved scene with a cupid figure, indicating 

that the volume of a cubic stone can be determined by 

reference to this book. Although there is a short errata at 

the end of the volume, the tables are replete with other 

errors. Many corrections have been manually entered in 

the tables, sometimes as many as seventeen per page. 



Frontispiece 

Table page with corrections 

B 285 

Buckley, Arabella Burton (1840–1929) 

A short history of natural science 

Year: 1879 

Place: London 

Publisher: Edward Stanford 

Edition: 2nd 


Binding: contemporary buckram leather 

Pagination: pp. xxix, [1], 505, [3] 

Collation: π 15 B–2I 8 2K 6 


B 285 

223

224 


Buckner, Hans Bull, Ludlow 

This is a history of science for use in schools. It is written 

in a simple style matching its intended audience but also 

simplifies some matters more than is, perhaps, justified. 


Title page 

B 286 

Buckner, Hans 

Uber die Entwicklung des Integromat. In Probleme der 

Entwicklung programmgesteuerter rechengeräte und 

Integrieranlagen 

Year: 1953 

Place: Aachen 

Publisher: Rhein-Westf. Technische Hochschule 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: cloth boards; original paper wrappers bound in 

Pagination: pp. [2], XIV, 75, [1], 10 


See entry for Cremer; Probleme der Entwicklung 

programmgesteuerte Rechengeräte …, 1953. 


None 

B 287 

Budelius, Renerus (16th Century) 

De monetis, et re numaria, libri duo 

Year: 1591 

Place: Cologne 

Publisher: Johann Gymnich 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: contemporary limp vellum; boxed 

Pagination: pp. [76], 236, 239–269, [2], 353–614, 619–798 

Collation: … 6 …… 4 ……… 4 à 4 è 4 ì 4 ò 4 ù 4 & 4 A–T 4 V 2 a–o 4 2A–4I 4 4K 2 


Reference: Smi Rara, p. 396; Ada CBCE, #B–3153 

Reiner Budel was director of the Bavarian mint. 

This is the first edition of a well-known massive work 

in the history of economics with particular emphasis 

on the history of money and coinage. It consists of 

two significant chapters written by Budelius followed 

by chapters written by Albertus Brunus, Johannes 

Aquila, Bilibaldus Pirkheymer, Martinus Laudensis and 

several others. The work is difficult to understand and 

illustrations are few. There is a striking bookplate in the 

front cover from Arthur Hugh Smith Barry (with a label 

of Marbury Library at the Barry estates near Cheshire, 

England) and the book label of Robert Honeyman. 


Title page 

B 287 

Bull, Ludlow, editor 

See Chace, Arnold Buffum; The Rhind mathematical 

papyrus, 1929. 

B 288


Bullet, Pierre Burkhardt, Heinrich Friedrich Karl Ludwig 

B 288 

Bullet, Pierre (1639–1716) 

Traite de l’usage du pantometre, instrument 

geometrique, propre à prendre toutes sortes d’angles, 

mezurer les distances accessibles & inaccessibles, 

arpenter & diviser toutes sortes de figures, & c. 

Year: 1675 

Place: Paris 

Publisher: André Pralard 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: engraved half title; woodcut device on title; woodcut 

initials and headpieces; engraved coat of arms printed 

on verso of title; 25 full-page engraved illustrations 

printed in text. 

Binding: contemporary sprinkled leather; gilt spine with raised 

bands 

Pagination: pp. [xxii], 26,187, [5] 

Collation: a 8 e 4 i 8 o 4 AB–PQ 8,4 


Pierre Bullet was a prominent architect and engineer. He 

was responsible for a number of works in Paris, including 

the rebuilding of the Quay le Peletier in 1673. In 1676, 

he published, with Nicolas-François Blondel, a plan of 

Paris showing all of its buildings. 

It seems likely that during his survey of Paris, Bullet 

created the pantometre instrument described in this 

work. It was not unlike many such devices of its day— 

basically three rods hinged together or, like this one, 

one rod capable of sliding on another (see entries for 

Pantometre, B 288 

Danfree, 1597, and Bürgi, 1684). Bullet indicates that 

this version could be purchased from the stock of the 

instrument maker Lemaire in Paris. The work is well 

illustrated, showing the instrument in use for the usual 

types of problems: finding heights of towers, depths of 

wells, breadths of rivers, etc. 

The unusual collation results from the original printed 

sheets having been cut in two unequal portions that were 

separately signed before being bound. 


Title page 

Pantometre instrument 

Instrument in use 

[Burgi, Joost (1552–1632)] 

See Bramer, Benjamin; Dritter Theil oder Anhang 

eines Berichts von M. Johsten Burgi, 1684. 


B 289 

Burkhardt, Heinrich Friedrich Karl Ludwig (1861– 

1914) 

Wie man vor Zeiten rechnete 

Year: 1905 


Publisher: B. G. Teubner 






Burkhardt was a major figure in the manufacture 

of mechanical calculating machines. His factory in 

225

226 


Burks, Arthur Walter Burks, Arthur Walter 

Glashütte was a major supplier of calculating machines 

worldwide. 

This paper describing the early history of calculating 

does not go into any depth but does give examples of 

Greek, Chinese and other numerals as well as illustrating 

a few methods of calculating. 

A four-page 1893 manuscript letter by Burkhardt is laid 

in. 


Front cover 

B 290 

Burks, Arthur Walter (1915–) 

Electronic computing circuits of the ENIAC. In 

Proceedings of the I.R.E., vol. 35, #8, August 1947. 

Year: 1947 



Edition: 1st 


Binding: original journal paper wrappers 




Burks was a member of the ENIAC computer team. 

After the war, he joined John von Neumann at the 

Institute for Advanced Study, then became a professor, 

and later chairman, of the Department of Computer and 

Communication Sciences at the University of Michigan. 

He is also known for his work in logic and the philosophy 

of science. 

This paper describes the circuit elements of the ENIAC. 

It indicates that the rate of circuit failure has only been 

about two or three per week, usually resulting from a 

failure of the heaters in the vacuum tubes. With an 

operator thoroughly familiar with all the details of 

ENIAC design and with the particular problem being 

solved … only a few hours per week are lost on account 

of failures. 


None 

B 291 

Burks, Arthur Walter (1915–) and Jesse B. Wright 

Theory of logical nets. In Proceedings of the I.R.E., vol. 

41, #10, October 1953 

Year: 1953 





Binding: unbound 

Pagination: pp. 1357–1365, [3] 


This is an extract from the Proceedings of the I.R.E. It 

is a technical paper on the design of computer circuits 

using the concept of logical nets. It requires some 

mathematical sophistication to follow the development 

of the theorems. 


First page 

B 292 

B 292 

Burks, Arthur Walter (1915–); Herman Heine 

Goldstine (1913–) and John Von Neumann (1903–1957) 

Preliminary discussion of the logical design of an 

electronic computing instrument. Part I, Volume I 

Year: 1947 

Place: Princeton 

Publisher: Institute for Advanced Study 

Edition: 2nd 


Binding: original printed paper wrappers; back wrapper torn 




This series of reports prepared by Burks, Goldstine and 

von Neumann were some of the most detailed available 

on the construction of a stored program computer and 

were widely circulated among the early computing 

community. This report discusses the general nature of 

the IAS computer; it is divided into sections discussing 

the memory, control, and arithmetic organs of the 

machine. At this time they were still planning to use the 

RCA Selectron memory tube (with 4,000 40-bit words 

of memory); that idea ultimately proved impractical, and 

they switched to the use of a Williams’ tube memory.


Burks, Arthur Walter Burroughs Adding Machine Company 


Title page 

B 293 

Burks, Arthur Walter (1915–); Don B. Warren and 

Jesse B. Wright 

An analysis of a logical machine using parenthesis-free 

notation. In MTAC, April 1954, vol. VIII, No. 46 

Year: 1954 


Publisher: National Research Council 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: library buckram 



In this paper Burks and his co-authors report on the 

use of Lukasiewicz notation (a notation that allows the 

writing of mathematical and logical formulas without 

the use of brackets – often called Polish notation) to use 

as input to a machine for calculating truth values. The 

machine, built by Burroughs, is reported as constructed 

from relays and copes with formulas of ten variables. 

The machine is illustrated by a photograph. 


Photograph of the Burroughs machine 

B 294 

Burroughs Adding Machine Company 

Instructions for operating the Burroughs calculator 

Year: 1941 

Place: Detroit 

Publisher: Burroughs 

Edition: 1st 





This instruction book gives tips on how to make more 

efficient use of the Burroughs calculating machines. 


Title page 

B 295 

Burroughs Adding Machine Company 

The story of figures 

Year: 1950 

Place: Detroit 

Publisher: Burroughs 

Edition: 3rd 





This is a short history of the development of numbers 

and mechanical machines to process them. It begins 

with early systems of numeration, continues through 

individuals such as Blaise Pascal and Charles Babbage, 

and ends, not surprisingly, with several sections on Mr. 

Burroughs and company he founded. 


Title page 

Burroughs logic machine, B 293 B 295 

227

228 


Bush, Vannevar Bush, Vannevar 

B 296 

Bush, Vannevar E. (1890–1974) 

As we may think. In Atlantic Monthly vol. 176, no. 1, 

July 1945 

Year: 1945 

Place: Boston 

Publisher: The Atlantic Monthly Co. 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: library buckram 



Vannevar Bush was one of the most important scientists 

of World War II. He began his career as a professor at 

MIT and eventually became president of that institution. 

While still a professor, he developed the Bush 

Differential Analyzer and was later responsible for the 

creation of the Rockefeller Differential Analyzer (RDA- 

2). During Word War II, he was called upon to head the 

Office of Scientific Research and Development. He was 

responsible for the coordination of over 6,000 scientists 

on war-related projects. 

At the end of the war, with electronic computers and other 

such devices on the horizon, Bush wrote this article on 

the relationship of technology to human activity. It was 

one of the most farsighted statements of what wartime 

developments might bring. In it he proposes a device he 

calls a memex, which would be much like a desk with 

attached information storage and retrieval equipment. 

Initially, Bush suggests that it might be based on a library 

of microfilm, but his vision quickly expands to include 

the indexing of information that could be retrieved at the 

touch of a button. He concludes: 

Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, 

ready-made with a mesh of associative trails 

running through them, ready to be dropped into 

the memex and there amplified. 

This statement, and others like it, reveal that he was 

thinking of things like modern hypertext documents 

with the links that are so common on personal computers 

today. 

Douglas Engelbert, the inventor of the mouse and modern 

graphical interface to computers, has said that Bush’s 

article inspired him and that it was this publication that 

shaped the rest of his life. 


Start of section 8 

B 297 


The differential analyzer. In Journal of the Franklin 

Institute, Philadelphia, PA., vol. 212, No. 4, October 

1931 

Year: 1931 


Publisher: Franklin Institute 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: contemporary black buckram 



While still a professor at MIT, Bush was responsible for 

the development of the torque amplifier, the mechanism 

that made it possible to construct an accurate differential 

analyzer. His machine was ready for use in 1931, and this 

paper not only gives construction details but also shows 

how it might be set up to solve differential equations. 

Torque amplifier, B 297 Differential analyzer, B 297



The Bush differential analyzer (in particular the torque 

amplifier) was copied in many places before World War 

II. The electronic ENIAC was designed as a replacement 

machine when mechanical differential analyzers proved 

too slow to speedily produce ballistic tables for the U.S. 

Army. 


Diagram of torque amplifier 

Photograph of torque amplifier. 

Photograph and diagram of the differential analyzer 

B 298 


Instrumental analysis. In Bulletin of the American 

Mathematical Society Vol. XLII, No. 10, October 1936 

Year: 1936 

Place: Menasha, WI 

Publisher: American Mathematical Society 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: original gray paper wrappers 




This is the text of the twelfth Josiah Willard Gibbs Lecture 

of the American Mathematical Association, which Bush 

was invited to give. He describes various tools for 

calculation, a majority being analog instruments such as 

the harmonic analyzer and optical masks for integrating. 

He begins, however, with a description of punched card 

machinery and the possibilities for calculating using 

tabulating equipment. 


Cover page 

B 299 


Operational circuit analysis 

Year: 1929 


Publisher: John Wiley & Sons 

Edition: 1st 





This is a highly technical book on the analysis of 

electrical circuits. The material is not only applicable 

to electrical circuits but also, by analogy, to acoustics, 

mechanics, hydraulics, etc. 

This work includes an appendix by Norbert Wiener 

(who was then an assistant professor at MIT) on 

Fourier analysis—a system that can be used to break 

down a complex curve into its simple trigonometric 

components. 


Title page 

B 300 


Recent progress in analysing machines. In Proceedings 

of the Fourth International Congress for Applied 

Mechanics, Cambridge, England, July 3rd–9th, 1934 

Year: 1935 



Edition: 1st 




Collation: π 10 1–17 8 18 6 


B 299 

By 1935, Bush was well known for his differential 

analyzer and a recognized expert on machines for solving 

complex mathematical systems. In this lecture Bush 

surveys machines used for producing specific types of 

mathematical results. While mentioning mechanical 

calculation, the main topic is really the machines used for 

solving differential equations and other similar systems. 

229

230 



Bush covers mechanical (including his own differential 

analyzer), electrical and optical devices. 


None 

B 301 


Science. The endless frontier. A report to the President 

Year: 1945 


Publisher: USGPO 

Edition: 1st 





This report was produced by Vannevar Bush, director of 

the Office of Scientific Research and Development, at 

the end of the war. World War II had stimulated a huge 

leap forward in science and technology, and President 

Roosevelt had asked Bush to prepare a report on how 

best to release scientific information developed as part 

of secret military programs. In addition, he was to 

make recommendations about medical research, how to 

further research in the private sector, and how to develop 

a program to find and train the best scientific talent 

among American youth. One of Bush’s most influential 

recommendations was to establish a National Research 

Foundation to fund research in American universities 

and other institutions. 


Title page 

[Bush, Vannevar E.] 

See Zernike, F.; De differentiaal-analysator als 

vorbeeld van een continue machine, 1949. 

B 302 

Bush, Vannevar E. (1890–1974) and Harold Locke 

Hazen (1901–1980) 

Integraph solution of differential equations. In Journal 

of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 204, No. 5, November 

1927 

Year: 1927 



Edition: 1st 


Binding: entire volume 



The Bush integraph was the precursor to his much more 

famous differential analyzer, announced in the pages 

of this same journal in 1931 (see entry for Bush, The 

differential analyzer, 1931). This integraph contained 

two stages of integration, allowing the solution of 

second-order differential equations: the first integrator 

is a Thompson direct-current integrating watt-hour 

meter; the second the more familiar Kelvin, wheel-disk, 

mechanical integrating device. Having not yet developed 

his torque amplifier (used in the Differential Analyzer), 

Bush used servo-motors controlled by relays actuated 

by contacts on the integrators to power the rest of the 

system. 


First page 

General view of the integraph 

Disk-Wheel integrator 

B 301 Disk-wheel integrator, B 302


Bush, Vannevar Buteo, Jean 

B 303 

Bush, Vannevar E. (1890–1974); F. D. Gage and H. R. 

Stewart 

A continuous integraph. In Journal of the Franklin 

Institute, Vol. 203, No. 1, January 1927 

Year: 1927 



Edition: 1st 


Binding: black library buckram 



Integraph, B 302 

This integrating machine was Bush’s first effort at 

producing what would become his Differential Analyzer 

(see Bush, Integraph solution of differential equations, 

1927, and Bush, The differential analyzer, 1931). It 

used a Thompson integrating watt-hour meter as the 

integrating device and had a mechanical multiplier as 

part of the system. 

Mechanical multiplier, B 303 


First page 

Mechanical multiplier photograph 

Mechanical multiplier diagram 

B 304 

Buteo, Jean (1492–CA.1564–1572) 

De quadratura circuli libri duo, ubi multorum 

quadraturæ confutantur, & ab omniium impugnatione 

defenditur Archimedes. Eiusdem, annotationum 

opuscula in errores Campani, Zamberti, Orontij, 

Peletarij, Io. Penæ interpretum Euclidis. 

Year: 1559 

Place: Lyon 

Publisher: Gulielmum Rouillium 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: modern leather 


Collation: a–r 8 s 6 


Reference: Ada CBCE, 3358; DSB II, p. 618 

Buteo (also known as Borrel, Boteo, Butéon, or 

Bateon) was a French monk whose main interest was in 

mathematics and languages. Before he was twenty, he 

was able to read and understand Euclid in the original 

Greek. After studying in Paris under Oronce Fine, he 

returned to the Abbey at St. Antoine, where he wrote 

on scientific subjects but, as far as is known, never 

took pupils. He reputedly calculated, then disputed, the 

ability of Noah’s ark to hold all the animals and stores 

that would have been required. 

In this, an account of the quadrature of the circle, Buteo 

criticizes those who believed that they had found a 

solution, even having harsh words for his teacher, 

Oronce Fine. In the second half, he pointed out errors 

in earlier translations of the works of Euclid and argued 

that it was Euclid himself, and not Theon, who created 

the proofs. 


Title page 

Mechanical multiplier, B 303 

231

B 305 

Butte, Wilhelm 

Grundlinien der Arithmetik des menschlichen Lebens, 

nebst Winken für deren Anwendung auf Geographie, 

Staats - und Natur - Wissenschaft 

232 

Year: 1811 

Place: Landshut 

Publisher: Philipp Krüll 

Edition: 1st 



Binding: half bound, marbled paper boards 

Pagination: pp. xxxiv, [4], 420 

Collation: * 8 ** 8 *** 3 (-***4) 1–26 8 27 2 


Butte was the professor of economics at the Ludwig 

Maximilians University in Landshut, Bavaria. He begins 

by acknowledging earlier authors such as Graunt, 

Malthus, Kersseboom and others, but then claims that 

he is the first to really apply arithmetic and mathematics 

to the study of human life. The work is divided into two 

sections: the first theoretical, the second practical. In 

the first he creates a typology of human development 

(different for males and females), and in the second 

he attempts to apply this to support practical policy 

proposals. He attempts to develop a correlation between 

different world areas, climates, and peoples and proposes 

correct ages for voting, majority, schooling, etc. 


Title page 


Butte, Wilhelm Butterworth, Edmond 

B 304 

B 306 

Butterworth, Edmond (ca.1755–1819) 

B 305 

Butterworth’s young arithmeticians instructor 

containing specimens of writing. With directions for 

attaining in the shortest time a current-hand. Designed 

for the use of schools & private families. 

Year: 1815 


Publisher: Oliver & Boyd 

Edition: 2nd 


Figures: engraved plates, 2 folding 

Binding: contemporary marbled paper boards; recently 

recornered and rebacked 


Collation: 1–6 4 7 2 γ 26 


There were two Edmond Butterworths, a father and 

son. They are difficult to separate, but one or the other 

(perhaps both) was a writing master at Dumfrees 

Academy and Edinburgh High School. It is likely they 

both participated in the production of this work because 

the title page mentions the authors. 

This is a fully engraved textbook on arithmetic and 

commercial practice. It teaches penmanship at the 

same time as arithmetic with examples of simple and 

compound arithmetic, English and Scottish weights and 

measures, and bookkeeping.


Butterworth, Edmond Buxton, Leonard Halford Dudley 

The title shown above is actually from page three, while 

page one states: 

In the following engraved system of arithmetic 

the authors have endeavour’d to combine 

accurate writing, correct figures, and judiscious 

arrangements. They have studied to make the 

rules clear & concise and have given a variety of 

questions calculated to enable the pupil to apply 

them; they have also inserted a sufficient number 

of examples in full under each rule, to save the 

pupil, if thought proper, the trouble of writing 

an account book. The answers to the questions 

will be found correct, it is therefore hoped it will 

inspire a taste for writing, and prove a useful text 

book. 


Title page 1 

Title page 2 

Weights and measures 

Compound addition 

Writing practice 

Business documents 

Title 1, B 306 

B 307 

Buxton, Leonard Halford Dudley (1889–1939) 

Charles Babbage and his difference engines. In 

Transactions of the Newcomen Society, Vol XIV, 1933– 

1934 

Year: 1933 

Place: London 

Publisher: Newcomen 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: original printed gray wrappers 




Buxton’s grandfather, Harry Wilmot Buxton, had been 

a friend of Charles Babbage. Late in life Babbage 

had entrusted H. W. Buxton with the job of writing his 

biography, and Buxton had accumulated a number of 

papers and artifacts with that end in mind. L. H. Dudley 

Buxton, a reader in physical anthropology at Oxford, had 

inherited those papers and used them to prepare this talk 

to the Newcomen Society. In the course of the talk, he 

mentioned that his grandfather had actually written the 

requested biography of Babbage but that it had never 

been published and that the manuscript was still in 

the old cowhide trunk with all the other papers. It was 

another fifty years before this manuscript was published 

as Memoir of the life and labours of the late Charles 

Babbage Esq. F.R.S., Volume 13 in the Charles Babbage 

Institute Reprint Series for the History of Computing. 

This talk to the Newcomen Society describes Babbage’s 

work on the Difference Engine, with an occasional 

Title 2, B 306 Journal cover, B 307 

233

234 


Byrne, Oliver Byrne, Oliver 

mention of the Analytical Engine. Leslie Comrie was 

in the audience and remarked that it was now possible 

to obtain commercial machines that would do the job of 

Babbage’s Difference Engine. He had recently ordered a 

National Cash Register Company National accounting 

machine that could be used in that manner. Comrie was 

to use that machine to produce and check many different 

sets of tables. 


First page 

B 308 

Byrne, Oliver (1810–1880) 

B 308 

Byrne’s timber and log book, ready reckoner and price 

book, for lumber dealers and ship builders, merchants 

and traders, farmers and drovers, and all others 

engaged in buying or selling at either wholesale or 

retail. 

Year: 1878 


Publisher: The American News Company, Orange Judd 

Company 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: printed paper boards 

Pagination: pp. [5], 5–178, [1] 


Little factual information seems to be available on 

Oliver Byrne’s life, though he published more than 

twenty volumes and is described variously in them. 

According to one or another of his publications, Byrne 

was Surveyor-General of the Falkland Islands, Professor 

of Mathematics in the College for Civil Engineers, 

Consulting Actuary to the Philanthropic Life Assurance 

Society etc. etc. etc. DeMorgan (A Budget of Paradoxes, 

1872, pp. 199–200) is scathing about an item written by 

Byrne in which he attempts to use mathematical symbols 

to prove statements in the creed of St. Athanasius. 

This volume, unlike several of Byrne’s other works, has 

nothing to do with dual arithmetic but is a standard ready 

reckoner for the timber trade. One unusual item, not 

encountered in other ready reckoners, is a table listing the 

statutes of limitations for assaults, slanders, judgements, 

etc. for each state in the U.S. and for Ontario and Quebec 

in Canada. Perhaps, given his somewhat checkered 

career, Byrne had experience in such matters. 


Title page 

B 309 


B 309 

Byrne’s treatise on navigation and nautical astronomy 

Year: 1877 

Place: London 

Publisher: Richard Bentley & Son 

Edition: 2nd





Pagination: pp. Iii–xvi, iii–vi, 5–218, 464, [4 adverts] 

Collation: π 9 A–L 4 a–p 4 q 3 A–Z 8 2A–2F 8 γ 2 



In this volume Byrne continues to stress his dual 

arithmetic system (see Byrne; Dual Arithmetic, 1867), 

but this time it is couched in terms of navigation. The 

first half of the text presents his dual arithmetic, while 

the second is an elementary work on navigation showing 

the examples demonstrating its use. He includes two 

large tables of Byrne’s Numbers as well as several other 

trigonometric tables. 


Title page 

B 310 


Dual arithmetic. A new art. 

B 310 

Year: 1863 

Place: London 

Publisher: Bell and Daldy 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: original cloth boards, faded 

Pagination: pp. xl, 246 (misnumbered 246 as 244), 22 


Collation: π 4 a 2 b–d 4 e 2 B–2H 4 2I 3 A 11 

In this work, Byrne proposes a new method of performing 

mental arithmetic that involves breaking numbers down 

into the form a1.1 b 1.01 c 1.001 d …and then operating on 

the quantities a, b, c, d, etc. to find the answer. DeMorgan 

is anything but complimentary in his judgment of the 

dual arithmetic proposal. It does, however, indicate the 

lengths to which some practitioners will go in attempting 

to ease the labor inherent in doing arithmetic. 


Title page 

B 311 


B 311 

The essential elements of practical mechanics, based 

on the principle of work; designed for engineering 

students.. 

Year: 1867 

Place: London 

Publisher: E. & F. N. Spon 

Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp.xii, 360 

Collation: π 4 a 2 B–Z 8 2A 4 


While this work does deal with mechanics, it is little 

more than a tract promoting Byrne’s dual arithmetic. 


Title page 

B 312 


The geometry of compasses or problems resolved by 

235

236 



the mere description of circles, and the use of coloured 

diagrams and symbols.. 

Year: 1877 

Place: London 

Publisher: Crosby, Lockwood, and Co. 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: frontispiece figure in red and black, 36 full-page 

figures (19 in color) 


Pagination: pp. iv, [74] 

Collation: A–D 8 E 7 


In this work Byrne demonstrates the solution of several 

geometric problems by the use of the compass. Of major 

interest is the use of color to illustrate the different 

compass radii and movements. This may be regarded 

as an extension of Byrne’s most successful book, The 

first six books of the elements of Euclid, in which colored 

diagrams and symbols are used instead of letters for 

the greater ease of learners. London, 1847 (not in the 

collection). 


Title page 

Frontispiece 

B 312 

B 313 


Mechanics: Their principles and practical applications 

Year: 1853 


Publisher: De Witt & Davenport 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: original gilt-pictorial cloth boards; gilt spine faded 


Collation: 1 4 1* 8 -7 4 7* 8 8 4 8* 3 


In this work Byrne describes himself as a civil, military, 

and mechanical engineer. He points out that there are 

already a great many books describing mechanical 

devices; his has the advantage that it stands in the same 

relation to the execution of works, and the construction 

of machines, as Descriptive Geometry stands to the 

drawing of machines. Once the reader has attempted 

to digest that boast, he or she is treated to a complex 

jumble of physical principles in the rest of the volume. 

While Byrne certainly does describe simple mechanical 

devices such as the lever, pulley and gears, the examples 

given are seldom the practical applications of the title. 

They often refer to hypothetical falling balls, balancing 

of eggs, etc. When Byrne does consider more practical 

problems, he assumes idealized conditions. For example, 

he notes that the inclined plane must be considered to be 

a perfectly hard, smooth, inflexible surface … and other 

such less than realistic considerations. 


Title page 

Book binding, front gilt 

Frontispiece, B 312



B 314 


The pocket companion for machinists, mechanics, and 

engineers. 

Year: 1851 


Publisher: Dewitt & Davenport 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: 2 large folding tables; 3 engraved folding plates 

Binding: contemporary morocco leather wallet with inscribed 

flap; gilt edges; marbled endpapers 


Collation: 1 4 1* 8 -6 4 6* 8 

Size: 150 x 98 mm 

Oliver Byrne was certainly an unusual personality. It is 

of interest to note the different ways he describes himself 

on the title pages of his books. In this one he lists himself 

as Professor of Mathematics, College of Civil Engineers, 

London, Surveyor-General of Her Majesty’s Settlements 

in the Falkland Islands and the author of several books. 

This pocket companion appears to be another of Byrne’s 

eclectic collections of information. It contains items such 

as a description of what a plus sign indicates, the values 

of various Roman numerals, the first five hundred prime 

numbers, weights of malleable iron, tables of expansion 

of liquids at various temperatures and the dimensions of 

the rings of Saturn. 


Title page 

B 313 

B 315 


The practical model calculator, for the engineer, 

mechanic, machinist, manufacturer of engine-work, 

naval architect, miner, and millwright. 

Year: 1866 


Publisher: Henry Carey Baird 

Edition: 1st 



Pagination: pp. 3–494, 85, [1], 583–591, [3], 24 pp. catalogue 

Collation: A 6 (-A6) B–V 6 W 6 X–Z 6 2A–2G 6 25–37 8 



This is Byrne’s largest collection of miscellaneous 

tables of information. He had been developing tables of 

this nature for nearly forty years. There is no table of 

contents, but the work does have an index through which 

one could access the hundreds of different tables and 

formulae it contains. There is also a very large section 

on the steam engine and another on ship building and 

naval architecture. 


Title page 

B 316 


B 314 

Practical, short, and direct method of calculating 

the logarithm of any number, and the number 

corresponding to any given logarithm. 

237

238 



Year: 1849 


Publisher: D. Appleton & Co 

Edition: 1st 


Binding: original cloth boards; embossed cover; gilt spine 

Pagination: pp. xxiv, 13–82, [2] 


Collation: [A] 12 B 4 B* 8 -D 4 D* 8 

Like other publications by Byrne, this is a work carried 

to the extreme. In it he shows a method of calculating 

any logarithm for any number. While Byrne’s innovation 

is correct, the approach is completely impractical, 

particularly when a standard table of logarithms is so 

easy to use. In the introduction Byrne points out, as a 

curiosity, eight numbers that have the same digits as their 

logarithms. 

A second copy of this item is available in the collection. 


Title page 

8 numbers and their logarithms 

B 316 

B 317 


Tables of dual logarithms, dual numbers, and 

corresponding natural numbers; with proportional 

parts of differences for single digits and eight 

places of decimals. Tables of angular magnitudes, 

trigonometrical lines, and differences graded to the 

hundredth part of a second for single digits. 

Year: 1867 

Place: London 

Publisher: Bell and Daldy 

Edition: 1st 


Figures: ff.1–54 printed in red 

Binding: contemporary green crushed morocco; blind and 

gilt fillets round sides and in spine compartments; gilt 

edges; marbled end papers 

Pagination: pp. vi, 7–40, [2], 74, [2], 38, [2], 90 

Collation: A–D 4 E 5 B–K 4 L 1 1–5 4 a 1 b–m 4 n 1 


These tables were designed to accompany Byrne’s 

system of Dual Arithmetic (see entry for Byrne, 1863). 

An unusual characteristic of the tables (other than their 

odd, impractical, nature) is that some tables have been 

printed in red to ensure that the user will consult the 

correct one. 


Title page 

Red table page 

Logarithm table, B 316 B 317


Byrne, Oliver Byron, Augusta Ada, Lady Lovelace 

B 318 


The young dual arithmetician: Or, dual arithmetic. A 

new art, designed for elementary instruction and the 

use of schools. To which are added, tables of ascending 

and descending dual logarithms, dual numbers and 

corresponding natural numbers. 

Year: 1871 

Place: London 

Publisher: E. & F. N. Spon 

Edition: 2nd 


Binding: original cloth boards; silt stamped front cover 

Pagination: pp. [iii–xii], 144, [2], 32, [2], [33–58] 

Collation: π 5 B–H 12 I 6 c 12 


Reference: Hend BTM, #209, p. 187 

See entry for Byrne, Dual arithmetic, 1863. In the 

preface, Byrne immodestly describes his system of dual 

arithmetic as a branch of greater importance has not 

been contributed to mathematical science. This work, a 

promotional item for dual arithmetic, would have been 

most difficult for anyone to use, let alone the young 

students of different capacities to which this book was 

addressed. A table of ascending and descending dual 

logarithms is printed at the end of the work—ascending 

logarithms in black and descending ones in red. 


Title page 

B 318 

Byron, Augusta Ada, Lady Lovelace (1815–1852), 

translator 

See Menabrea, Luigi Federico; Sketch of the 

Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage, 

Esq.… with notes by the translator. Extract from 

the ‘Scientific Memoirs’ vol. iii 

From Boissiere; L’ art d’arythmetique, 1554 

239

240 


Blundeville; Exercises, 1594

B chapter.indd - Charles Babbage Institute - University of Minnesota

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