The Construction and Principal Uses of Mathematical Instruments.

The most important book on scientific instruments. First English language edition of 'the most famous book devoted to instruments' of the eighteenth century (Knight, Sources for the History of Science 1660-1914, p. 202), written by the instrument maker to Louis XIV and first published in French in 1709.

Nicolas Bion (1652-1733) was 'a master of his craft with an excellent working technique' whose workshop 'must have been one of the most frequented of his period. While his colleagues tended to specialise in the making of globes, mathematical instruments, sun-dials, or mechanical devices, Bion was able to supply all these articles, whatever they might be, of excellent quality... Unique among his fellow instrument makers in this respect, he wrote several books which achieved great success, and perhaps contributed even more than his instruments, to making his name' (Daumas, Scientific Instruments of the 17th & 18th Centuries, p. 79).

The present volume 'gives a fairly exhaustive survey of the instruments which a workshop in the first quarter of the eighteen the century was able to offer its clients... The book was intended for the amateur public and its success was due to both the widespread interest shown in mechanics and astronomy, and to the fact that it was adapted to the practical needs of land surveyors and military engineers' (Knight p. 80). The translator of this edition, Edmund Stone (1695?-1768), was a self-taught mathematician who made a number of important translations of French works, including the standard textbook on Leibniz's differential calculus (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).

First English language edition; folio (34.5 x 22 cm); 25 engraved folding plates, tables within the text, woodcut head and tail-pieces and decorative initials, small contemporary pen mark to the front free endpaper, 20th century manuscript note taped to the front pastedown, 20th century bookseller's label tipped-in on the rear pastedown, some spotting and toning to the plates, heavy foxing of the final 8 leaves of text; contemporary calf rebacked with the original spine laid down, red morocco label, edges of text block speckled in red, corners repaired, boards scuffed and marked, very good condition; 264pp.