Abbott, W.J.
A Manual of the Decimal System for the Use of Jewelers etc.
London, J.&R. Maxwell
1879
Title page loose
ID: #B1566.01
LOC: CHM
Abdank-Abakanowicz
Les Intégraphes
Paris, Gauthier-Villars
1886
Poor condition
ID#: B1551.01 (marked B187.87 and B395.87)
LOC: CHM
The integraph is a noteworthy development in the history of calculating instruments. While the principle on which it is based was introduced by Coriolis in 1836, it was in 1878 that Abdank-Abakanowitz first developed a practical working model. The integraph is an elaboration and extension of the planimeter, an earlier, simpler instrument used to measure area. It is a mechanical instrument capable of deriving the integral curve corresponding to a given curve. Hence, it is capable of solving graphically a simple differential equation.
Sets of partial differential equations are commonly encountered in mathematical physics. Most branches of physics such as aerodynamics, electricity, acoustics, plasma physics, electron-physics and nuclear energy involve complex flows, motions and rates of change which maybe described mathematically by partial differential equations. A well-established example from electromagnetics is the set of partial differential equations known as Maxwell's equations.
In practice, differential equations can be difficult to integrate, that is to solve. The integraph is capable of solving only simple differential equations. The need to handle sets of more complex non-linear differential equations, led Vannevar Bush to develop the Differential Analyzer at MIT in the early 1930s. In turn, limitations in speed, capacity and accuracy of the Bush Differential Analyzer provided the impetus for the development of the ENIAC during World War II.
Abdank-Abakanowicz’s instrument could produce solutions to a commonly encountered class of simple differential equations of the form dy/dx = F(x) so that y = ò F(x)dx. The basic approach was to draw a graph of the function F and then use the pointer on the device to trace the contour of the function. The value of the integral could then be read from the dials. The concept of the instrument was taken up and soon put into production by such well known instrument makers as the Swiss firm of Coradi in Zurich.
Adler, A.
Fünfstellige Logarithmen
Leipzig
1909
ID#: B1617.01
LOC: CHM
Ainslie, John
The Gentlemen and Farmer's Pocket Companion and Assistant
Edinburgh, J. Brown
1802
ID#: B1619.01
LOC: CHM
Archibald, Raymond Clare
Mathematical Table Makers
The Scripta Mathematica Studies #3
1948
Good condition
ID#: B1568.01
LOC: CHM
Raymond Clare Archibald was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, and attended university there, studying both mathematics and violin. After further study at Harvard and Berlin, he earned his doctorate in mathematics at Strassburg. Becoming professor of mathematics at Brown University in 1908, he remained there until retirement. R.C.A., as he was known to many, was the last chairman of the Committee on Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation (1939-1949), and the founder and editor of the journal Mathematical tables and other aids to computation (MTAC).
This volume is a collection of biographies and bibliographies of mathematical tables makers. It originally appeared, less three entries, in Scripta Mathematica in 1946. Information, and occasional portraits, are provided on 53 of the most famous mathematical table makers.
Tables were one of the main tools used in scientific computation until the invention of the computer and table makers were one of the first casualties of computer automation. Table makers were the impetus behind the automation of table making from Babbage to Comrie to Aiken. Several early programmers came from the ranks of table making projects and numerical analysis and computer science owes a significant debt to them.
Arthur, William
Appraisers’ and Adjusters’ Handbook
1st edition, second issue
1924
New York, U.P.C. Book Co. Inc.
Good condition
ID#: B1543.01
LOC: CHM
Asimov, Isaac
An Easy Introduction to the Slide Rule
Fawcett Premier 1965, paperback 1967
ID#: B1667.01
LOC: CHM
Aspin, Jehoshaphat
Ede's Gold and Silversmiths' Calculator
London, Turner and Co.
ID#: 1005.98
LOC: CHM
Babbage, Charles
On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures
London, Charles Knight
1832, first edition
Inscribed "To Sir Edward Ryan from his friend the author" (Ryan was, I believe, Babbage's brother-in-law)
ID# B264.83
LOC: CHM
This is one of Babbage’s major works. It established him as a major influence in the field of economics. The material was first published in the Encyclopedia Metropolitana in 1829 and then as this volume. It went through many editions and was translated into the major European languages. Babbage added minor items from one edition to the next, but essentially the material was all present in this first edition. The first half is devoted to the examination of the process of manufacturing and the second to more “macro-economic” considerations. It was due to this work that Babbage has been referred to as the father of operations research.
Babbage, Charles
Passages From the Life of a Philosopher
London, Longman, Green
1864, 1st edition
Hinges cracked
ID#: B223.82
LOC: CHM
This autobiographical work includes the history of both the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine. Also covered are his many other inventions and contributions including: the speedometer, the cowcatcher, encoded lighthouse signaling, and what is today known as operations research.
Babbage, Charles
Table of Logarithms of the Natural Numbers from 1 to 108,000
Stereotyped edition
London, 1889
Dedication page to Lieutenant-Colonel Colby of the Royal Engineers
ID#: B1681.01
LOC: CHM
Barreme
Comptes-Faits de Barreme en Francs et Centrimes
Paris, Limoges
N/d
ID#: B1572.01
LOC: CHM
Barreme was a native of Lyons who founded a commercial school in Paris. He was 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 or numerical tables in general and they are known by the name Barème in France today. While they were both popular and produced long after Barreme died, editions predating 1700 are very rare.
Barreme
Compte-Faits de Barreme ou Tarif General Dedie...
Jean Geofroy nyon sur le quay de Conty
1710
ID#: B1574.01
LOC: CHM
Barreme
Les Comptes Faits
1723
nice title page showing merchant
ID#: B1616.01
LOC: CHM
Barreme
Le Livre des Comptes Faits
Avignon
1748
ID#: B1014.98
LOC: CHM
Barreme
Le Livre Necessaire pour les Comptables
Paris
1756
Poor condition
ID#: B1601.01
LOC: CHM
Barreme
Le Livre des Comptes-Faits
Paris, Babuty Fils
1768
ID#: B1573.01
LOC: CHM
Barreme
Le Livre des Comptes-Faits
Rouen
1785
ID#: B1607.01
LOC: CHM
Barreme
Le Livre des Comptes-Faits
Lyon
1807
ID#: B1621.01
LOC: CHM
de Beauclair, W.
Rechen Mit Maschinen
Braunschweig, Vieweg & Sohn
1968
Forward by Konrad Zuse, signature of Gordon Bell
565 photos
ID#: B330.78
LOC: CHM
Berkeley, edmund c.
Brainiac manuals, contains: Geniacs, Simple
Electric Brain Machines and How to Make Them, 1955;
Tyniacs, Tiny Electric Brain Machines and How to
Make Them, 1956; Brainiacs, the 1958 Experiements,
1958; How to Go From Brainiacs and Geniacs to
Automatic Computers, 1958; Brainiacs, Materials in the
Kit and How to Assemble Them, 1966; Brainiacs
Introduction and Explanation, 1959; and How to
Assemble Brainiacs by Dorothy Zinck, 1959.
1955-1966
Berkeley Enterprises, Inc.
ID#: B1677.01
LOC: CHM
Bessel, Friderico Wilhelmo
Tabulae Regiomontanae Reductionum Observationum Astronomicarum ab anno 1750 usque ad annum 1850
1830
Royal Greenwich Observatory binding
ID#: B369.86
LOC: CHM
First edition, 8vo, pp. (Iv), lxiii, (i), 542, errata, verso lank; foxed; blue library buckram, from the Royal Greenwich Observatory, release stamp on end paper.
The star positions given for one century, constitute the first modern reference system for the measurement of the positions of the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars, and for many decades the Konigsberg tables were used as ephemeerrides. With their aid, all observations of the sun, moon, and planets made since 1750 at the Royal Greenwich Observatory could be reduced; and thus these observations could be used for the theories of planetary orbits.
Bidder, George P.
Bidder's Tables
One large folding table bound in covers giving volumes of excavations etc.
ID#: B1609.01
LOC: CHM
Bigelow, Jacob, M.D.
Elements of Technology
1829
Original cloth‑covered boards with original paper label, uncut. With a large folding, engraved frontispiece + 10 engraved plates (6 folding) + 11 woodcut plates (1 folding) + many text figs. Spine somewhat worn and repaired, cloth partially faded and frayed at edges
ID#: B246.82
LOC:
Jacob Bigelow (1786‑1879) was appointed in 1816 to the chair which Count Rumford had endowed at Harvard for the instruction of the application of the sciences to the useful arts, a first attempt to create a meeting ground for self‑made inventors and academic scientists. There being no good name for such a field, Bigelow coined for it the name ‘technology’, which has passed into common language.
Bion, N. (translated by Edward Stone)
The Construction and Principle Uses of Mathematical Instruments
London
1723
ID#: B18.78
LOC: CHM
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. He was very famous, but it is difficult to determine if his fame rests on the quality of his instruments or because he wrote this respected book. Only a few of his original instruments appear to have survived.
The work is encyclopedic and gives descriptions of the mathematical instruments commonly available at the beginning of the 18th 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: rulers, and protractors; 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”); the compass (including both proportional compass and beam compass); surveying devices (quadrants, chords, chains, and sighting devices); water levels and gunner’s instruments (gunner’s compass and quadrant); astronomical instruments (large quadrants and micrometers for measuring); navigational instruments, including, for example, the Jacob’s staff, and the mariner’s quadrant which were, by then, no longer in use; sundials of all forms at all orientations, the nocturnal, and a water clock.
The volume was intended for the instrument user rather than the instrument maker. The description of several devices (optical and micrometer instruments in particular) are lacking in detail which 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.
Edmund Stone (ca. 1700- 1768), 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 he 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 and provided him with employment that would allow time for study. Stone became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1725. The patronage continued until the Duke’s death in 1743 when Stone lived in poverty (he had to resign his Fellowship in the Royal Society at the time) and eventually died a pauper.
According to the translator’s preface 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 actually a translation of the second (1716) edition of Bion. It includes the additional chapters on fortification, and the pendulum clock from that edition. This translation appeared at the same time as Bion’s third French edition.
Bion (Edward Stone translator)
Construction and Use of Mathematical Instruments (Holland reprint)
This is the reprint done about 1981 of the original edition
ID#: B18.78b
LOC: CHM
Blackie and Son
The Agriculturists Calculator: A Series of Tables...
London
No spine
ID#: B1023.98
LOC: CHM
Bois, G. Petit (Ingénieur Civil des Mines)
Tables d’Intégrales Indéfinies
Paris, Gauthier-Villars
1906
ID#: B1579.01
LOC: CHM
Boole, George
A Treatise on the Calculus of Finite Differences
Cambridge, Macmillan Co.
1860
ID#: B247.82
LOC: CHM
George Boole was the son of a cobbler whose hobby was mathematics and lens grinding. The father encouraged the son to study mathematics but the family’s financial situation prevented him from obtaining anything except an elementary education. George studied on his own and quickly mastered Latin, Greek, and several European languages as well as mathematics. 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 famous 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 manage to overcome the difficulties that arise 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 and had indicated that logic was the realm of the philosopher and that mathematics was dangerous and useless. Boole, by using Hamilton’s own arguments, showed that logic was not part of philosophy. He then proceeded to study if 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, indeed it would be impossible to design even a simple electronic computer without using these techniques.
This work contains material for which George Boole was well known in his lifetime. It is now so completely overshadowed by his contributions to mathematical logic as to be almost forgotten.
Booth, David
The Tradesman, Merchant, and Accountants Assistant
London, George Cowie & Co.
1821
ID#: B1598.01
LOC: CHM
Bottomley, J.T.
Four Figure Mathematical Tables
Macmillan & Co.
1910
ID#: B1561.01
LOC: CHM
Bottemley, J.T.
Four Figure Mathematical Tables
London
1918
Signature of L.M. Milne-Thomson
ID#: B1586.01
LOC: CHM
Bowden, B. V. (edited by)
Faster than Thought
Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., London
1953
ID#: B257.82
LOC: CHM
Briggs, Henry (Vlacq, A.)
Arithmetica Logarithmica
London
1624
disbound
ID#: B277.82
LOC: CHM
Henry Briggs graduated from Oxford with an MA 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 saw the value of logarithms 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 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 next year. In 1617 Briggs supervised the printing of a translation, produced by Edward Wright who had died shortly after finishing it, of Napier’s work. In a preface to this translation he justifies the changes 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 used a number of critical logarithms for 0, 101/2, 103/4, etc to calculate the others. Briggs wrote a preface in which he explained how to use the logs 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 and a method of calculating logarithms by interpolation from differences. The missing 70 chiliads were included in the second edition of this work published by Adrian Vlacq in 1628, although Briggs had nearly completed the calculations by this time 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 6 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 in another issue in this collection (see entry for Briggs, Arithmetica Logarithmica, 1624 – another issue).
These logarithms, together with those of Vlacq mentioned above, form the basis from which almost all other tables were produced. At the end of the 18th century the French produced the Tables du Cadastre which were only available in manuscript form (see entry for Prony). Towards the end of the 19th century, Mr. Sang published a seven-figure table of logarithms for numbers up to 200,000, the last half of which was a new calculation. With these two exceptions, all other pre-20th century tables were simply edited copies of the original Briggs and Vlacq computations (see the entry for Charles Babbage, Notice respecting some errors common to many tables of logarithms, 1829).
Brooks, Frederick P. Jr.
The Mythical Man-Month
Essays on Software Engineering
ID#: B1685.01
LOC: CHM
Brown, Ernest W. and Drouwer, Dirk
Tables for the Development of the Distribution Function with Schedules for Harmonic Analysis
Cambridge University Press
1933
ID#: B1588.01
LOC: CHM
Brown, J. (improved by John Wallace)
Mathematical Tables (logs etc)
Edinburgh
1815 (3ed edition ?)
ID#: B1604.01
LOC: CHM
Bruhns
A New Manual of Logarithms
Van Nostrand
1909 (8th edition)
poor condition – spine loose
ID#: B1533.01
LOC: CHM
Burdwood, John (revised by Percy L. H. Davies)
Sun's True Bearing or Azimuth Tables
London
1923, 2ed edition
ID#: B1620.01
LOC: CHM
Burrau, Carl
Tafeln der Funictionen Cosinus un Sinus
Berlin, Verlag von Georg Reimer
1907
ID#: B1576.01
LOC: CHM
Burington, Richard Stevens
Handbook of Mathematical Tables and Formulas
1950
USA
See B287.55
ID#: B44.79
LOC: CHM
Burington, Richard Stevens
Handbook of Mathematical Tables and Formulas
Handbook Publishers, Inc. Sandusky, Ohio
Reprinted with corrections, 1953
Gordon Bell's book with cigarette burn
ID#: B287.55 (Marked B282)
LOC: CGB
Burritt, Elijah Hinsdale
Logarithmick Arithmetick – to be used in schools in New England
Williamsburgh
1818
ID#: B1594.01
LOC: CHM
Byrne, Oliver
Practical, Short, & Direct Method of Calculating the Logarithm of Any Given Number
New York, Applaton & Co.
1849
Good condition, presentation copy to Franklin Institute 3, May 1851
ID#: B1545.01
LOC: CHM
Byrne, according to another of his publications, 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, like other publication by Byrne, is an extreme example. In it he shows a method of calculating any logarithm for any number. While it would work, the system is completely impractical, particularly when a table of logarithms is so easy to use. In the introduction he points out a curiousity where eight numbers have the same digits as their logarithms.
Callet, Francois
Tables Portatives des Logarithmes
Paris
1795 an III (Tirage 1806)
ID#: B1560.01
LOC: CHM
This is a table with a decimal subdivision of the circle (the French attempt to reform trionometry after the revolution to make it metric) The logarithms are a report of Gardner’s 1742 tables.
Back off – held on with rubber band.
Callet, who was distantly related to Rene Descartes, held a number of teaching positions in smaller French towns but eventually became a teacher of mathematics in Paris. He is best know for the tables that he edited.
This is an edition of Gardiner's 1742 tables. These were widely regarded as being highly accurate but they were only produced in small print runs and were difficult to locate. Gardiner’s original tables were published in a larger format (see entries for Gardner) described by Callet as “équivalent à un petit in-folio”. This French edition was designed to provide them both at less cost and in a smaller format that would be easier to use.
Capra, Balthasar
Vsvs et Fabrica Circini Cvivsdam Proportionis, per quem omnia fere tum Euclidis, tum Mathematicorum omnium problemate facili negotio refoluunter
H.E. de Duccijs, Bononiae (Bologna) 1655
Italy, 1st Ed., Modern leather binding and use,
86 pages, many text woodcuts including a full page one of the sector.
ID#: B334.85
LOC: CHM
The author (1580‑1626) an Italian astronomer and philosopher is best known for his challenge of Galileo as the inventor of the compass of proportion or sector. This book was written in 1607 although not published until 1655 after Galileo’s first disclosure about 1598.
carrera, roland; lioseau, dominique; roux, oliver
Androids, the Jaquet-Droz Automatons
Scriptar and Franco Maria Ricci
In box with score and music of Jaquet-Droz automation
1979
ID#: B1519.01
LOC: CHM
Cavalerio, Bonaventura
Trigonometria Plana, et Sphaerica, Linearis, & Logarithmica
1643
(first half appears to have been cleaned but last half does not)
ID#: B1006.98
LOC: CHM
Cavalieri considered himself a disciple of Galileo and, although they seldom met, there are 112 letters from him to Galileo published in the Opere di Galileo. He was ordained in his late teens and was moved by his religious superiors to many different places in Italy, eventually becoming a prior of a convent in Bologna. This position gave him the leisure he needed for his mathematical studies and he published a number of mathematical works while there. Although he is known as an astrologer, he stated that he did not believe in the predictions, however this may well have been to placate his supervisors rather than any real statement of truth. While in Bologna he developed a mathematical technique (method of indivisibles) which was a step towards the eventual creation of the calculus. He is credited with the introduction of logarithms into Italy.
This is a treatise on plane and spherical trigonometry with, as was usual for Cavalieri, tables of logarithms. The table combines standard trigonometric values with logarithmic ones in what he terms a “Canon Duplex” (double table) that was well laid out for its day. Logarithms of numbers are simply for the first chiliad.
Cavalieri uses the preface to this volume to refute criticism of his method of indivisibles by Paul Guldin a Jesuit scholar. The frontispiece shows the goddess Trigonometria opening the door to show the various applications of the art.
Chambers
Mathematical Tables
1860
ID#: B1021.98
LOC: CHM
Collins, Thomas
The Complete Ready Reckoner in Miniature
London, B. Crosby & Co.
1802
poor condition
ID#: B1026.98
LOC: CHM
Collins, Thomas
The Complete Ready Reckoner in Miniature
1816
ID#: B1525.01
LOC:
collyer & son (publisher)
Square Measure at a Glance: Collyer's Tables for Calculating Superficial Areas
1879 (from preface)
Good condition
ID#: B1564.01
LOC: CHM
Compton, Karl Taylor
A Scientist Speaks
Excerpts from addresses by Karl Taylor Compton
during the years 1930-1949 when he was President of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT, 1955
ID#: B1680.01
LOC: CHM
Cooper, Henry O.
Instruction for the use of A.W. Faber “Castell” Precision Calculating Rules
A.W. Faber, “Castell” Pencil Works, Ltd.,
ca 1935, Germany, Grey and red cover
ID#: 196.91
LOC: CHM
Courtney, John
The Boilermaker's Ready Reckoner
London
1882
disbound
ID#: B1580.01
LOC: CHM
Courtney, John (revised by D. Kinnear Clark)
The Boilermaker's Ready Reckoner
London, Crosby Lockwood & Son
1902
ID#: B1618.01
LOC: CHM
Crelle, A.L.
Calculating Tables Giving the Products of Every 2 Numbers from 1 to 1000
Berlin
1923
New edition by O. Seeliger
Title page loose, signed by L.M. Milne-Thomson. Contains a loose sheet "Royal Naval College Session 1955-56 Summer Examination Final Officers qualifying in gunnery mathematics".
A translation of Crelle's work from 1907
ID#: B1624.01
LOC: CHM
Crelle was a self taught mathematician, although he did obtain a Ph.D from the University of Heidelberg in 1816 for a thesis he submitted on calculation. He is best known for founding the Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik (better known as Crelle’s Journal) in 1826 and editing 52 volumes. He was responsible for the creation of many new roads in his position with the Prussian government. He was also responsible for the construction of a rail line from Berlin to Potsdam. In 1828 he moved to the Minsitry of Education and became an advisor on the teaching of mathematics.
This book is a very large multiplication table that became one of the standard tables for calculation. It was reprinted many times, the last being in 1954. It gives the products of all integers up to 1000 and can be used for multiplying and dividing much larger numbers. Two additional tables give the square and cubes of the integers.
Cubik-Tabelle (nach Maurach)
Fold-Out Tables
ID#: B1577.01
LOC: CHM
Cullyer, John
The Gentleman's & Farmer's Assistant
1839, 11th edition
ID#: B1602.01
LOC: CHM
Nothing is known about the author.
This ready reckoner was first published in the late 1700s (2ed edition in 1798) and went through at least 12 editions before 1848. It begins with a short description of how any irregularly shaped piece of land may be subdivided into regular figures in order to establish the area. The largest table gives the area of any rectangular piece of land from the measurements of the sides (from 1 to 500 yards).
Culum, W.
Cullum's Calculator for Jewelers etc.
1907 or later
ID#: B1597.01
LOC: CHM
Cutler, Ann and McShane, Rudoph (translated and adapted by)
The Trachtenberg Speed System of Basic Mathematics
ID#: B255.82
LOC:
Day, B.H.
Day's American Ready Reckoner
New York
1866 (copyright)
ID#: B310.84
LOC: CHM
Little is known about the author.
The book contains “tables for rapid calculations of agreegate values, wages, salaries, board, interest money, timber, plank, board, wood, and land measures with explanations of the proper methods of calculating them, and simple rules for measuring land. These tables are wholly original and have been carefully revised by an expert mathematician.”
de Morin, H.
Les Appareils d"Integration Integrateurs Simples et Composes
Paris, 1913
ID#: B397.87
LOC: CHM
Dessain, H.
Recherches sur La Telegraphie Electrique par Michel Gloesener
Imprimeur‑Libraire, Liege, Belgium
1853,
Beautiful fold‑out plates of the needle telegraph.
ID#: B163.81
LOC:
DiEtzgen, Eugene Co.
Catalogue and Price List of Eugene Dietzgen Co. Manufactures of Drawing Materials and Surveying Instruments
1912 or later (9th edition)
ID#: B268.83
LOC: CHM
Excellent section on slide rules and calulators, pp 216‑236, and on planimeters, integrators and integraphs, pp 500‑507.
Dietzgen, Eugene Co.
Catalogue of Eugene Dietzgen Co.
1928, 13th edition
ID#: B1583.01
LOC: CHM
Dodson, James
The Antilogarithmic Canon
London, 1742
(the first, and only for about 150 years, such table)
ID#: B1592.01
LOC: CHM
Dodson was an accountant and teacher of mathematics who was elected FRS in 1755 and became master of the Royal Military School, Christ’s Hospital the same year. Augustus DeMorgan was his great-grandchild and he indicates that his great-aunt would not talk about Dodson because she thought his job at the Royal Military School was a blight on the family tree. He was refused entry to the Amicable Life Assurance Society because he was over 45 upon application and this began his attempt to found his own company, the Equitable Life Assurance Society, which was successful, but had to be done by others the year after Dodson died.
This table of anti-logarithms was the first and remained the only such table in print until 1844. In the introduction he reviews all the previous publications on logarithms up to the date of publication. This was done by examining every item he could obtain, many of which came from the library of his friend William Jones.
Two stories are known about the origin of these tables. One has it that the table had actually been calculated about 1630 by Walter Werner and John Pell. According to the Dictionary of National Biography, Pell wrote a letter in 1644 claiming that Werner had become bankrupt and to have left the table to Dr. H. Throndike who, in turn, passed it to Dr. Busby of Westminister. However, this version is not mentioned by Charles Hutton (Mathematical Tables, 1785, pp.119-121) who describes these tables (calling Dodson “a very ingenious mathematician” and the tables “a very great performance”) and even notes how they were calculated.
Dowsing, William
The Timber Merchant's Builder's Companion
London, Crosby Lockwood
1876
ID#: B1606.01
LOC: CHM
ERA
High Speed Computing Devices
McGraw Hill
1950
Library stamp of Frank S. Preston and signature of Gordon Bell
ID#: B1538.01
LOC: CHM
This work was the first real textbook on computing and computer hardware. It was a pioneering work that influenced both American and other computer developments. It provides the best picture of the state of the industry in its infancy. The work was first written as a report to the Office of Naval Research who were the main backers of Engineering Research Associates, a group formed largely from World War II Naval code-breaking people. It presents a discussion of the mechanical and electrical (both analog and digital) devices which could be incorporated into computing machines. Although it does not survey the computer projects then underway, it does occasionally discuss individual machines in the context of integrating devices into complete systems.
Engineering Research Associates (ERA) later became a division of Sperry Rand.
Ernst, Wetli, Hansen
Die Planimeter
Germany, 1853
Prof. Dr. Bauernfeind
ID#: B1676.01
LOC: CHM
FABER-CASTELL
Instructions for Castell Precision Slide Rules
A. W. Faber-Castell, Stein Near Nuremberg
ID#: B1012.98
LOC: CHM
Farley, F.J.M.
Elements of Pulse Circuits
London, Methoen & Co.
1958 2ed edition
signed by Gordon Bell inside front cover
ID#: B1558.01
LOC: CHM
Farr, William
English Life Table
1864
ID#: B1570.01
LOC: CHM
Bookplate of the Janus Foundation (Norman group in San Francisco). The only extensive publication of table ever computed with the Scheutz difference engine.
Farr was born in humble circumstances but he received patronage from two distinguished gentlemen who left him enough money (and a library) to complete his education. In 1829 he went to Paris to study medicine where he became interested in medical statistics. In 1837 he wrote a number of articles on vital statistics for which be became famous. H was an assistant commissioner for the 1851 British census and a commissioner for the one if 1871. He was a prominent member of the Statistical Society, serving as President in 1871 and 1872.
This volume is the only large set of tables ever to be produced by the original Scheutz difference engines. Babbage’s difference engine was never completed and the original Scheutz machine went to the observatory at Albany, New York where it was little used. This, the second commercial version of the Scheutz machine, was put to work calculating tables for use in the developing life insurance industry. William Far, the editor of these tables and author of the introduction, was president of the Royal Statistical Society (Charles Babbage was one of its founders). This professional association and the fact that Babbage was very interested in the life insurance industry make it almost certain that he would have been an advisor, if only unofficial, in the production of these tables.
Fisher, George (accomptant)
Arithmetic in the Plainest and Most Concise Methods
London, Wilmington for Peter Brynberg
Poor condition
ID#: B298.83 (Marked B225.83)
LOC: CHM
Nothing is known about the author (who should not be confused with the astronomer of the same name)
Flint, Abel
A System of Geometry and Trigonometry with a Treatise on Surveying in which the Principles of Rectangular Surveying without Plotting are Explained
Wm. Jas. Hamersley, Hartford
1854
Leather binding
ID#: B226.82
LOC: CHM
Enlarged with additional tales by George Gillet, New Edition, Revised containing a new rule for correcting deviations of the compass by L. W. Meech.
Flint, Samuel
Arithmetic
Bugthorpe School, 1856
Simple Interest Examples, all beautifully done in original calligraphy.
ID#: B1677.01
LOC: CHM
Fowle, F.E.
Smithsonian Physical Tables
Smithsonian
1944, 5th edition
Vol 58, #1 Smithsonian Misc. collections
ID#: B1567.01
LOC: CHM
FRAMBOTTO, PAOLO
Le Operazioni del Compasso Geometrico et Militare di Galileo Galilei
Padova, 1649, Italy
80 pp., folding engraved plate of the sector and many text woodcut illustrations. Hard vellum binding, 3rd Edition.
ID#: B335.85
LOC: CHM
Galileo seems to have invented his “compasso geometrico” also called compass of proportion or sector about 1597 and disclosed it about 1598. The first edition of this, his first book, was published in 1606 with less than 60 copies issued. it was reprinted in 1619. A second, improved edition was issued in 1640 by the same publisher of the third.
Gardner, Martin
Logic Machines and Diagrams
McGraw Hill Book Company, Inc. New York
1958
ID#: B254.82
LOC: CHM
Contents include: The Ars Magna of Ramon Lull, Logic Diagrams, A Network Diagram for Propositional Calculus, The Stanhope Demonstrator, Jevons Logic Machine, Marquand’s Machine, Window Cards, Electrical Lobic Machines, The Future of Logic Machines.
Geddes, keith
Guglielmo Marconi 1874-1937
Science Museum, United Kingdom
1979
ID#: B1676.01
LOC: CHM
Good, J.
Measuring Made Easy (Coggeshall's Sliding Rule)
London, W. Mount
1744
ID#: B280.83
LOC: CHM
This work, the first edition of which was in 1719, describes Coggeshall’s sliding rule and illustrates its use for various trades, usually involving lumber, stone etc. The book, like many others on this topic, does not illustrate the sliding rule.
Gregson, A.W.
The Complete Chest Squarer or Chest Makers’ Ready Reckoner
Manchester, J. Aston
c 1840 (1st or 2ed edition, third was in 1859)
disbound
ID#: B1542.01
LOC: CHM
Gunter, Edmund
The Description and Use of the Sector
1624
Spine loose, top edge cropped, otherwise good
ID#: B274.83
LOC: CHM
Edmund Gunter was born in Hertfordshire in 1581 and died in London on December 10, 1626. When he was 18 he enrolled in Christ Church College Oxford and took degrees in both arts and mathematics. He started a degree in divinity in 1614 but left this calling to take the position as the third professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, in 1619. By this time his mathematical skills were so well known that he was elected to the position only two days after the resignation of his predecessor.
He was one the leaders in the movement to simplify computation by creating instruments for all the basic astronomical and navigational needs of the day. It was his contacts with another professor at Gresham College, Henry Briggs, that introduced him to logarithms. He was one of the first to inscribe a logarithmic scale onto a piece of wood (known as Gunter’s line of numbers) so that multiplication and division could be performed by means of measuring with dividers. He is also credited with the invention of the surveyor’s chain (sometimes known as “Gunter’s chain”), a form of the quadrant known as Gunter’s Quadrant, and the surveyor’s table.
This volume is Gunter’s third publication. The previous two were his table of the logarithms of tangents (the first ever published) and a description of a major set of sundials he had produced for the royal family in Whitehall gardens. This latter volume was his only publication that was not republished many times—some long after his death.
While he is often credited with the invention of the sector (see, for example, John Ward, The lives of the professors of Gresham college ), there is no doubt that both Galileo, in Italy, and Thomas Hood, in London, had published on it previously—indeed it was Hood that coined the term “sector” for this instrument. Some time around 1606 he discovered the existence of the sector and wrote a description of it in Latin. This was never published, but was known to many from hand made copies. In this published version, at the end of his description of the sector, Gunter states that this work is simply a translation of his earlier Latin manuscript version
“…partly to satisfy their importunity, who not understanding the Latin, yet were at the charge to buy the instrument”.
It is reasonable to assume that Gunter learned of the device either while a student at the Westminster School (Hood was living, and occasionally giving public lectures, in London at the time) or while a student at Oxford. In none of his publications does he ever credit anyone else with the invention (he does however acknowledge being familiar with the works of “Dr. Hood” during his description of the Cross-Staff later in this volume).
Although not inventing the device, it is certainly the case that Gunter was the person most responsible for its popularity in England. His clear explanations were usually oriented towards very practical problems in mathematics, dialing, astronomy, and navigation. In addition, the sectors he describes were very well designed with the scales much more clearly marked and capable of precise usage than many others of that era. The basic design of scales on Gunter’s sector (often referred to as an English sector) was to remain until the instrument ceased to be included in the usual box of mathematical instruments about the beginning of the 20th century. It is understandable why this book was so often reprinted. Not only does it deal with realistic problems but often includes several different ways of approaching the problem, either with the sector or by the inclusion of various tables. In the section dealing with the cross-staff, he mentions (p.61) “my tables of artificiall sines and tangents” (logarithms of sines and tangents) but they are not included in this edition. Later editions of this work (e.g., 1636) include these tables.
While the sectors produced on the continent of Europe were often very decorative the Gunter sector was utilitarian. The continental sectors usually had each scale represented as a single line with major divisions numbered and minor divisions represented by small “pin pricks”. Gunter’s experience with mathematical and astronomical instruments led him to produce the scales with minor divisions clearly marked by lines in such a way that there could be no doubt as to the value being measured.
This work is actually composed of two independent works. The first, on the sector, and the second, on the cross-staff, are both divided into three “bookes.” The sector is first explained, then sections are devoted to each of the lines and the problems that are solved by them. The second work details the cross-staff and the lines that he inscribed upon it. These were often very similar to the single-line scales found on his sector, and also included a scale of logarithms (which became known as Gunter’s line of numbers) and two scales of logarithmic sines and tangents. This part of the book contains the description of a few other instruments, almost as after thoughts. The last of them was a small quadrant, marked with calendrical and astrolabic scales, which later became famous as “Gunter’s quadrant.”
All of these instruments are shown in use on the title page. This particular engraving was used for many of the reprints of Gunter’s work, the central title being changed and various inscriptions being added to the shield at the base.
Gupta, Hansraj
Tables of Partitions (of Integers)
Madras, Indian Math. Society
1939
slip inside asking Milne-Thomson to review it
ID#: B1575.01
LOC: CHM
HARRIS, CHARLES O.
Slide Rule Simplified
American Technical Society
1943
ID#: B1673.01
LOC: CHM
Hart, Walter
Book of Instructions for the
Equationor or Universal Calculator
Published by the Equationor Co.
New York, 1892.
ID#: B1679.01 (Marked B398.87,
crossed off, and remarked B305.87).
LOC: CHM
Hartree, Douglas R., Plummer Professor of Mathematical Physics, University of Cambridge
Calculating Instruments and Machines
The University of Illinois Press, Urbana
1949
Cloth cover, 68 illustrations
ID#: B261.83
LOC: CHM
The first chapters are devoted to differential analyzers which were still being used and developed for computational needs. The last chapters discuss digital calculators starting with Babbage’s analytical engine and including extensive discussions of ENIAC and the Harvard Mark I.
Harvard
Annals of the Computation Laboratory of Harvard Vol XVIII: Tables of Generalized Sine and Cosine Integral Functions Part I and Part II
1949
ID#: B1665.01
LOC: CHM
Howard H. Aiken, a professor at Harvard, wanted to create a calculating machine to help with problems in his research area, atomic physics. After several unsuccessful attempts, he managed to interest Thomas J. Watson Sr., President of IBM, in the project. Watson viewed the project as one that showcased the engineering skill of IBM rather than any potential product development. Work began on the machine at IBM’s Endicott factory in 1939. The design called for creating the machine from the standard components of IBM’s mechanical accounting equipment, but several items had to be specially created for this project. When the machine was working at IBM in January of 1943 (it was moved to Harvard, in May of 1944), it was 50 feet long, contained 500 miles of wire, and 750,000 individual components. It could store 72 numbers, each of 24 digits plus sign and had a set of 60 constant registers set by rotating switches. The machine was controlled by a punched paper tape reader which could read and execute instructions at the rate of 3 additive operations per second (multiplicative and other operations took longer). Multiplication and division were done by a special unit which was essentially a set of Napier’s bones implemented in relay technology. The machine was known as the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, or Mark I for short. It was the second automatically controlled calculating device ever constructed—the first being the Z3 created by Konrad Zuse in 1941. The Mark I was, by far, the largest and most influential of these two machines.
This volume, the 18th in a series of reports from the Harvard Computational Laboratory the 41st and last of which appeared in 1967, is typical of the tables produced on the Harvard mark I.
Haviland, James
The Improved Practical Measurer (Ready Reckoner)
London
1817
Hinges cracked
ID#: B1595.01
LOC: CHM
Hawkins, N.
Hand Book of Calculations for Engineers and Firemen Relating to the Steam Engine, the Steam Boiler, Pumps, Shafting, etc
Theodore Audel & Co.
1898
ID#