Purchased and in transit.
This rare book from 1727 describes the evolution of calculation and measurement with detailed drawings of many of the central developments.
LEUPOLD, Jacob (1674–1727). Theatrum arithmetico geometricum, das ist: Schau-Platz der Rechen- und Mess-Kunst. . . . [Eng. Tr. “Theatre of arithmetic and geometry, that is: showplace of the art of calculating and measuring….] Leipzig: Christoph Zunkel, 1st Edition, 1727.
“In his extremely thorough survey, Leupold explained and illustrated the evolution of calculation and measurement, beginning with systems of using fingers (or “digits”) for somewhat elaborate methods of computation, through various analog tools (including slide rules and sectors), to the digital calculating machines of Schott (1668), Grillet (1673), Leibnitz (1674), Poleni (1709), and the author himself. The Theatrum arithmetico geometricum is the eighth volume of Leupold’s monumental nine-volume work on machine and design technology, Theatrum machinarum. The individual volumes were issued separately over a period of fifteen years and are independent works and complete by themselves.”1
Jacob Leupold (1674–1727) was a German physicist, scientist, mathematician, instrument maker, mining commissioner and engineer who published over 15 years the volumes of his important, compendious and popular book Theatrum Machinarum Generale, (“The General Theory of Machines”), which was published in 1727.
In his early adulthood Jacob Leupold built many instruments that he needed for experimental physics. In 1699, at the age of 25, his interests focussed on mechanics and mathematics. In 1701 Leupold was appointed as an economist in George Military Hospital. This gave him a regular income but reduced the free time he could dedicate himself to mechanics.
Leupold is credited as an early inventor of air pump which he first designed in 1705. In 1707 he published a book “Antlia pneumatica illustrata”. In 1711 the Prussian Academy of Sciences, following the advice of its president G. W. Leibniz, acquired Leupold’s pump. In 1715 Leupold became a member of the Academ and in 1720 started work on the manuscript of Theatri Machinarum. This work emerged as the first systematic analysis of mechanical engineering. It included, ahead of its time, a design for a high- pressure noncondensing steam engine, the likes of which were not built until the early 19th century. Theatrum machinarum consist of 10 illustrated volumes. It was published in Leipzig between 1724–1739.2
The following is a general description of this volume.
Binding: tight and secure leather binding Pages: complete with all 200 pages plus plates; plus indexes, prefaces, and such; lacking only the first two plates Publisher: Leipzig Selbstverl. u. Gleditsch 1727 Size: ~15in X 10in (38cm x 25cm)
And from the description of a similar volume auctioned in 2005: “Folding engraved plates; (first two plates missing), plate III with volvelle [rotating wheel made of paper]. Text woodcuts. In some copies page 200 is misnumbered 300. Contemporary sheep, spine tooled in blind. FIRST EDITION of the best illustrated work on calculation and measurement published during the eighteenth century. It describes and illustrates the digital calculating machines of Schott (1668), Grillet (1673), Leibnitz (1674), Poleni (1709), and Leupold himself, along with Napier’s rods and several calculation tables. It also discusses and illustrates the various analog devices available, including slide rules and sectors, and other calculating and measuring rules, as well as systems of computing using the fingers. Use of the “digits” or fingers may have been the earliest method of counting, and it evolved into systems of arithmetic shortcuts or finger computing without the need for any external devices. Finger systems were always portable, reliable, and free. Our concept of number may derive from the word “digit” for finger, and the use of base 10 in arithmetic presumably derives from our having ten fingers. When we refer to digital computers we are never far in the etymological sense from the roots of arithmetic in counting on our fingers. This is the eighth volume of Leupold’s Theatrum machinarum, a nine-volume series on machine design and technology published between 1724 and 1739 (the posthumous ninth volume, entitled Theatri machinarum supplementum, was edited by Joachim Ernst Scheffler). OOC 6.”3
1 Manhattan Rare Book Company, 2014 (↑)
2 Based on text provided by Schlib Antiquarian Books, from whom this volume was purchased. (↑)
3 This follows the text provided at a Christies Auction of a similar volume on sold for $2,880 on 23 Feb 2005 (↑)
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