The Macclesfield Copy

AGRICOLA, Georgius.

Libri quinque De mensuris & ponderibus. . . / De ponderibus propositiones XIII. / An account of a comparison made by some gentlemen of the Royal Society, of the standard of a yard, and the several weights lately made for their use. .

Basel: Froben / Johannes Petreius / Royal Society, 1533.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003116

Libri quinque De mensuris & ponderibus: In quibus plaeraque à Budaeo & Portio parum animadversa diligenter excutiuntur. Basel: Froben, 1533. [9] 10-292 [4] pp. Woodcut printers devices on title and final leaf verso, 5 large historiated woodcut initials, general index at end. Text generally crisp and clean, some ink annotations in contemporary hand (mostly shaved), small Macclesfield blindstamp to first 3 leaves. [Bound with:] II. NEMORARIUS, Jornanus [NEMORE, Jordanus de]. De ponderibus propositiones XIII. & earundem demonstrationes, multarumque rerum rationes sanè pulcherrimas complectens, nunc in lucem editus. (edited by Petrus Apianus). Nürnberg: Johannes Petreius, 1533. 16 unnumbered leaves. Woodcut device on title, woodcut initials, diagrams in text. Title and final page dust-soiled and stained, otherwise little age-toned only. [Bound with:] III. GRAHAM, George. An account of a comparison made by some gentlemen of the Royal Society, of the standard of a yard, and the several weights lately made for their use: with the original standards of measures and weights in the Exchequer, and with some others kept for public use at Guildhall, Founders-Hall, the Tower, & c. London: [Royal Society], 1744. [2], 17 [1] pp. Text crisp and clean. Three works in one volume. 4to (183 x 140 mm). Bound in 18th century half calf over marbled boards, spine with 5 raised bands, some gilt decoration and gilt-lettered red morocco label, red-dyed edges (slight rubbing to extremities, front board scratched). Provenance: South Library of the Count of Macclesfield (armorial bookplates to front pastedown and first flyleaf). An excellent copy. ----
I. Adams A342; Dekesel A7; VD16 A908; Kress 38; Wellcome I, 58. RARE FIRST EDITION of Agricola's treatise on weights and measures, which became a standard text on the subject and an equally important book for the history of economics, the monetary system and mathematics. "The work can hardly be called an arithmetic, but is a valuable book of reference on the history of ancient measures. The book is also valuable to the student of Roman and Greek numerals, and of the various symbols of measures. Such works explain the origin of certain systems of measures employed before the metric system developed, and of such symbols as are still used by apothecaries" (Smith, Rara Arithmetica, 171, for the Wechel/Paris edition later the same year).
II: VD16 J937. VERY RARE FIRST EDITION. An important book in the early history of mechanics containing "the fundamental notion of statical moment and its application to the study of the angular lever and of the inclined plane." (Dr. Sarton). Jordanus de Nemore (fl. 13th century), also known as Jordanus Nemorarius and Giordano of Nemi, was a thirteenth-century European mathematician and scientist. The literal translation of Jordanus de Nemore (Giordano of Nemi) would indicate that he was an Italian. He wrote treatises on at least 6 different important mathematical subjects: the science of weights; 'algorismi' treatises on practical arithmetic; pure arithmetic; algebra; geometry; and stereographic projection. The medieval 'science of weights' (i.e., mechanics) owes much of its importance to the work of Jordanus. In his Elementa super demonstrationem ponderum, Jordanus introduces the concept of 'positional gravity' and the use of component forces. Pierre Duhem (in his Origines de la statique, 1905) thought that Jordanus also introduced infinitesimal considerations into statics in his discussion of 'virtual' displacements of objects in equilibrium. He proves the law of the lever by means of the principle of work. The De ratione ponderis also proves the conditions of equilibrium of unequal weights on planes inclined at different angles - long before it was re-established by Simon Stevin (with his clootcrans - "wreath of spheres" experiment) and later by Galileo. (Wikisource). This edition was published by Peter Apian in Nuremberg and contains 13 of Jordanus' propositions.

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