The Richard Green copy

NAPIER, John.

Rabdologiae seu numerationis per virgulas libri duo.

Leiden: Peter Rammasen, 1626.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #004183

12mo (138 x 76 mm). [12], 139, [1] pp., including woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces; 9 folding woodcut and letterpress plates and tables, a few text illustrations; final two blank leaves (G5-6). Signatures: [dagger]⁶ A-E¹² F-G⁶. Contemporary soft vellum, spine with old hand-lettering in ink (vellum dust soiled, foot of spine repaired). Paper browned as usual (stronger to gatherings A-D), occasional minor spotting, repaired clean tear to fore-margin of title, gutter of leaf C12 reinforced, plates with occasional short splits of folds (one with old paper-repair, one silked). Provenance: The estate of Serge Roubé (his Computing History Collection); Richard Green (his sale, Christie's, Important Scientific Books: The Richard Green Library, 17 June 2008, lot no. 262, USD 4750). ----

VERY RARE SECOND EDITION IN LATIN. The work contains the first printed reference to a mechanical counting machine (besides the abacus). The first edition was published in 1617 in Edinburgh and an Italian translation appeared in 1624 in Verona.
John Napier is most famous for his discovery of algorithms, but he also developed one of the earliest counting machines, called "Napier's Bones." This work contains the first description of his rods, as well as two other mechanical machines for mathematics, as well as the first printed reference to the modern decimal point.
"A set of ten rods of wood or ivory ("Napier's bones") constituted one of the earliest forms of mechanized calculation. With these Napier tried to do away with the tediousness of calculating and coined the term "Rabdologia" as numeration by little rods" (Dibner, p.51).
Bibliography & References: Tomash & Williams N9; for 1st edition see Dibner, Heralds of Science 107, Norman 1574 and Origins of Cyberspace 11. - Visit our website to see more images!

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