Scientific Instruments

CHAUCER, GEOFFREY.  Treatise on the Astrolabe. In R.T. Gunther, Chaucer and Messahalla on the Astrolabe. Now Printed in Full for the First Time, with the Original Illustrations.  Oxford: For the Subscribers at the University Press, 1929. "Early Science in Oxford, Vol. V." First Edition of the Complete Text by Chaucer, First (?) English Edition of the Messallah. Blue cloth, gilt spine (externally Fine, the prelims foxed). vii + 234 pp., plates. Printed on heavy stock, which has made for a "tight" volume that will loosen if opened wide (hence the absence of internal photographs for our copy). Still, a near-Fine copy of a rare book.  $500.

Chaucer's original text (assembled from various manuscripts) and the illustrations are included, along with a modern English translation. Skeat had published some of the text (without translation) in 1872, but with redrawn illustrations. As Gunther noted, these are essential to the text, which was written for Chaucer's no doubt precocious son, then aged 10! Thus, Gunther reproduces the original illustrations from the manuscripts. The work by Messahallah served as the source for Chaucer's knowledge of the astrolabe, and is included in both English translation and in the Latin original. A wonderful volume by the great poet-astronomer, the first detailed account in English of a complex scientific instrument!

DITISHEIM, PAUL.  Bibliographie générale de la mesure du temps, suivie d'un essai de classification technique et géographique. Paris: Tardy, 1947. First Edition. Bound in red cloth, gilt spine. 352 pp. + [1, Addenda]. Pencil owner's name on flyleaf, Very Good.  $125.

Extensive bibliography of clocks, watches, chronometers, horology. Scarce in this edition. Preface dated 1943, but all sources give the edition date as 1947; was publication delayed by the war?

EIMER & AMEND. Illustrated Wholesale Catalogue with Prices Current of Chemical & Physical Apparatus and Assay Goods. New York: Eimer & Amend, 1902. 418 pp., illustrated (some in monochrome color). Brown wraps (much worn, and mounted on linen, also worn, lacking spine). A much-used copy, with some pages loosening and some soiling. $65.

Lavishly illustrated production from this important firm, greatly enlarged from previous editions.

HIERGESELL BROS. General Catalog E: Scientific Instruments.  Philadelphia: Hiergesell Bros., 1926. 11" x 8¾", embossed black cloth, gilt (somewhat rubbed), 84 pp., illustrated. The text somewhat dusty in places, a Good copy.  $35.

An unusual catalog, offering a broad selection of specialized industrial and laboratory thermometers, meteorological instruments (including both mercurial and aneroid barometers), as well as psychrometers, hydrometers, and instruments for the chemical and physical testing of petroleum products. The latter section includes specialized thermometers, distillation apparatus, centrifuges, retorts and funnels. A "correction sheet" dated 1927 is pasted to the flyleaf, a front pocket contains a temperature conversion table and a 1926 price list. Loosely inserted is a viscosimeter conversion chart (actually a nomogram), an unsigned letter from the company dated 1928 updating some information, and two mailed pamphlets with new instruments.

The Hiergesell Bros. company was founded in 1903, later becoming H-B Instrument Co., specializing in temperature and density measuring instruments.

MULTHAUF, ROBERT P. &  Davies, David.  A Catalogue of Instruments and Models in the Possession of the American Philosophical Society.  Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1961. xi + 80 pp., plates. Blue cloth, a near Fine copy in a chipped dust jacket.  $30.

A range of instruments and makers are covered: a clock by Rittenhouse, a refractive sundial by Christopher Schissler, apparatus used by Benjamin Franklin, and so on.

STEVENSON, EDWARD LUTHER.  Terrestrial and Celestial Globes: Their History and Construction ...  Mansfield Centre, CN: Martino Fine Books, 1998, 2 volumes bound as one. ½" x 6". frontis. + xxvi + 218 pp., illus. + frontis. + xi + 291 pp., illus. Fine copy.  $100.

Originally published in 1921, this work is a valuable history, covering antiquity to the 18th century. The reprint edition (limited to 300 copies only) includes both volumes of the original work in one volume.

J.H. WEIL & Co.  "Weilco" Surveying Instruments, Drawing Materials, ... , Catalog No. 10.   Philadelphia: J.H. Weil & Co. [1930]. 292 pp., illustrated. Paper samples mounted to inside front cover, Price list in pocket at rear. Decorated cloth, slightly soiled, Very Good copy.  $65.