Scientific Instruments

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Last updated 22 February 2024

Books on barometers & barographs, marine chronometers and sundials are listed in separate sections.

Orders totalling £100 or more will receive an automatic 10% discount at the checkout.

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Aked (C.K.): A Perpetual Almanack
O/P. 10 pages, 3 figs., 1994. A perpetual almanack for the period 1703 - 1732, devised by John Carte, London and known from an engraved print. A related print by Samuel Watson is also described. A fine copy, an offprint from Antiquarian Horology, unbound. (Ref: K4389 - BX11)

Price: £1.00

Aked (J.R.A.): Sand-Glasses of the Historisches Uhren-Museum Wuppertal, Germany
O/P. 6 pages, 9 figs., signed by author, 1979. The museum has a small interesting collection of 9 items. A reprint from Antiquarian Horology. Very good copy, paper covers. (Ref: K3722 - BX11)

Price: £1.00

Aked (C.K.): William Oughtred - An Early Horological Expositor
O/P. 10 pages, illustrated, 1981. A good biographical account of William Oughtred, little known today but famous in his own day as a mathematician, teacher and deviser of scientific instruments. Oughtred devised the universal equinoctial ring dial and one of his horological works was published as an appendix in John Smith's Horological Dialogues. A fine copy, an offprint from Antiquarian Horology, unbound. (Ref: K4388 - BX5)

Price: £1.00

Attali (J.): Mémoire de Sabliers - Collections, mode d'emploi
O/P. 189 pages, illustrated, 1997. A detailed study of sandglasses and how they were used, with excellent colour illustrations of surviving glasses. The book also shows sandglasses depicted in paintings of the period in which they were made and used. A fine copy, with very good dust jacket. [French language] (Ref: K1959 - P3)

Price: £45.00

Baillie (G.H.), Lloyd (H.A.) & Ward (F.A.B.): The Planetarium of Giovanni De Dondi

Baillie (G.H.), Lloyd (H.A.) & Ward (F.A.B.): The Planetarium of Giovanni De Dondi
O/P. 156 pages, 180 figures, 1974. A translation of early manuscripts describing in detail the planetarium designed and constructed by De Dondi between 1348 and 1364. A very good copy poor dust jacket. (Ref: K729 - H1)

Price: £15.00

Bertele (H. von): Globes and Spheres
O/P. 64 pages, 47 illus., 1961. An interesting work on Renaissance clockwork-driven globes and spheres. Very good copy, card covers. [English language text, picture captions in English, French & German] (Ref: K4002 - M2)

Price: £15.00

Bion (M.): The Construction and Principal Uses of Mathematical Instruments

Bion (M.): The Construction and Principal Uses of Mathematical Instruments
O/P. 325 pages, 30 plates, 2nd edition, 1972. A large format facsimile reprint by Holland Press, of the English edition of Bion's famous work, translated and supplemented by Edmund Stone and originally published in 1758. An excellent book for researching slide rules, drawing instruments, surveying instruments, telescopes, microscopes, sun dials and more. An excellent quality reprint, nicely cloth bound, with gilt lettering to spine. A very good copy. (Ref: K4708 - Q3)

Price: £75.00

Bird (A.): An Account of the Water-Barometer Constructed and Erected by Alfred Bird Esq.
O/P. 7 pages, 1 fig., 1 plate, 1865. A paper on the water barometer contained within an issue of the London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine. Paper covers now worn and detached. (Ref: K3266 - BX16)

Price: £5.00

Brown (J.): Mathematical Instrument Makers in the Grocers' Company 1688 - 1800
O/P. 103 pages, 25 plates, 4 figs., 1979. A useful reference book as many well known instrument makers were members of the grocers company including Elias Allen, George Adams, Edward Troughton and Edmund Culpepper. Good copy, card covers, spine faded. (Ref: K4591 - F5)

Price: £15.00

Bryden (D.J.): James Short and his Telescopes
O/P. 34 pages, 8 plates, 1968. An account of the life of James Short (1710 - 1768), Europe's foremost maker of reflecting telescopes; with a description of the instruments brought together for the Bicentenary Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. A good copy, bookplate on rear of title page, card covers. (Ref: K4636 - BX11)

Price: £15.00

[Christie's]: The Collection of the Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild
O/P. 224 lots, all illustrated in colour. The sale of two important 19th century collections of musical instruments, arms & armour, manuscripts, coins & medals, Silver, ceramics, glass, sculpture, scientific instruments, clocks, furniture and textiles. The clocks included a fine longcase clock by Berthoud, the scientific instruments included a Jost Bürgi globe, several astrolabes and several items by Christoph Schissler of Augsburg. A very good copy, hardback [Sale @ King Street, London 08/07/1999] (Ref: K4731 - H5)

Price: £10.00

Clarke (T.N.), Morrison-Low (A.D.) & Simpson (A.D.C.): Brass & Glass, Scientific Instrument Making Workshops in Scotland
O/P. 320 pages, illustrated, 1989. An excellent book, the result of many years of detailed research and of great use to clock enthusiasts for its chapters on the chronometer makers Alexander Dobbie, Duncan McGregor, Kelvin White, and Whyte Thomson & Co. Barometer collectors will want this book for its information about Alexander Adie and his successors including English branches of the business. Sundial enthusiasts are not forgotten, there is a chapter on Richard Melville and his slate sundials. The book's illustrations are of instruments in the Museum's Arthur Frank Collection, and this copy of the book has a presentation inscription signed by Arthur Frank on the title page. Recommended reading. A very good copy. Soft covers. (Ref: K2093 - N2)

Price: £50.00

Clarke (T.N.), Morrison-Low (A.D.) & Simpson (A.D.C.): Brass & Glass, Scientific Instrument Making Workshops in Scotland
O/P. 320 pages, illustrated, 1989. An excellent book, the result of many years of detailed research and of great use to clock enthusiasts for its chapters on the chronometer makers Alexander Dobbie, Duncan McGregor, Kelvin White, and Whyte Thomson & Co. Barometer collectors will want this book for its information about Alexander Adie and his successors including English branches of the business. Sundial enthusiasts are not forgotten, there is a chapter on Richard Melville and his slate sundials. Recommended reading. A good copy, covers and edges worn. Soft covers. (Ref: K4707 - G6)

Price: £35.00

Conservatoire National des Arts et et Métiers: Catalogue Du Musée - section K - Poids et Mesures Métrologie
O/P. 222 pages, 56 figs., 1941. A detailed catalogue of the weights, measures and measuring instruments in this famous Parisian museum. Good copy (paper covering to spine worn and a bit loose), card covers. [French language] (Ref: K3801 - M1)

Price: £4.00

Dekker (E.) & Krogt (P. van der): Globes from the Western World
O/P. 183 pages, 55 colour plates and 82 b&w figures, 1993. An excellent introduction to terrestrial and celestial globes made in Europe and America from 1492 onwards. A fine copy with very good dust jacket. (Ref: K4008 - F1)

Price: £45.00

Dolz, Schardin, Schillinger & Schramm: Uhren-Globen, wissenschaftliche instrumente
O/P. 115 pages, illus., 1993. A catalogue of fine clocks, globes and scientific instruments located at the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Museum, Dresden. Good copy. Card covers. [German language] (Ref: K3262 - X1)

Price: £5.00

Drake (S.): Galileo Galilei Operations of the Geometric and Military Compass

Drake (S.): Galileo Galilei Operations of the Geometric and Military Compass
O/P. 95 pages, illus., 1978. This is an English translation, with introduction, of Galileo's first publication printed in 1606. Galileo developed the sector (Galileo's "compass") into a useful calculation instrument sufficiently accurate to solve military problems associated with fortification and artillery as well as problems of proportion. A fine copy. Card covers. (Ref: K1966)

Price: £5.00
Dunn (R.): The Telescope - A Short History

Dunn (R.): The Telescope - A Short History
NEW. 192 pages, 61 illustrations, 2011. An interesting, informative and very readable history of the telescope from its invention in 1608 to the present. With dust jacket. (Ref: N3562)

Price: £12.00

'Espinasse (M.): Robert Hooke
O/P. 192 pages, 16 plates, 1956. A pioneering book on the life and work of Robert Hooke, one of England's great scientists who was also an architect and surveyor. Ex-library but a very good copy, library stamp inside front cover, front end paper and half-title pages broowned. (Ref: K1922 - X2)

Price: £15.00

Flamsteed (J.): The Preface to John Flamsteed's Historia Coelestis Britannica

Flamsteed (J.) : The Preface to John Flamsteed's Historia Coelestis Britannica
NEW. 222 pages, 26 figs., 1982. An English translation of the substantial preface to John Flamsteed's 'British Catalogue of the Heavens', edited and introduced by Allan Chapman. First published in 1725 Historia Coelestis Britannica was a major landmark in practical astronomy, Flamsteed used new instruments, achieved a new level of accuracy and established the reputation of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Card covers. (Ref: N2383)

Price: £10.00

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