Beschreibung:

MOORE, JONAS [SIR] A New Systeme of the Mathematicks... London: A[nne]. Godbid and J[ohn]. Playford for Robert Scott 1681.... ... London: A[nne]. Godbid and J[ohn]. Playford for Robert Scott 1681. First edition. Eight parts in two volumes, bound in contemporary paneled calf. 8 7/8 x 7 inches (22.5 x 18 cm); engraved and printed titles to the first volume (as called for; no engraved title was issued for the second volume, which has a printed title only). [24], 288, [12], 104, [2], 161, [1] pp.; [4], 143, [1], 384, [4], 56, 30 pp., including separate titles and prefaces to each major section, including John Flamsteed's Doctrine of the Sphere. Volume I plates: 30 single-leaf inserted engraved plates, one with a volvelle (complete), five folding plates of constellations, and seven other folding plates (some partially folding only), and many in-text illustrations (some of which are nearly full-page, and one of which includes a complete volvelle). Volume II plates: 50 maps (including two folding maps of the hemispheres, two small maps of Franche and Savoy bound in; some sheets with several subjects). The bindings are rubbed and worn, the joints cracked in some places but holding; internally some soiling and toning, minor stains etc., with the errata sheet laid in (rather than mounted as usually found) at p. 185. Sir Jonas Moore's extraordinary opus was issued as a textbook for the mathematical school at Christ's Hospital, founded in 1673 by Samuel Pepys together with Moore. Its intent was to prepare boys for service in the Royal Navy. Priced at 35 shillings upon publication, a very high price for a textbook of its kind, it is a lavish work, enhanced throughout with fine engravings. It covers algebra, geometry, trigonometry, cosmography, navigation, astronomy and geography, often with considerable rigor, and includes astronomic and logarithmic tables (the former by Flamsteed). Moore was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was appointed as Surveyor-General of the Ordnance (1673). Under his administration, the Tower of London became a home to scientific research. His pupils included the great astronomers John Flamsteed and Edmund Halley, and it was Flamsteed (who became the first Astronomer Royal in 1675) and Peter Perkins, another Moore alumnus, who prepared this work for posthumous publication after Moore's death in 1679. Flamsteed's Doctrine of the Sphere is present in its entirety (not edited for students). In other sections there are depictions of many astronomical and navigational instruments, and included is an excellent section on practical navigation. The publication history is complex and there is no definitive collation, with significant variation observed from copy to copy. Some parts were apparently separately published in addition to their inclusion here. The New Geography ... for example, partially by Halley, is ESTC R231849, which notes 47 plates, but this count varies from copy to copy. Our example has 50 plates, some with two or more maps. Of American interest are full-page maps of the Western Hemisphere; New England; Virginia; Brazil and La Plata; Peru, Chili and Magellanica; and the Leeward Islands; as well as half-page maps of New Mexico, Florida, New Spain [Mexico] and Guiana. Adams and Waters 2557; Wing M-2579; ESTC R30526; Crone 295-6; Sabin 50415 etc. See also Frances Willmoth Sir Jonas Moore: Practical Mathematics and Restoration Science, 1993. Provenance: Numerous ownership notes on the endpapers attest to the prolonged utility and value of this work, including one in a contemporary hand (partially scratched out); Ja. Taylor (undated, but 17th century); Ralph Snowdon, 1707; John Tomlinson 1739, Francis H. Aitkins 1860/1907; and W. Bayly (stamped, undated). In addition, a very early owner (possibly Taylor) has provided a detailed demographic calculation on the front endpaper of the second volume (extended to the front endpaper of the first), documenting the number of houses and inhabitants in each of the En