Beschreibung:

Title: Raddologia, ouero arimmetica virgolare in due libri diuisa; con appresso vn'espeditissimo prontvario della molteplicatione, & poi vn libro di arimmetica locale Author: Napier, John Place: Verona Publisher: Appresso Angelo Tamo Date: 1623 Description: [16], 269, [1] pp. Translated from the Latin by Marco Locatello, With 7 wood-engraved tables & diagram plates (6 of them folding), included in the pagination. 15.8x10.6 cm. (6¼x4¼"), period thin vellum, ink spine title. First Edition in Italian. First edition in Italian, and apparently the second edition overall, of the earliest know attempt at the invention of a calculating machine, being a description of the use of "Napier’s Bones," an automatic calculating device of interest for the history of computing, designed by the inventor of the logarithm. The first edition was published in Edinburgh in 1617, and edition commonly referred to as the second edition, also in Latin, was published in Leiden in 1626. OCLC/WorldCat lists only 16 copies of the present edition, whereas 45 copies of the 1617 edition are noted. "In 1617 Napier's intense concern for the practicalities of computation led him to publish another book, the Rabdologiae, which contains a number of elementary calculating devices, including the rods known as 'Napier's bones.' These rods, which in essence constitute a mechanical multiplication table, had a considerable vogue for many years after his death" - D.S.B. Provenance: Edgar B. Jessup, president of Marchant Calculators from 1933 to 1957 (and a founding member of E Clampus Vitus), with his rubberstamp on the front free endpaper. Accompanied by a 1950 letter to Jessup from Harold T. Avery, Chief Engineer at Marchant, about the purchase of the book for the company museum, stating it "should be well worth the $45 as a museum piece to us." The book has been in the family since its acquisition in 1950. Lot Amendments Condition: A bit of rubbing and discoloration to vellum; some marginal staining and occasional foxing within, a few marginal repairs to earlier leaves, else very good, quite rare. Item number: 211478