![LICHT, Balthasar. Algorithmus linealis cum conditionibus regulae de tri, etc'. Leipzig: Melchior Lotter [1500].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2002/CKS/2002_CKS_06711_0112_000(051542).jpg?w=1)
Details
LICHT, Balthasar. Algorithmus linealis cum conditionibus regulae de tri, etc'. Leipzig: Melchior Lotter [1500].
Median 4° (214 x 155mm). Collation: A6 B4 C6 (A1r title, text and woodcut of an abacus, A1v text, woodcuts and tables, C5v colophon, C6 blank). 16 leaves. Fo.2r with 3 lines of heading and 34 of text. Types: 3:336G (title), 2:168G (title, headings), 1:72G (text). 3- to 4- line initial spaces, a few with guide-letters. 19 woodcuts of an abacus in operation. Extensively annotated in two contemporary hands. (Lower and upper edges dampstained, some spotting and staining.) 20th-century binding of old, lined, limp pigskin (slightly scratched).
RARE FIRST EDITION of this illustrated manual on the use of the linear abacus, which was one of the first European works devoted to the earliest known computing device. The author, Balthasar Licht, studied in Leipzig under Udalrich Kalb, to whom the work is dedicated, and subsequently practised as a 'Reichenmeister' (Counting Master) there. In both the title and the preface to this work Licht associates the method of abacus use with Nuremberg schools (in scholis Nurnbergen) and emphasises the need for students of humanistic subjects (litteris eruditis), as well as merchants, to learn arithmetic. ISTC lists 12 copies only. H *829; Pellechet 515; BMC III, 652 (IA.12139); BSB-Ink.L-162; Klebs 604.1; Schreiber 3144; Smith Rara arithmetica 69 + 70; Goff L-202.
Median 4° (214 x 155mm). Collation: A6 B4 C6 (A1r title, text and woodcut of an abacus, A1v text, woodcuts and tables, C5v colophon, C6 blank). 16 leaves. Fo.2r with 3 lines of heading and 34 of text. Types: 3:336G (title), 2:168G (title, headings), 1:72G (text). 3- to 4- line initial spaces, a few with guide-letters. 19 woodcuts of an abacus in operation. Extensively annotated in two contemporary hands. (Lower and upper edges dampstained, some spotting and staining.) 20th-century binding of old, lined, limp pigskin (slightly scratched).
RARE FIRST EDITION of this illustrated manual on the use of the linear abacus, which was one of the first European works devoted to the earliest known computing device. The author, Balthasar Licht, studied in Leipzig under Udalrich Kalb, to whom the work is dedicated, and subsequently practised as a 'Reichenmeister' (Counting Master) there. In both the title and the preface to this work Licht associates the method of abacus use with Nuremberg schools (in scholis Nurnbergen) and emphasises the need for students of humanistic subjects (litteris eruditis), as well as merchants, to learn arithmetic. ISTC lists 12 copies only. H *829; Pellechet 515; BMC III, 652 (IA.12139); BSB-Ink.L-162; Klebs 604.1; Schreiber 3144; Smith Rara arithmetica 69 + 70; Goff L-202.
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