The Origins of Cyberspace collection described as lots 1-255 will first be offered as a single lot, subject to a reserve price. If this price is not reached, the collection will be immediately offered as individual lots as described in the catalogue as lots 1-255.
SCHOTT, Gaspard (1608-66). Organum mathematicum libris IX explicatum. Wurzberg: J. A. Endter [etc.], 1668.
Details
SCHOTT, Gaspard (1608-66). Organum mathematicum libris IX explicatum. Wurzberg: J. A. Endter [etc.], 1668.
4o. Engraved frontispiece, portrait, 63 engraved plates, 28 folding printed tables. Contemporary vellum, title lettered in ink on spine.
FIRST EDITION. Schott was a student of Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit mathematician and scientist who devoted a good portion of his career to receiving and disseminating scientific knowledge communicated by Jesuit scientists all over the world. Both men spent over twenty years in Italy, Kircher in Rome and Schott in Sicily. When the pressure of work became too much for Kircher, Schott traveled to Rome where for three years (1652-55) he worked as Kircher's assistant. It was there that Schott began to organize for publication all the information communicated to himself and Kircher, an undertaking that produced eleven thick and profusely illustrated texts before Schott's death in 1666.
One of these texts was the Organum mathematicum, the first part of which is devoted to a description of a remarkable apparatus (the "mathematical organ" of the title) constructed on the principle of Napier's "bones" or rods (see lot 2). In the section on arithmetic, Schott provided a description and illustration of his calculating machine based upon Napier's rods, in which he tried to circumvent some of the difficulties involved in using Napier's invention. OOC 15.
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FIRST EDITION. Schott was a student of Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit mathematician and scientist who devoted a good portion of his career to receiving and disseminating scientific knowledge communicated by Jesuit scientists all over the world. Both men spent over twenty years in Italy, Kircher in Rome and Schott in Sicily. When the pressure of work became too much for Kircher, Schott traveled to Rome where for three years (1652-55) he worked as Kircher's assistant. It was there that Schott began to organize for publication all the information communicated to himself and Kircher, an undertaking that produced eleven thick and profusely illustrated texts before Schott's death in 1666.
One of these texts was the Organum mathematicum, the first part of which is devoted to a description of a remarkable apparatus (the "mathematical organ" of the title) constructed on the principle of Napier's "bones" or rods (see lot 2). In the section on arithmetic, Schott provided a description and illustration of his calculating machine based upon Napier's rods, in which he tried to circumvent some of the difficulties involved in using Napier's invention. OOC 15.
Further details
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