Details
[SURVEYING]. Manuscript notebook, entitled "Elijah Legg's Surveying, Milford [Connecticut?], January AD 1806." 132 pages, folio, 327 x 200 mm. (12 7/8 x 7 3/4 in.), written in a blank book of 67 leaves, original American binding of calf-backed marbled paper boards, unlettered spine, rubbed, base of spine chipped, otherwise in very good condition. Consisting of a title-page in large roman letters within a decorative border in red, yellow, brown and ochre inks incorporating a scrolling vine, each following page with section heading at top in decorative letters, the text in a clear cursive hand, many diagrams, schematic plans and illustrative drawings in the text, some rendered in great detail with red, ochre and brown inks.
A type of manuscript frequently produced by aspiring surveyors in the Federal period (of whom there were many). Legg's is considerably more extensive than most surveying compendia and is notable for its clear diagrams, careful renderings and for its artistic embellishments executed in the simple pigments available to Legg and attesting to his pride in the manuscript. Certain drawings, like those which showing measurement of a building's height by trigonometry, feature very bold, schematic renderings of early American buildings - churches, towers, homes, windmills - very reminiscent of the Shaker town plans of similar vintage. (Legg had more difficulty, alas, in drawing birds and human figures.) The sections comprise "Geometry," "Measures", "Instruments and their Uses" (compass, protractor), "Trigonometry," "Heights and Distances," "Navigation" and "Surveying Land," the longest section. Provenance: Philip Hofer, with his printed bookplate.
A type of manuscript frequently produced by aspiring surveyors in the Federal period (of whom there were many). Legg's is considerably more extensive than most surveying compendia and is notable for its clear diagrams, careful renderings and for its artistic embellishments executed in the simple pigments available to Legg and attesting to his pride in the manuscript. Certain drawings, like those which showing measurement of a building's height by trigonometry, feature very bold, schematic renderings of early American buildings - churches, towers, homes, windmills - very reminiscent of the Shaker town plans of similar vintage. (Legg had more difficulty, alas, in drawing birds and human figures.) The sections comprise "Geometry," "Measures", "Instruments and their Uses" (compass, protractor), "Trigonometry," "Heights and Distances," "Navigation" and "Surveying Land," the longest section. Provenance: Philip Hofer, with his printed bookplate.