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CHRISTIAAN HUYGENS (1629-1695)
Horologium oscillatorium sive de motu pendulorum ad horologia aptato demonstrationes geometricae. Paris: F. Muguet, 1673. 2° (316 x 201mm). Woodcut arms of Louis XIV on title, full-page woodcut of the pendulum on A2v, approximately 100 woodcut diagrams in text. (C3 and C4 with margins cut away, leaving vestiges of ms notes, some light soiling, heavier on R3-4, T2v-T3r, the latter leaves also slightly torn at margin.) Contemporary calf (chipped and rubbed, spine blackened, and with public library shelf mark at base). Provenance: Benjamin Martin (?the clock and instrument maker, 1705-1782; double signature on title, pen drawing, ?his occasional notes and calculations) -- John Pope (signature on title dated 1784, bookplate) -- John Jackson of Academy Place, Warrington (1793-1875, pencil signature and half-erased bookplate).
AN ENGLISH CLOCK-MAKER'S COPY OF HUYGEN'S MOST IMPORTANT WORK, containing the first mathematical analysis of the motion of the pendulum and a general treatise on the dynamics of bodies in motion. Inserted as a frontispiece is an 18th-century pen drawing entitled 'Pendulum', showing the arc of its swing. Besides the repeated signature of 'Benjamin Martin', the title-page has 'Hugens on Clock Work' added in bold letters, and at foot a reckoning and observation '1657 first publish'd his Clock' (1657 was the year Huygens first constructed his pendulum clock, capable of measuring time accurately to within ten seconds a day; it was advertised in London the following year by the Dutch firm of Fromanteel). The full-page illustration of the pendulum on p. 4 is given the heading, 'Hugenius's Original Clock', the note below reading: 'I have seen a Regulator with ye weight only 1½ lb. & ye pend. 30 lb.' Scoring and/or underlining in ink occur on pp. 6, 18-19, and 154; calculations on pp. 135, 148-149. Perplexingly, the margins of pp. 21-24 have been cut away so that the notes can no longer be read. Extensive ink calculations also continue in the same hand on the frontispiece verso, below the corrigenda on the final page, and on the rear pastedown. There is a faint pencil diagram on the rear pastedown. Pencil calculation on the frontispiece verso, corrigenda page and rear pastedown may be by John Jackson. However, the knowledgable 18th-century annotator using pen-and-ink was almost certainly the Benjamin Martin recorded in Britten as the 'maker of a curious table clock'. Martin's early career as a scientific lecturer and author changed in 1756 when he began to trade as an optician and instrument maker, also acting as a retailer and wholesaler. In 1770 he published a 12-page quarto pamphlet, The Description and Use of a Table-Clock upon a New Construction, going by a weight eight days, the title-page asserting that the new form of pendulum and escapement were 'invented, made and sold by the author'. It probably made no money for its inventor as Martin died a bankrupt in 1782, and his effects were sold by auction, consistent with John Pope's purchase of this book two years later. The National Register of Archives does not record any holdings of manuscripts by Martin. Dibner Heralds of Science 145; Grolier Science 53; Norman 1137; PMM 154.
Horologium oscillatorium sive de motu pendulorum ad horologia aptato demonstrationes geometricae. Paris: F. Muguet, 1673. 2° (316 x 201mm). Woodcut arms of Louis XIV on title, full-page woodcut of the pendulum on A2v, approximately 100 woodcut diagrams in text. (C3 and C4 with margins cut away, leaving vestiges of ms notes, some light soiling, heavier on R3-4, T2v-T3r, the latter leaves also slightly torn at margin.) Contemporary calf (chipped and rubbed, spine blackened, and with public library shelf mark at base). Provenance: Benjamin Martin (?the clock and instrument maker, 1705-1782; double signature on title, pen drawing, ?his occasional notes and calculations) -- John Pope (signature on title dated 1784, bookplate) -- John Jackson of Academy Place, Warrington (1793-1875, pencil signature and half-erased bookplate).
AN ENGLISH CLOCK-MAKER'S COPY OF HUYGEN'S MOST IMPORTANT WORK, containing the first mathematical analysis of the motion of the pendulum and a general treatise on the dynamics of bodies in motion. Inserted as a frontispiece is an 18th-century pen drawing entitled 'Pendulum', showing the arc of its swing. Besides the repeated signature of 'Benjamin Martin', the title-page has 'Hugens on Clock Work' added in bold letters, and at foot a reckoning and observation '1657 first publish'd his Clock' (1657 was the year Huygens first constructed his pendulum clock, capable of measuring time accurately to within ten seconds a day; it was advertised in London the following year by the Dutch firm of Fromanteel). The full-page illustration of the pendulum on p. 4 is given the heading, 'Hugenius's Original Clock', the note below reading: 'I have seen a Regulator with ye weight only 1½ lb. & ye pend. 30 lb.' Scoring and/or underlining in ink occur on pp. 6, 18-19, and 154; calculations on pp. 135, 148-149. Perplexingly, the margins of pp. 21-24 have been cut away so that the notes can no longer be read. Extensive ink calculations also continue in the same hand on the frontispiece verso, below the corrigenda on the final page, and on the rear pastedown. There is a faint pencil diagram on the rear pastedown. Pencil calculation on the frontispiece verso, corrigenda page and rear pastedown may be by John Jackson. However, the knowledgable 18th-century annotator using pen-and-ink was almost certainly the Benjamin Martin recorded in Britten as the 'maker of a curious table clock'. Martin's early career as a scientific lecturer and author changed in 1756 when he began to trade as an optician and instrument maker, also acting as a retailer and wholesaler. In 1770 he published a 12-page quarto pamphlet, The Description and Use of a Table-Clock upon a New Construction, going by a weight eight days, the title-page asserting that the new form of pendulum and escapement were 'invented, made and sold by the author'. It probably made no money for its inventor as Martin died a bankrupt in 1782, and his effects were sold by auction, consistent with John Pope's purchase of this book two years later. The National Register of Archives does not record any holdings of manuscripts by Martin. Dibner Heralds of Science 145; Grolier Science 53; Norman 1137; PMM 154.
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