A FRENCH THREE-DRAW TELESCOPE

THOMIN, CIRCA 1749

Details

A FRENCH THREE-DRAW TELESCOPE
Thomin, circa 1749
the draw tubes bound in gilt-tooled green vellum, signed on innnermost tube THOMIN RUE S. JACQUES A PARIS, silvered dust caps at ends -- with Traite´ d'optique mechanique... Paris: Jean-Baptiste Coignard, Antoine Boudet. 1749. 8° (192 x 120mm) 4 folding plates (light foxing and browning). Contemporary calf with gilt spine (corners bumped, front joint split but holding).
7½in. (19cm.) closed

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Lot Essay

Marc Mitouflet Thomin (1708-1752) was a master optician and author on optical treatise from Paris. Towards the end of his career he was well connected in Court, receiving a commission to make optical instruments for Queen Marie of France. He was also the optical engineer for the Société des arts.

He hired an Englishman to work for him (this would explain the appearance of this particular telescope). Instruments by the optician Thomin are sufficiently rare that Daumas (1972) did not record any extant examples.

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