HENRY SOTHERAN & CO., 140, STRAND, W.C, aKd 37, PICCADILLY, W. 159 



3182 [NAPIER, or NEPER (John, Laird of Merchiston)] Arcanum Supputationis 

 Arithmeticak : quo Doetiina et Praxis Sinuum ac Trianguloruni mire abbreviatur: Opus 

 curiosis omnibus, Geometricis prtesertim et Astronomis utilissimum ; with vignette on title, and 

 numerous diagrams, Svo. large and sound copy in old ca// (rare), £1. 5* 



Lugduniy Huguetan et Ravaud, 1658 



3183 A Thick Paper Copy, 8vo. tohite vellum (fink copy), £1. 17* Qd 



Including a reprint of the author's famous work 'Mirikici LoaARiTHMORUM Canonis Descriptio', containing his 

 invention of Logarithms, with the 'Canon' or Table, and his posthumous ' Mirifici Looarithmorum Constructio', 

 explaining the method of their construction. 



This edition is a reprint of the Lyonese one of 1620 (in itself a facsimile reprint of the original), and very rare, being 

 unknown to Brunet. 



Thick Paper copies were unknown to Mr. W. Rae Macdonald. 



3184 De Arte Logistica Libri <iui supei-sunt [edited, with Introduction (pp. 92), by Mark 



Napier], with fine mezzotint portrait aet. 66 by Hodgetts, and aquatint view of Merchiston Castle^ 

 4to. boards, unciit, £1. 1* Edinburgi [Maitland Club], 1839 



' His earliest mathematical investigations seem to liave been directed to systematising and developing the sciences of 

 algebra and arithii»etic, and the fragments published for the first .time in 1839, under the title De Arte Logistica, were the 

 result of his initial studies. Here he meutiooR that he was considering imaginary roots, a bubject he refers to as an 

 algebraic secret, and that he liad discovered a general method for the extraction of roots of all degrees '.--H'. Rae Mncdonald . 



3185 The CONSTRUCTION of the Wonderful Canon of Logarithms, trans., with Notes and 



Catalogue of the Various Editions of Napier's Works, by William Rae Macdonald, cr. 

 4to. cL, uncut (scarce), 12s ibidem, 1889 



Dedicateil to Lord Napier and Ettrick, Napier of Merchiston's representative. It contains a very complete and 

 valuable bibliography of the author's works, as well as a biographical introduction. 



3186 : Mirifici Looarithmorum Canonis Descriptio, ejus(]^ue Usus, in utraque Trigono- 



metria ; ut etiam in omni Logistica Mathematica, amplissimi, facilliiiii, et e.xpeditissimi 

 Explicatio. Authore ac Inventore, Joanne Nepero, Barone Merchistonii, Sec. Scoto, editio 

 princeps; title within woodcut border, and numerous diagrams, sm. 4to. neivly and finely bound 

 in hf. polished crimson Levant morocco extra, uncut {sonie II. somewJiat water-stained, otherwise a 

 VERY FINE AND UNUSUALLY TALL COPY), very rare, £8. 185 Qd ib.,ex officim Andrew Hart, 1614 



31S7 Another Copy, old hf. calf {title soiled and slightly defective, and blank corner torn off 



4 II. ; otherwise a TALL AND SOUND copy), £7. 



First Edition of one of the most important works in the history of mathematics, being the first to give an account of 

 the invention of logarithms. There, were two f,«,s-Hes of this edition, the first having the reverse of the last leaf blank, whil« 

 the second contains an ' Admonitio ' on it. Both tlve above, copies are of the first and the rarer issue, of which there are only 

 o copies in the i)ublic libraries of the United Kingdom, Avhlle there are 14 of the 2nd issue. The second copy has moreover 

 the rare misprint of pp. 22 and 23 instead of 14 and 1.0. 



' It is one of the greatest curiosities of the history of science that Napier constructed logarithms before exponents were 

 used . . . Napier's nroce.ss is so unique and so diflferent from all other modes of pre.senting the subject that there cannot 

 l»e the shadow of a doubt that this invention was entirely his own ; it is the result of unaided, isolated speculation . . • 

 Napier's great invention was given to the world in 1614 in a work entitled Mirifici Ingarithinorum canonis descriptio. In it 

 he e.xplaiiied the nature of his logarithms, and gave a logarithmic table of the natural sines of a qtiadrant from minute to 

 minute.'— Pro/. Cajori. 



3188 : Rabdologi.*:, seu Numerationis per Viroulas Libri II, cum Appendice de expedi- 



tissisimo [*ic] MuLTiPLicATiONis Promptuario; quibus accessit & Arithmeticae Localis 

 Liber unus. Authore & Inventore Joanne Nepero, Barone Merchistonii, &C. Scoto; first 

 edition, with engraved and woodctit tables, 18mo. original rough calf {one joint cracked, otherwise a 

 fine old copy) ; VERY RARE, £5. 5s tb., Andreas Hart, 1617 



The RoxHimoHE Copv, with bookplate of George Chalmers, F.S.A. 



With dedication to Chancellor Seton, Earl of' Dunfermline, in which Napier explains the title as numeration by little rods. 

 'The.se rods, being usually made of bone or ivory, were familiarly called ' Napier's bones'. By means of them niultipli* 

 cation and division could be performed by methods which were received throughout Europe as a valuable aid to the rude 

 arithmetic of the day. The extraction of the square and cube root could also be performed by their help, in conjunction 

 with two larger rods, the method of constructing which is described. In an appendix 'de exp<!ditissimo .Multij)lieatioiii8 

 Promptuario ' he explains another invention for the performance of multiplication and division — ' the most exi)ed itious of all ' 

 — by means of metal plates arranged in a box. This is the eurlie.st known attempt at the iiiventi(m of a c^lcjilating machine. 

 There is also added his ' Local Arithmetic,' wherein he describes how multiplication an<I division, and even the extraction 

 of roots, may be performed on a chess board by the movement of counters.'— i>. N. l'>. 



3189 : BucHAN (David Steuart 11th Earl of), and Walter Minto: Account or the Life, 



Writings, and Inventions of Napier of Merchiston, with 5 plates, roy. 4to. boards, uncut 

 {wanting title and portrait), 5s ib., 1787 



With api)endix containing 'Analytical Theory of Logarithms', 'The Hyperbola as connected with the Logarithms', 



3190 — — '- : Napier (Mark) Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston, his Lineage, Life, and 

 Times, with a History of the Invention of Logarithms, with fine steel portraits {some foxed), 

 plates, andfss., 4to. scored russia gilt, g. e. (SCARCE), £1. 12* (id to., 1834 



3191 Another Copy, original cL, uncut, ^l.lsQd 



The best biography of Napier, and especially valuable for the copious ' History of the luvention of Lc«arithm« ' (pp. 73). 

 The appendixes include ' ThePhilo.sopher's Theory of Equations, literally trans, from the unpublished Latin MS.,* and an 

 nnpubli.shed letter from Johann Kepler to Napier ; while the illustrations contain ' Neper's Bones ', his Arithmetical 

 Triangle, and a fs. of the titlepage of the first edition of the Logarithms. 



3192 NAUMANN (Alexander, Giessen) Lehr- und Handbuch der Thermochemie, 8vo. hf.-calf 

 neat, Qs Qd (p. M. 15. unbound) Braunschweig, 1882 



3193 NAUTICAL ALMANAC (The), and Astronomical Ephemeris for 1770-1, '75-8, '84, 

 '89-'90, '97-8, 1802, '04-6, 09, '11, '20-3, '25-6, '28, '32, '34, '37, '39, '42-3, '48, '63, '73, and '76, 

 34 vols. 8vo. boards (5 v. calf or hf. bound), £2. 2s 1770-1876 



3194 NEGRETTI and ZAMBKA'S Treatise on Meteorological Instruments, with 98 wood- 

 cuts, roy. 8vo. cl. , 2s 1864 



