226 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
A UNIQUE COLLECTION OF ARITHMETICS 
By Dr. LOUIS C. KARPINSKI 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 
i 2 tases visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art have been 
impressed by the wealth of the loan collections standing in names 
comparatively unknown to the general public. A two-million-dollar 
sale of works of art lately excited only passing comment—in spite of 
the fact that many priceless treasures were forever lost to America. 
The existence of this private gallery was made widely known only 
through the dispersal of its paintings—and the unfortunate story of its 
loss to New York City. There are many other storehouses of those 
things which we human beings prize in this great city. Fortunately not 
all of them need to be destroyed as collections before their significance 
and charm receive adequate recognition. So the Morgan library in its 
own somewhat permanent home is now numbered among the city’s 
choicest possessions. 
The existence in the metropolis of an absolutely unrivaled collection 
of fifteenth and sixteenth century arithmetics has been brought to the 
attention of the scientific world by the publication of David Hugene 
Smith’s “ Rara Arithmetica.” While the work purports to be a mere 
descriptive catalogue of the arithmetical books of the period mentioned 
which are in the library of G. A. Plimpton, it is in fact a comparatively 
complete bibliography of the subject, since this library contains prac- 
tically all the arithmetic books published in the first hundred and fifty 
years of printing. As the third, and by far the most complete, col- 
lection of arithmetical works of international fame the Plimpton books 
take a high place among modern private libraries. 
George A. Plimpton’s interest in arithmetics grew out of his busi- 
ness as a publisher of text-books. The historical development of the 
school curriculum is exhibited by his library. Included are geographies 
from the invention of printing up to modern times, spellers, writing 
pooks with wonderful specimens of writing from all the world, geo- 
metries, reading books and representatives of the other subjects of the 
ordinary school program. But the gems of the collection are doubtless 
the mathematical works, for in these Mr. Plimpton’s interest has been 
stimulated by Professor David Eugene Smith, himself an enthusiastic 
bibliophile. The bookshops of all the world have yielded their trea- 
sures to these indefatigable searchers. Professor Smith’s recent trip 
