The Library of James Stirling, Mathematician

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STIRLING, MATHEMATICIAN

THURSDAY 23 OCTOBER 2025 FROM 1PM

VIEWING

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JAMES STIRLING

(1692-1770)

James Stirling was born on 11 May 1692 at Garden House, near Stirling, Scotland, the third son of Jacobite laird Archibald Stirling, who had been acquitted of high treason for his role in the Brig o’Turk gathering of 1708, and his second wife. He was to become one of the leading mathematicians in Europe in the early 18th century, cultivating relationships with Sir Isaac Newton, Colin Maclaurin, Gabriel Cramer and Leonhard Euler among others. He made a valuable contribution in the fields of infinitesimal calculus and infinite series, and gives his name to the Stirling numbers and to Stirling’s formula.

Little is known of Stirling’s early life until his arrival at Oxford in 1710. Coming from a Jacobite family, he matriculated as a nonjuror in inauspicious circumstances which he reported in a letter home, informing his father that he had avoided taking the oath of allegiance ‘with the help of my tutor … but with much ado’. In 1715 John Keill noted in a letter to Newton that the problem of orthogonal trajectories proposed by Leibniz had recently been solved by ‘Mr. Stirling an under-graduate here’. His first book, Lineae tertii ordinis Neutonianae, a commentary on Newton’s classification of cubic curves, was printed at the Sheldonian Theatre in April 1717, with Newton named as a subscriber.

By that time Stirling’s status as a non-juring student and his alleged involvement in Jacobite agitation had already led to trouble with the university authorities, and his scholarships appear to have been withdrawn shortly before the book was published. He therefore left Oxford without a degree, taking up an invitation to Venice from Nicolas Tron, the Venetian ambassador to London. Stirling was in Italy for several years, and became known in his family as ‘the Venetian’ in consequence. During this time Stirling attended the university of Padua and made the acquaintance of scholars including Nicolaus Bernoulli. In 1719 he wrote to Newton from Venice thanking him for an unspecified act of generosity, usually interpreted as a gift of money, and in the same year communicated to the Royal Society his paper ‘Methodus differentialis Newtoniana illustrata’, the basis for his magnum opus, the Methodus differentialis sive tractatus de summatio et interpolatio serierum infinitarum, which was published in 1730. Stirling’s holograph manuscript of the Methodus, his corrected copy of the first edition, and a copy of the first edition in English are all present in his library.

Stirling was back in Scotland by 1722, and in 1725 became a tutor at Watts’s Academy in Little Tower Street, Covent Garden. The following year he was elected to the Royal Society, and his surviving correspondence shows that he spent the ensuing decade engaged in the productive exchange of ideas with his

peers across Europe as the Newtonian revolution unfolded, while calling regularly on the aged Newton himself, informing his brother in a letter home that ‘Sr Isaac Newton lives a little way of in the country. I go frequently to see him, and find him extremely kind and serviceable in every thing I desire, but he is much failed and not able to do as he has done’. He also developed a special interest in the debate on the shape of the Earth and the resulting distribution of its gravitational forces, publishing an important essay to the subject in the Philosophical Transactions. Weights and measures became another area of research.

In 1735 James Stirling was appointed manager of the mines at Leadhills, Lanarkshire on behalf of the Scots Mining Company. Records of this period show that Stirling restored the commercial fortunes of the mines, regularised and improved the working conditions of the miners, and introduced technological innovations including a ventilation system for mine shafts and furnaces. At Leadhills Stirling found he had less time than he wished for mathematical research, and this may have deterred him from accepting the offer of the Edinburgh University chair in mathematics following the death of Maclaurin in 1746. By this period his energies were devoted mainly to the application of scientific knowledge: his survey of the River Clyde, conducted in 1752 on behalf of the Corporation of Glasgow, helped establish the city as a major commercial and imperial centre.

James Stirling married late in life, probably after 1745. His wife Barbara Watson died in 1753. Their one daughter, Christian, married her cousin Archibald Stirling, the heir to the family estate and James’s successor as manager of Leadhills.

Key works cited in this catalogue:

Babson Institute. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Works of Sir Isaac Newton and the Material Relating to him in the Babson Institute Library, Babson Park, Mass. New York: Herbert Reichner, 1950.

Ian Tweddle. James Stirling: ‘This about Series and Such Things’: A Discussion of the Later Works of Scottish Mathematician James Stirling (1692-1770), based mainly on Material from his Notebooks. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1988.

Ian Tweddle. ‘Stirling, James (1692-1770), mathematician and mine manager’, ODNB, 2004.

Charles Tweedie. James Stirling: A Sketch of his Life and Works. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922.

Peter & Ruth Wallis. Newton and Newtoniana 1672-1975.

A Bibliography. Folkestone: Dawson, 1975.

Sir Isaac Newton

Scientific Instruments 1-11 12-57 58-71 72-78 79-96 97-106

The Newtonian Century: James Stirling & his Contemporaries

The Figure of the Earth: Geology, Geodesy & Technology

Weights & Measures

The Classical World in Print

History & Literature

Travels

Philosophy

Religion

Later Works

SIR ISAAC NEWTON

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC

PHILOSOPHIAE NATURALIS PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA

Editio tertia aucta et emendata. London: apud Guil. et Joh. Innys, Regiae Societatis typographos, 1726. 4to (28.7 x 21.5cm), contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label to second, covers with large diamond-shaped gilt centrepieces built up from various tools including crowns, sunbursts, flowers and drawer-handles, gilt cornerpieces, edges sprinkled red, [10] 530 [10] pp., half-title, royal licence leaf, engraved portrait frontispiece, title-page printed in red and black, advertisement leaf to rear, engraving by John Senex in text at p. 506, manuscript additions to diagram on p. 240, binding rubbed, front joint cracked, cracking to head and foot of rear joint, wear to tips, Z2 with loss to fore corner [Wallis 9; cf. Babson 13-14]

Note: Third edition, one of 200 large-paper copies, this copy with James Stirling’s ownership inscription to the half-title.

‘This edition was the last published during the author’s lifetime and the basis of all subsequent editions. It was edited by Henry Pemberton … and contains a new preface by Newton and a large number of alterations, the most important being the scholium on fluxions, in which Leibnitz had been mentioned by name’ (Babson).

The first edition appeared in 1687, and the second edition (prepared by Roger Cotes) in 1713. The third edition comprised 1,000 standard copies on demy, 200 large-paper copies on crown, and 50 extra-large copies on superfine, respectively having the appearance of a quarto, large quarto, and folio. James Stirling was a follower of Newton from his time at Oxford, where he arrived in 1710. In 1715 John Keill noted in a letter to Newton that the problem of orthogonal trajectories proposed by Leibniz had recently been solved by ‘Mr. Stirling an under-graduate here’ (Tweedie, James Stirling: A Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, 1922, p. 7). Stirling’s first book, Lineae tertii ordinis Neutonianae, a commentary on Newton’s classification of cubic curves, was printed at the Sheldonian Theatre in April 1717, with Newton listed as a subscriber. By that time Stirling’s status as a nonjuring student and his alleged involvement in Jacobite agitation had already led to trouble with the university authorities, however, and his scholarships appear to have been withdrawn shortly before the book was published. Leaving Oxford without a degree, he took up an invitation to Venice from Nicolas Tron, Venetian ambassador to London. In 1719, while still in Italy and apparently in dire straits, he received much-needed financial assistance from Newton, and once back in London called on him regularly during his final years, writing in a surviving letter from 1725: ‘Sr Isaac Newton lives a little way of in the country. I go frequently to see him, and find him extremely kind and serviceable in every thing I desire, but he is much failed and not able to do as he has done’ (Tweedie, p. 13). Stirling’s principal work, the Methodus differentialis, a response to Newton’s paper of the same name, appeared in 1730.

£10,000-20,000

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC OPTICE

sive de reflexionibus, refractionibus, inflexionibus et coloribus lucis libri tres. Latine reddidit Samuel Clarke. Accedunt tractatus duo eiusdem authoris de speciebus et magnitudine figurarum curvilinearum, Latine scripti. London: Sam. Smith & Benj. Walford, 1706. 4to (24.5 x 19cm), contemporary panelled calf, red morocco label, edges sprinkled red, [14] 348 [2] 24 [2] 24 21-43 pp., 19 engraved folding plates, 2S1 a cancel as usual (stub of cancellandum not visible), short split to head of each joint, closed tear to K3, old repair to slit in lower margin of 3C1 (as noted in other copies) [Babson 137; Wallis 179]

Note: First edition in Latin, with James Stirling’s ownership inscriptions in Latin and English (‘Jacobus Stirling’ and ‘Ja. Stirling’) and note of price paid (12s5d) to the front free endpaper, and errata supplied in manuscript in a contemporary hand, perhaps Stirling’s, to some 45 pages in total; the pagination of ‘Tractatus de Quadratura Curvarum’ has also been corrected. Opticks was first published in English in 1704, the Latin edition being expanded by the addition of seven further queries in the third book.

£2,000-3,000

3

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC

OPTICKS

or, a Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light. London: for William and John Innys, 1721. 8vo (19.5 x 11.7cm), contemporary panelled calf, [8] 382 [2] pp., 12 engraved folding plates, woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials, advertisement leaf to rear, final plate with browning to fore margin [Babson 135; Wallis 177]

Note: Third edition, with James Stirling’s ownership inscription and dated purchase note, ‘Ja: Stirling pr 5 sh: 29 June 1726’, to the front pastedown. The third edition is the final edition published in Newton’s lifetime and a reprint of the second edition of 1717, ‘save for a few corrections and the addition of one passage in the last sentence referring to Noah and his sons’ (Babson).

£2,000-3,000

4

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC LECTIONES OPTICAE

annis MDCLXIX, MDCLXX et MDCLXXI. In scholis publicis habitae: et nunc primum ex MSS. in lucem editae. London: apud Guil. Innys, 1729. 4to (22 x 16.2cm), contemporary calf, red morocco label, spine-compartments ruled in gilt, covers with gilt outer frames enclosing decorative roll-tool central panels in blind, xii 291 [5] pp., half-title, 21 engraved folding plates, binding rubbed, superficial cracking to joints, wear to head of spine [Babson 155; Wallis 191]

Note: Editio princeps (that is, the first edition in the original Latin) and the first complete edition, with James Stirling’s ownership inscription (‘Ja. Stirling’) to the title-page, and his note of the book’s presentation to him by one Edward Montague, esquire (‘Ex dono Edvardi Montague armig.’) in 1731 to the front pastedown. Newton’s inaugural lectures as the second Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge were delivered between 1670 and 1672, and included details of his famous prism experiment. A partial English translation was published in 1728. ‘In 1669 Newton chose optics for his first lectures, and at that time he polished the theory of colours into its final form. The ‘Lectiones opticae’ (‘Optical lectures’), deposited in the Cambridge University Library as the text of his first four sets of lectures, contains all the content of book one of the ultimate Opticks. About then he also returned to the experiment with Newton’s rings, as they are still called, which would fill book two’ (ODNB).

£2,000-3,000

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC

ANALYSIS PER QUANTITATUM SERIES, FLUXIONES, AC DIFFERENTIAS

cum enumeratione linearum tertii ordinis. London: ex officina Pearsoniana, 1711. 4to in half-sheets (23 x 17.4cm), contemporary calf, red morocco label, decorative blind panels to covers, edges sprinkled red, [14] 101 pp., engraved vignette by J. Nutting to title-page, 2 engraved folding tables by John Senex, engraved table by Senex in the text (p. 62), each part (4 in total) with engraved headpiece, tailpiece and initial, woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials elsewhere, type-ornament headpieces, engraved diagrams in the text at pp. 75-87 and 97, binding slightly rubbed, a little marginal spotting, rear free endpaper with small section excised from lower outer corner [Babson 207-8 (207 being bound with other works); Wallis 293] £40,000-60,000

First edition, James Stirling’s copy of this major collection of Newton’s mathematical writings, published with the intention of establishing his priority over Leibniz in the discovery of calculus, the controversy then being at its height. Edited by Welsh mathematician William Jones, it contains the first editions of two foundational works. ‘De Analysis per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas’, written in 1669, is considered the ‘first independent treatise on the higher mathematics, containing his invention of the calculus … [and] the first printed account of the binomial theorem’ (Babson). ‘Methodus differentialis’, from 1676 and concerning the calculus of finite differences, was the

work which inspired Stirling’s own ‘principal contribution to mathematics’ (ODNB), which he published under the same title in 1730. The two other works are ‘De quadratura curvarum’ and ‘Enumeratio linearum tertii ordinis’, both reprinted from Opticks (1704).

Stirling’s ownership inscription, ‘Ja. Stirling’, is found on the title-page and front pastedown, accompanied in the latter case by his note of price paid (13 shillings) and his acquisition of the book in Oxford, where he matriculated at Balliol College in January 1711, the year the Analysis was published.

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC

A TREATISE OF THE METHOD OF FLUXIONS AND INFINITE SERIES

with its Application to the Geometry of Curve Lines. Translated from the Latin Original not yet published. London: for T. Woodman; and J Millan, 1737. 8vo in half-sheets (19.8 x 11.7cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, twin gilt fillet rules to spine-compartments and covers, edges sprinkled red, xiv [2] 189 pp., 4 folding letterpress tables, diagrams in text [ESTC T18660; Babson 171; Wallis 234]

Note: Second edition, a year after the first, no other copy traced in auction records. Both editions are different translations of the same manuscript, the present translation being anonymous and curiously not mentioning John Colson’s version of the previous year. The work was finished by Newton shortly before his death and the manuscript entrusted to Henry Pemberton, who never published it himself.

£1,000-1,500

7

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC

GENESIS CURVARUM PER UMBRAS seu perspectivae universalis elementa; exemplis coni sectionum et linearum tertii ordinis illustrata. London: A. Millar, 1746. First edition, 8vo, contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt coronet devices to spine-compartments, x [2] 126 pp., 12 engraved folding plates, errata leaf, spine and extremities rubbed, a little wear to joints [Babson 209; Wallis 300]

Note: First edition, prepared for the press by Scottish clergyman, mathematician and author Patrick Murdoch (d.1772), whose interest in Newton probably dated back to his friendship with Colin Maclaurin, his teacher at the University of Edinburgh. Babson’s ambiguous reference to the work being previously ‘issued’ in Leiden in 1740 is perhaps a reference to circulation in manuscript, no record of such an edition being traced.

£300-500

8

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC

TWO TREATISES OF THE QUADRATURE OF CURVES

and Analysis by Equations of an Infinite Number of Terms, explained: containing the Treatises themselves, translated into English, with a Large Commentary … by John Stewart. London: by James Bettenham, at the expence [sic] of the Society for the Encouragement of Learning; and sold by John Nourse and John Whiston, 1745. 4to (25 x 18.5cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, xxxii 475 [4] pp., engraved vignette to title-page, diagrams throughout text, engraved tailpiece after William Kent, pencilled mathematical diagrams and equations to front free endpaper, superficial cracking to foot of front joint and head of rear joint [Babson 210; Wallis 303]

Note: First edition in English, one of 350 copies, of two tracts originally published as a supplement to the Opticks, here with the ‘valuable commentary’ (Babson) of Scottish mathematician John Stewart, professor at Marischal College, Aberdeen.

£2,000-3,000

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC

DE MUNDI SYSTEMATE

London: J. Tonson, J. Osborn, & T. Longman, 1728. 4to (23.9 x 17.6cm), contemporary panelled calf, red morocco spine label, iv 108 pp., title-page printed in red and black, 2 engraved folding plates [Babson 16; Wallis 19]

Note: First edition, given to James Stirling by fellow Newtonian Abraham de Moivre, with Stirling’s inscription ‘Ja: Stirling Ex Dono Dni De Moivre’ to the front pastedown. Stirling and de Moivre were both personal friends of Newton as well as leading contemporary proponents of Newtonianism. One of Stirling’s principal contributions to mathematics, a formula for approximating to the logarithm of a large factorial, remembered eponymously as Stirling’s formula, owed much to the work of De Moivre, ‘whose early investigations led Stirling into this topic and who found a simpler version after learning of Stirling’s result’ (ODNB). The text of De Mundi Systemate is an earlier version of the third book of the Principia, printed from a manuscript found in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. An English translation was published in the same year.

£3,000-5,000

10

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL, AND THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN

London: printed by J. Darby and T. Browne, sold by J. Roberts [and others], 1733. First edition, 4to (25 x 18.8cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, vi [2] 324 pp., engraved arms to dedication, binding slightly rubbed, superficial splitting to joint-ends, front free endpaper partly detached, title-page slightly marked and with old diagonal crease, a few minor blemishes elsewhere [Babson 224; Wallis 328]

£600-800

11

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC

THE CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT KINGDOMS AMENDED

To which is prefix’d, a Short Chronicle from the First Memory of Things in Europe, to the Conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great. London: for J. Tonson, and J. Osborn and T. Longman, 1728. First edition, 4to (22.3 x 16.6cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, floral lozenges gilt to spinecompartments, red morocco label, xiv [2] 376 pp., engraved arms and initial to dedication, 3 engraved folding plates, contemporary manuscript calculations to initial blank, small chip to head of spine [Babson 215; Wallis 309]

Note: ‘The most radical of Newton’s theological endeavours had been his ‘Theologiae gentilis origines philosophicae’, which he transformed into the Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended, as the manuscript published soon after his death was entitled’ (ODNB).

£600-800

Lot 9

THE NEWTONIAN CENTURY: JAMES STIRLING & HIS CONTEMPORARIES

12

PEMBERTON, HENRY

A VIEW OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON’S PHILOSOPHY

London: S. Palmer, 1728. First edition, 4to (28.4 x 21.5cm), contemporary mottled calf, [48] 407 pp., engraved title vignette, headand tailpieces and initials, 12 engraved folding plates, rubbed, spine-label perished, joints cracking and worn, light spotting to title-page, one plate (facing p. 164) loose, occasional remediable dust-soiling to top margins, a few other blemishes [Babson 98; Wallis 132]

Note: ‘This study of Newton is interesting as being the account of a close friend. The preface contains the author’s recollections of Newton, especially in his old age’ (Babson). Henry Pemberton was also the editor of the third edition of the Principia (1726).

£300-500

13

BEDFORD, ARTHUR

ANIMADVERSIONS UPON SIR ISAAC NEWTON’S BOOK INTITLED THE CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT KINGDOMS AMENDED

London: printed by Charles Ackers, sold by R. Knaplock, F. Fayram, J. Hooker, 1728. First edition, 8vo (19.1 x 11.cm), contemporary mottled calf, viii [6] 232 pp., rubbed, wear to headcap, spine-label perished, section of skinning to front board [Babson 218; Wallis 315.01]

Note: One of three variant imprints listed by Wallis, priority not established. Bedford ‘correctly noticed the heretical implications of some of Newton’s alterations to traditional biblical chronology and associated them with the revival of anti-Trinitarian theology’ (ODNB). For a copy of Newton’s work see lot 11.

£200-300

14

VOLTAIRE

THE ELEMENTS OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON’S PHILOSOPHY

Translated from the French. Revised and Corrected by John Hanna. London: for Stephen Austen, 1738. First edition, 8vo (19.6 x 12cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, xvi 363 [1] pp., 10 engraved folding plates, rubbed, spine-label perished, wear to foot of spine, front free endpaper lacking, annotations in ink and pencil to rear endpapers including mathematical calculations, unsigned but possibly by James Stirling [Babson 121; Wallis 157]

Note: First edition in English, the same year as the original French edition, printed at Amsterdam. ‘Once accepted, Newton’s ideas were more wholeheartedly embraced in France than anywhere else. Voltaire helped much to further their knowledge, notably through this book’ (Babson).

£300-500

15 MACLAURIN, COLIN

AN ACCOUNT OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON’S PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOVERIES

in Four Books. Published from the Author’s Manuscript Papers, by Patrick Murdoch. London: printed for the author’s children, 1748. 4to (28.4 x 22.2cm), contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, [8] xx [20] 392 pp., half-title, 6 engraved folding plates, loss to spine-label, front joint cracked [Babson 85; ESTC T81914; Wallis 112]

Note: First edition, large-paper copy. James Stirling’s name is in the list of subscribers, and is asterisked to indicate his subscription to the large-paper issue. ‘Though a number of other general expositions of Newton’s thought were published during the eighteenth century, Maclaurin’s Account has long been recognized as the leading authoritative statement of mainstream Newtonianism’ (ODNB).

£400-600

16

MACLAURIN, COLIN

A TREATISE OF FLUXIONS

In Two Books. Edinburgh: printed by T. W. and T. Ruddimans, 1742. 2 volumes, 4to (23.4 x 17.4cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, spines gilt in compartments, red morocco labels, [7] ii-vi 412, [2] 413-761 pp., half-title to volume 1, 41 engraved folding plates (numbered 1-40: number 25 duplicated), laid-in manuscript errata (single foolscap sheet, 37 x 22.6cm, written on both sides, headed ‘Errata in Mr Maclaurin’s Treatise of Fluxionis observed since the Publication’, containing some 30 corrections, folded), volume 1 p. 302 with an equation partly crossed through in ink, volume 2 p. 413 with manuscript correction to margin, both volumes with a little loss to head of each spine and front joint, volume 1 front joint superficially cracked [ESTC T93640; Norman 1408]

£2,000-3,000

First edition of Maclaurin’s ‘magnum opus’ (ODNB), with a laidin manuscript list of errata, written principally in a bold clerical hand but with three errata added to the verso apparently in the author’s. The paper on which this copy is printed is notably thick and the dimensions similar to those of a presentation copy to the Earl of Hopetoun (23.2 x 17.7cm), which was catalogued as a ‘large and thick paper copy’ and also contained a manuscript list of errata (Christie’s, 12th September 2020. The Hopetoun family were the owners of the mines at Leadhills, where James Stirling spent his later career. ‘Maclaurin placed great reliance upon Stirling’s judgment, and frequently

consulted him while engaged in writing his Treatise of Fluxions’ (Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: a Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, Oxford, 1922, p. 15).

A Treatise of Fluxions was ‘the earliest logical and systematic publication of the Newtonian methods’ (DSB). Maclaurin’s intention was to silence Newton’s critics, notably George Berkeley. ‘His emphasis on Newtonian geometry was very influential, and diverted attention from the analytical methods being formulated on the Continent’ (Norman).

17

MACLAURIN, COLIN (1698-1746)

TEN AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED TO JAMES STIRLING

each a single bifolium, 4to, approx. 19 x 23cm or similar (except item 6: folio, 38 x 24cm), addressed to Stirling ‘at the Academy in Little Tower Street’, London, or at Leadhills, items 6, 7 and 10 annotated with mathematical calculations, likely by James Stirling (the annotations to 6 and 7 in pencil, those to 10 in ink).

1. Edinburgh, 7th December 1728, on his intention to published a piece on the collision of bodies (‘I wish I had Mr Graham’s Experiment at full length with Liberty to insert it’), his response to the nascent priority dispute with George Campbell (his ‘design of giving a Treatise of Algebra’, his ‘method of demonstrating that [i.e. Newton’s] rule by the Limits’, by which ‘too I demonstrate a Theorem in y[our?] book where a quantity is expressed by a series whose [coeffi]cients are first, second, third fluxions etc. I shall be vexed a little if he has taken this from me’), and other matters (’I expect to dispose of the six subscriptions I took for Mr De Moivre’s book’), 3 pages, seal tear affecting a few letters, old staining;

2. Edinburgh, 1st May 1729, on the priority dispute with Campbell regarding impossible roots (‘I have sent Mr Folkes the remainder of my paper … I am satisfied that any person who will read this paper and compare it with Mr Campbell’s will do me justice … The proposition I sent you in my last letter is the foundation of all my Theorems about the impossible Roots)’, 3 pages, loss to conjugate leaf affecting a few words;

3. Edinburgh, 6th November 1729, on the dispute with Campbell (‘I wonder I had no message by a good hand from Mr Campbell before he printed these silly reports … He has misrepresented my paper much and found things in it I never asserted’), 3 pages;

4. undated, probably 1729, on the dispute with Campbell (‘I send you with this letter my answer to Mr George Campbell which I publish with regret being so far from delighting in such a difference that I have the

greatest dislike at a publick dispute of this Nature’), also mentioning a debt of six guineas to Abraham de Moivre, small closed tear to first leaf and seal tear to second with no loss of text, 3 pages;

5. Edinburgh, 16th November 1734, announcing his intention to write A Treatise of Fluxions (‘Upon more consideration I did not think it best to write an answer to Dean Berkeley but to write a treatise of fluxions which might answer the purpose and be useful to my scholars. I intend that it shall be laid before you as soon I shall send two or three sheets more of it to Mr Warrender that I may have your judgment of it with all openness and liberty … Robert Simpson is lazy you know and perhaps has not considered that subject so much as others. But I can entirely depend on your judgment. I am not at present inclined to put my name to it … I have some thoughts in order to make some of Mr De Moivre’s theorems more easy which I hope he will not take amiss’), and discussing other matters (his search for a copy of Machin’s book on the moon;

‘I observe in our news papers that Dr Halley has found the longitude’, etc.), 3 pages, old ink-splashes and small seal tear to conjugate leaf;

6. 4th February 1737 [Old Style, i.e. 1738], comprising a secretarial copy of an English translation of a letter from Maupertuis to James Bradley, Paris 27th September 1737, announcing the return of the French expedition to Lapland, 1736-7, and describing in detail the findings of the expedition, 3 pages, with Maclaurin’s autograph covering note to verso of conjugate leaf, with a postscript inviting Stirling to join a newly established ‘philosophical society’, i.e. the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, a few small holes and marginal chips (causing loss of a few words in the postscript of Maupertuis’s letter);

7. Dean near Edinburgh, April 1738, recommending ‘an ingenious young man here who I am very sure will please you’ owing to his ‘natural turn for making mathematical instruments, with a postscript regarding the publication of De Moivre’s new book (presumably the second edition of The Doctrine of Chances) and mentioning centripetal forces, 1 page, small tear to edge of central fold partially obscuring one word;

8. 12th May, 1738, principally on fluxions (‘I am persuaded many things

are wanting in the inverse methods of fluxions especially in what relates to fluents that are not reduced and perhaps are not reduced to the logarithms or circle. I give a chapter on these, distinguish them into various orders, and shew easy constructions of lines by whose rectification they may be assigned’), citing the work of Cotes and de Moivre, with 3 small mathematical diagrams, 3 pages, seal tear touching one word;

9. Dean, 20th May 1738, a detailed correction of an earlier mathematical demonstration, presumably that given in the previous letter (‘When I spoke of concentric surfaces infinitely near I restricted only that I might distinguish the parts more properly into such as were convex and concave towards the particle’), referring to Cotes’s theorems, encouraging Stirling’s work on the figure of the earth (‘I wish you had time to finish what you are doing’, with 2 small mathematical diagrams, 3 pages, small tears affecting a few words;

10. 6th December 1740, discusses the French expedition to Peru (‘Mr Short writes that an unlucky accident has happened to the French mathematicians in Peru. It seems they were shewing some French gallantry to the natives’ wives, who have murdered their servants, destroyed their instruments and burn’t their papers’), and Short’s observation of the satellite of Venus before summarising ‘all that I have printed in my book relating to the attraction of spheroids and the figure of the Earth’, 3 pages

Note: A major collection of letters illuminating the working relationship of two leading lights of the Newtonian revolution, and two of the most important Scottish mathematicians of any era.

Colin Maclaurin was James Stirling’s junior by six years, but as a child prodigy beginning his studies at the university of Glasgow at the age of 11, quickly caught up with his older compatriot, so that their careers proceeded with a remarkable degree of conjunction. In 1717 Maclaurin was appointed chair of mathematics at Marischal College in Aberdeen, the year in which Stirling travelled to Italy, probably with his own hopes of a professorship. Their respective first books, Stirling’s Lineae tertii ordinis Neutonianae, published in 1717 with Newton listed as a subscriber, and Maclaurin’s Geometrica

organica, published in 1720 with Newton’s imprimatur, were both responses to Newton’s ‘Enumeratio linearum tertii ordinis’. Maclaurin often complained of the burden of his teaching duties, first in Aberdeen and then as professor of mathematics at Edinburgh from 1725, and Stirling too was forced to balance his mathematical researches with his work as a tutor at Watts’s Academy in London and then as mines manager at Leadhills. It is probable that the pair became personally acquainted through the Royal Society, to which they were elected in 1719 (Maclaurin) and 1726 (Stirling). Although on opposing sides, both men were in their own ways victims of the Jacobite cause: Stirling’s departure from Oxford was directly the result of his Jacobite sympathies, while Maclaurin’s death closely followed his flight from Edinburgh in 1745 in anticipation of the arrival of Charles Stuart’s highland army. Stirling was offered the professorship at Edinburgh in succession to Maclaurin, but declined owing to his commitments at Leadhills. They are today buried in the same churchyard, Greyfriars, in Edinburgh, and are remembered, together with Maclaurin’s teacher Robert Simson, as part of the triumvirate of Scottish mathematicians active in the early 18th century ‘who all produced mathematical work that is still relevant today’ (Tweddle, ‘The Prickly Genius - Colin Maclaurin (1698-1746)’, Mathematical Gazette, 1998, Vol. 82 No. 495, p. 378).

These letters and that in the following lot are the entirety of the known letters from Maclaurin to Stirling as identified in the early 20th century by Charles Tweedie. A substantial primary source for the progression of Maclaurin’s priority dispute with George Campbell over the discovery of impossible roots, they also trace the development of key ideas in A Treatise of Fluxions (1742), with Maclaurin demonstrating ‘great reliance on Stirling’s judgment’ (Tweedie, p. 15), and provide a snapshot of the unfolding debate over the figure of the earth, to which both men made contributions of lasting importance. Perhaps more than any other letters in the library of James Stirling, they provide an insight into the material and social context of the exchange and development of ideas in the Age of Enlightenment, when the discovery of scientific and mathematical truths was dependent on contingencies including personal rivalries and friendships, the physical availability of books and articles, and social initiatives such as the foundation of learned societies.

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: a Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, 1922, pp. 57-9, 67-8, 69, 71-2, 73-5, 75-9, 79-80, 80-82, 85-8, 90-92.

£15,000-20,000

MACLAURIN, COLIN (1698-1746)

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ON THE PRIORITY DISPUTE WITH GEORGE CAMPBELL OVER THE IMPOSSIBLE ROOTS OF EQUATIONS addressed to James Stirling ‘at the Academy in Little Tower Street, London’, dated Edinburgh, 11th February 1728 [Old Style, i.e. 1729], expressing agitation regarding the replication of his work on the ‘impossible roots’ in a paper by Campbell in the Philosophical Transactions for October, asserting his own claim to priority, and providing demonstrations (including one diagram), with frequent references to Newton (‘Sir Isac’) and John Machin: ‘I cannot therefor but be a little concerned that after I had given the principles of my method and carried it some length and had it marked that my paper was to be continued, another pursuing the very same thought should be published in the intervall … You would easily see that the latter part of Mr Campbell’s paper after he has done with the limits is the very continuation of my theorems if you had the demonstrations … I believe you will easily allow that I could not have invented these theorems since Tuesday last especially when at present teaching six hours daily I have little relish for these investigations’, foolscap bifolium written on 3 sides, 36 x 22cm, a few chips and tears to fore margins, retaining red wax seal

Note: The priority dispute between Maclaurin and Campbell originated in the attempt to solve two problems bequeathed by Isaac Newton in the Arithmetica universalis (1707): the rule for determining the number of complex roots of a polynomial equation, which Newton asserted but did not demonstrate, and the problem of finding limits for the roots of an algebraic equation, found in the sections titled ‘De nature radicum aequationis’ and ‘De limitibus aequationis’ respectively. Several leading members of the British mathematical establishment were dragged into the dispute, with Stirling serving as Maclaurin’s main correspondent on the subject.

A historian of the episode has concluded: ‘There can be little doubt that Campbell was a very competent mathematician; and, while he may have made use of Maclaurin’s first paper in writing his own, it seems certain that he worked out the detail of his theorems for himself … Perhaps the fairest resolution of this contretemps over priority … was given in the 1732 edition of Newton’s Arithmetica. There, its editor … Gravesande subjoined without comment Latin translations of Campbell’s paper of 1728 and of the two letters of Maclaurin, thus leaving it to posterity to decide the relative merit and originality of their work’ (Mills, ‘The Controversy Between Colin Maclaurin and George Campbell Over Complex Roots, 1728-1729’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences, 1983, Vol. 28, No. 2 (1983), pp. 149-164).

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: a Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, 1922, pp. 62-7.

£3,000-5,000

20

GRAVESANDE,

WILLEM JACOB ‘S AN ESSAY ON PERSPECTIVE

Written in French. And now translated into English. London: for J. Senex [and others], 1724. First edition, 8vo (19 x 11.6cm), contemporary panelled calf, [4] x 120 pp., 32 engraved plates, James Stirling’s pencilled ownership inscription (‘James Stirling 1727’) to front pastedown, bound without half-title, small section of loss to leather on front board;

Gregory, David. A Treatise of Practical Geometry. Edinburgh: by W. and T. Ruddimans, for Hamilton and Balfour, 1745. First edition, 8vo (20.6 x 11.9cm, contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt spine, [4] 153 pp., 5 engraved plates, inked annotation on the ratio of Scottish to English feet to verso of final page, apparently in the hand of James Stirling, spine-label perished; Maclaurin, Colin. A Treatise of Algebra. London: A. Millar, and J. Nourse, 1748. First edition, 8vo (20.2 x 12.6cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, xiv 366 [2] 65 [1] pp., 12 engraved folding plates; Scamozzi, Vincenzo. The Mirror of Architecture: or the Ground Rules of the Art of Building … Seventh Edition. Whereunto is added, A Compendium of the Art of Building … by William Leyburn [sic, i.e. Leybourn]. London: for B. Sprint, 1734. 4to, contemporary mottled calf, [6] 110 pp., engraved additional title-page, 50 engraved numbered plates (several folding), 2 full-page engravings in text, one folding plate with long closed tear (4)

Note: The extant correspondence between James Stirling and Genevan mathematician Gabriel Cramer makes frequent mention of the work of Gravesande, Cramer informing Stirling in one letter from 1730 ‘that Mr ‘S Gravesande had made some little improvement to your method, given in your book Enumeratio linearum 3ii Ordinis etc for finding the difference of exponents arithmetically proportional in an infinite series formed from a given equation’ (see lot 21 and Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: a Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, 1922, p. 116).

£400-600

EULER, LEONHARD (1707-1783)

TWO AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED TO JAMES STIRLING

First letter: dated Petropoli [i.e. St Petersburg], 8th June 1736, 4 pp., in Latin, addressed and signed at head ‘Viro Clarissimo Jacobo Stirling S. P. D., Leonhardus Eule’, professing admiration of Stirling’s work on the nature of series as published in the ‘Transactions’ (i.e. of the Royal Society) and ‘Your excellent book, Methodus differentialis’ (‘excellentem librum tuum de methodo differentiali’), in particular part I proposition XIV, and providing an extensive demonstration of his (Euler’s) own method of the summation of very slowly converging series, as read before the Russian Academy of Sciences (‘Quod quidem ad summationem serierum lentissime convergentium attinct, ego praeteriot anno quoque coram Cademia nostra methodum peculiarem praelegi, cujus ope plurium serierum exiguo labora summas satis prope dedi’), 18.5 x 24cm.

Second letter: dated Petropoli, 27th July 1738, in Latin, 8 pp. addressed and signed at head ‘Viro Clarissimo Jacobo Stirling S. P. D. Leonhardus Euler’, principally on series, with extensive demonstrations (see below), 18 x 24cm.

Together with James Stirling’s autograph draft response to Euler’s first letter, with corrections, dated Edinburgh, 16th April 1738, 2 pp., in Latin, 30.4 x 19.6cm, splits and nicks to edges (especially at folds) (3)

Note: A major collection of letters identified by Charles Tweedie, editor of the correspondence of James Stirling, as evidence of the independent discovery of the Euler-Maclaurin theorem by its two namesakes. Included is Leonhard Euler’s first letter to James Stirling, which initiated their acquaintance and was shown by Stirling to Maclaurin, who consequently referred to it in the second volume of A Treatise of Fluxions. Tweedie contrived not to see Euler’s first letter of 1736 and consequently believed it to be lost, though he inferred its existence from Stirling’s reply and an ambiguous reference to a secondary source which cites a letter from Euler to Stirling dated 9th June 1736; it was eventually rediscovered in the 1980s by historian of mathematics Ian Tweddle.

In Stirling’s draft response, much delayed presumably owing to his work at Leadhills, he professes himself most pleased with Euler’s theorem of the summation of series (‘Gratissimum mihi fuit theorema tuum pro summandis seriebus …’) and concedes that his own theorem for summing logarithms is only a particular case. He then ‘informs Euler that Maclaurin has an identical theorem in the proof-sheets of a Treatise of Fluxions to appear shortly. At the same time he offers to communicate Euler’s results to the Royal Society, and suggests that Euler should become a Fellow’ (Tweedie, p. 212). Euler, in his lengthy response, replete with demonstrations, waives his claim to priority over Maclaurin (‘he probably came upon the same theorem for summing series before me, and consequently deserved to be named as its first discoverer’: Tweddle’s translation), proposes that the society publish his paper on the Riccati equation, sent to Hans Sloane a few years previously, and communicates a unique proof sent by Nicolaus Bernoulli, among other matters.

Maclaurin’s acknowledgment of Euler’s initial letter comes in a footnote to the fifth chapter of the second volume of A Treatise of Fluxions (1742), the chapter headed ‘Of interpolating the intermediate terms of a series’: ‘I take this opportunity to mention, that having occasionally shewn in 1737 [in the first volume of Fluxions], the 292, 293 pages of this treatise (after they were printed) to Mr. Stirling, he took notice that a theorem similar to the first as these described in art. 352 had been communicated to him by Mr. Euler’.

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: A Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, 1922, pp. 178-191 (Euler’s letter of 1738 and Stirling’s draft response only).

Ian Tweddle, James Stirling: ‘This about Series and Such Things’, A Discussion of the Later Works of Scottish Mathematician James Stirling (1692-1770), based mainly on Material from his Notebooks, 1988, pp. 141-154 (all three letters, with Euler’s translated into English).

£3,000-5,000

21

CRAMER, GABRIEL (1704-1752)

TEN AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED TO JAMES STIRLING all sent to James Stirling at Watts’s Academy, Little Tower Street, all in English (except 2 and 3, in Latin, and 9 and 10, in French) and signed ‘G. Cramer’ at foot (except 3, signed ‘Gabriel Cramer’ at head as part of salutation).

1) Paris, 11th/22nd October, 1728, signed G. Cramer, thanking Stirling for his kindness during his stay in London, discussing a letter from Nicolaus Bernoulli on ‘a general principle whence it is not difficult to derive all ye propositions about his series recurrentes’, and continuing, ‘Mr ‘S Gravesande, who is wholly employ’d about ye doctrine of forces, did communicate me the following construction for the laws of percussion … Is there nothing under the press of Sr Isaac’s remains? … Can we flatter ourselves of the hopes [sic] of seeing very soon your learned work about ye Series’, with a diagram, 3 pp., 23 x 18cm, losses and separation along central fold not affecting text;

2) Geneva, 6th January 1729, signed G. Cramer, comprising a brief autograph covering note by Cramer, the remainder of the letter being an apparently secretarial copy of a letter in Latin from Nicolaus Bernoulli showing ‘his method of resolving ye quantity 1 / 1±qzⁿ+zⁿ2 in its component fractions’ (headed ‘Methodus resolvendi quantitates 1 / 1±qzⁿ+zⁿ2 in factores duarum dimensionum’), with 5 diagrams, 2 pp., 38.5 x 25.5cm, a little loss to one edge affecting a few words;

3) Geneva, 20th June 1729, addressed and signed at head ‘Viro Clarissimo Doctissimo Jacobo Stirling L.A.M. & R.S. Socio Gabriel Cramer J.B.D’, a letter recommending Swedish mathematician Samuel Klingenstierna, 1 p., 21.5 x 17cm;

4) Paris, 12th March 1729, offering to act as the ‘mediator’ of Stirling’s correspondence with Nicolaus Bernoulli, providing a solution using sine tables for ‘finding any term whatsoever of a series recurrens when the divisor by wich it is produc’d being put equal to naught has impossible roots’, and requesting copies of ‘Mr Maclaurin’s book about vivid forces’ and ‘an account of a letter wich Dr Halley wrote, about twenty years ago to Mr Maraldy in answer to a discourse … against the commonly received opinion of the propagation of light’, 3 pp., 22 x 16.5cm, small seal tear affecting one word;

5) Geneva, 19th/30th May 1729, on recurring series (‘I grant ye, my way of assigning a term of a recurring series, when the denominator of the fraction hath impossible roots is not general enough … I have seen lately a dissertation that Mr Daniel Bernoulli, Mr John Bernoulli’s son, did read

in the Petersburg’s Academy concerning the recurring series …’) and an important discovery by James Bradley (‘It seems wondrous now that those who made some attempts to determine the parallel of the fixt stars took no notice of the successive propagation of the light’), with a lengthy demonstration of a ‘noble theorem’ regarding series, 3 pp., 24 x 19cm, small seal tear just touching one word;

6) Geneva, 26th December 1729, providing a lengthy demonstration of ‘Daniel Bernoulli’s ‘way of approximating to the greatest and smallest root of any given equation by the help of a recurrent series’, and thanking Stirling ‘for the account you gave Mr Bernoulli of Mr Machin’s Theorems [which] seem indeed very well contrived for clearing Sr Isaac Newton’s theory of the motion of the moon’, 24 x 18.5cm;

7) Geneva, 22nd October 1730, demonstrating a correction to ‘S Gravesande’s ‘little improvement to your method, given in your book Enumeration linearum 3ii ordinis’, and enquiring about ‘the Philosophical and Mathematical news of which there is abundance in England in anytimes’, the publication of Stirling’s and de Moivre’s books, and Stirling’s receipt of a letter from Nicolaus Bernoulli on ‘finding the component quantities of a binomium like this 1±zn’, 3 pp., 22 x 17cm, small seal tear affecting a few letters;

8) Geneva, 18th June 1731, explaining his delayed receipt of a presentation copy of Stirling’s book (i.e. Methodus differentialis), reporting Nicolaus Bernoulli’s appointment as professor of civil law at Basel, and addressing in detail (with demonstrations) Stirling’s objections to Bernoulli’s interpolation of a given series, 3 pp., 21.6 x 17cm, seal tear affecting two words, a few small marginal damp-stains;

9) Geneva, 22nd February 1732, a highly detailed letter praising the Methodus differentialis and providing an extensive commentary with demonstrations on subjects including [Brook] Taylor’s rule for finding the form of a series (‘la regle du Dr Taylor pour trouver la forme d’une serie’), presumably Taylor’s theorem, modifications to Taylor’s rule as proposed by Stirling and S’Gravesande, Newton’s parallelogram, and more, with 2 diagrams, 4 pp., 34 x 22.5cm;

10) Geneva, 10th [?]April 1733, providing an example of ‘the new manner of calculating the numerators of simple fractions to which the fraction 1/z2n+2lzn+1 can be reduced’, 1 p., 23 x 17.5cm, a little loss to intersection of one fold.

Together with a contemporary copy of James Stirling’s letter to Cramer, London, September 1730, possibly in Stirling’s own hand, sending copies of his book (Methodus differentialis) to Bernoulli and Cramer, summarising the contents, apologising for errors in the second part (‘The first part has been written 8 or 9 years ago, so that if I were to write it again I should scarce change anything in it. But indeed that is more than I can say for the second part, because there was not above one half of it finished when the beginning of it was sent to the printer’, mentioning de Moivre’s amendment of the 20th proposition concerning logarithms (the solution left blank)

Note: Gabriel Cramer was joint professor of mathematics at Geneva’s Académie de Clavin and is best remembered for his 1750 work Introduction à l’analyse des lignes courbes algébriques, which introduced what is now known as Cramer’s Rule. In 1727 he travelled to Basel, where he spent six months with the Bernoulli circle before continuing to London, where he met James Stirling and Abraham de Moivre and was received by the Royal Society. He edited the collected works of Johann I Bernoulli and Jacob I Bernoulli, and, as these letters demonstrate, served as intermediary in Stirling’s correspondence with Nicolaus Bernoulli. Tweedie draws special attention to Cramer’s letter of 22 February 1723 and his ‘difficulties with the graph of yx=1+x; also his determination of (1+x)1/x as x tends close to zero’ (p. 203). He also cites the copy of Stirling’s letter of 1730 as evidence of his priority over de Moivre in the discovery of his eponymous series, and as a source of ‘valuable information regarding the manner in which Stirling wrote his Methodus Differentialis’ (p. 202).

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: a Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, 1922, pp. 95-130.

£3,000-5,000

KLINGENSTIERNA, SAMUEL (1698-1765)

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO JAMES STIRLING, WITH ADDITIONAL MATHEMATICAL DEMONSTRATIONS

Letter dated ‘Holmiae’ [Stockholm], 19th September 1738, in Latin, addressed to ‘Clariss. Viro Jacobo Stirlingio’, 2 pages, seeking advice on apparatus for experiments in optics, and requesting books including Smith’s ‘Systeme of Opticks’ and Maclaurin’s ‘Systema Algebrae’, 23.5 x 18cm.

The mathematical demonstrations 5 pp. (on 3 sides of a bifolium and both sides of a single sheet), both unsigned but annotated ‘Klinginstern to Stirling’ in a later hand, with diagrams (one on a slip tipped to first leaf of bifolium), apparently containing at least 2 geometrical problems with solutions, approx. 21 x 16.4cm (3)

Note: Mathematician and physicist Samuel Klingenstierna was one of Sweden’s leading proponents of Newtonianism in the early 18th century. From the 1720s he began to give lectures at Uppsala on Newton and Leibniz, becoming ‘the initiator of infinitesimal analysis in Sweden’ (Garding, Mathematics and Mathematicians: Mathematics in Sweden before 1950, 1998, p. 2). In 1727 he travelled to Marburg, meeting Leibniz’s pupil Christian Wolff and writing a manuscript completing the proofs in Newton’s treatise on real plane curves of the third degree, unintentionally duplicating James Stirling’s work on the subject. In 1730 he visited London and was appointed fellow of the Royal Society, with Stirling receiving advance notice of his arrival via a letter of recommendation from Swiss mathematician Gabriel Cramer (see lot 21). The following year Klingenstierna became professor of geometry at Uppsala, later proceeding to the chair in physics. Perhaps his most important contribution came in 1755, when he ‘briefly and elegantly proved that Newton’s dispersion law [as described in Opticks] implied that a series of refractions had a dispersive effect when the emerging ray was parallel to the original ray … This meant that either the law was wrong or the prism-in-prism experiment as wrong’ (Darrigol, A History of Optics, 2012, p. 119). The discovery was followed closely by the invention of the achromatic lens by English instrument-maker John Dollond, leading to a drawn-out priority dispute.

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: A Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, 1922, pp. 164-171.

£1,000-1,500

CASTEL, LOUIS-BERTRAND (1688-1757)

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO JAMES STIRLING dated Paris, 25th March 1733, signed Ludovic Castel, 3 pages, in Latin, closely written and including 3 diagrams, referring to a letter from Stirling to Lord Ramsay (perhaps the Jacobite Chevalier Ramsay) and his (Castel’s) recent commentary on Stirling’s ‘little work on infinite series’ (‘opusculum tuum ultimum de seriebus infinitis’ before proceeding to a discussion of Newtonian geometry (‘Quod nunc attinct ad aequabilitatem arearum Newtonianem nollem mihi tribuisses errorem adeo crassum quasi lineam eandem duobus aliis non parallelis parallelam afficerem’), spotting to edges, 16.5cm x 11cm.

Together with an autograph letter signed from James Stirling to LouisBertrand Castel, London, July 1733, 4 pp., in Latin, perhaps a draft (a few small corrections present) or the final letter returned, comprising geometrical demonstrations with frequent references to Newton and a few mentions of Kepler (2)

Note: A French Jesuit priest, Louis-Bertrand Castel spent most of his career at the Collège de Louis-le-Grand in Paris, where he taught physics and mathematics and specialised courses in subjects including calculus and optics. ‘Although he was probably one of the most outspoken French opponents of Newtonian science during the second quarter of the eighteenth century, Castel was nevertheless a zealous supporter of British mathematics. Early in his career, Castel developed a tremendous admiration for Newton as a mathematician, even as he resisted and fought against Newton’s natural philosophy’ (Greenberg, The Problem of the Earth’s Shape from Newton to Clairaut, 1995, p. 259). His works include Mathématique universelle (1729), which defended Newton’s method of infinite series, L’Optique des couleurs (1740), and a 1725 article in which he proposed an ‘ocular harpsichord’ (clavecin oculaire) He was appointed fellow of the Royal Society in 1730. Stirling’s response to Castel’s letter is described by Tweedie as containing ‘a clear demonstration of what [Stirling] understands by geometrical demonstration’ (p. 208).

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: A Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, 1922, pp. 152-7.

£400-600

24

POLENI, GIOVANNI (EDITOR) - SEXTUS JULIUS FRONTINUS DE AQUAEDUCTIBUS URBIS ROMAE COMMENTARIUS

antiquae fidei restitutus, atque explicatus. Opera et Studio Joannis Poleni. Padua: J. Manfre, 1722. 4to, 2 leaves of tables, 13 leaves of engraved plates, double-page engraved map in text, contemporary calf gilt, joints a little rubbed, title-page slightly damp-stained

Note: Giovanni Poleni (1683-1761) became professor of astronomy at Padua University in 1709. In 1715 he was appointed to the chair in physics, before succeeding Nicolaus Bernoulli as professor of mathematics in 1719. There is a record of James Stirling being at the university in 1721, during his time in Italy. The earliest extant letter to Stirling of a mathematical nature, from Nicolaus Bernoulli in Venice in 1719 (see lot 29), conveys the good wishes of Poleni. In 1728, Stirling wrote to Colin Maclaurin of Poleni’s work, De castellis, on fluid mechanics.

£300-500

25

GALILEI, GALILEO

OPERE

Coll’ aggiunta di vari trattati dell’ istesso autore non piu dati alle stampe.

Florence: Gio. Gaetano Tartini, e Santi Franchi, 1718. 3 volumes, 4to, half-titles and additional title-page in red and black with engraved vignette in volume 1, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, woodcut diagrams and illustrations throughout the text, folding plate, contemporary calf, a little rubbed (3)

Note: Second collected edition, enlarged from the first collected edition (in two volumes, printed in Bologna 1655-6) by the addition of a third volume containing previously unpublished material.

£2,000-3,000

26

BACON, FRANCIS

OPERA OMNIA QUAE EXTANT

Frankfurt: Johann Baptiste Schönwetter, 1665 [i.e. 1668]. First collected edition in any language, folio (34.4 x 20cm), half-title with engraved portrait on verso, title-page in red and black, ownership inscription of James Stirling to front pastedown, contemporary British panelled calf, a little rubbed, joints splitting, some browning throughout [Gibson 235; VD17 1:072143T]

Note: Gibson identifies two issues of this edition, with the headlines either in italic types as in the present copy, or roman, italic copies also showing birds in flight over a flagpole in the engraved title-page vignette. VD17 does not mention either distinction, but instead contains a separate record for copies dated 1668 on the part-title to De sapientia veterum (leaf 3G3), as seen here. Gibson does not assign priority to either issue, but a spot-check of several different copies suggests that roman copies have the part-title to De sapientia veterum dated 1664, whereas italic copies have 1668.

£300-500

Lot 25

27

BERNOULLI, JOHANN

OPERA OMNIA

Lausanne & Geneva: Marci-Michaelis Bousquet et sociorum, 1742. First edition, 4 volumes, 4to, title-pages in red and black, 2 folding portraits, 91 folding engraved plates (volume 1: 23; volume 2: 1; volume 3: 36; volume 4: 15), contemporary calf with banded spines, red morocco gilt spine labels, some rubbing to covers, mostly very clean but with a little browning to some pages in volumes 1-3, one small rust spot in volume 2 (4)

Note: First edition of Johann Bernoulli’s collected works; the editor was Genevan mathematician Gabriel Cramer. A member of the mathematically accomplished Bernoulli family, Johann Bernoulli (1667-1748) was the son Nicolaus Bernoulli and brother of Jacob Bernoulli, with whom he studied infinitesimal calculus. The brothers worked in collaboration with Leibnitz. £800-1,200

NEBEL, WILHELM BERNARD

DISSERTATIO PHYSICA DE MERCURIO LUCENTE IN VACUO … sub praesidio … Joh. Bernoulli. Basel: Friderici Lüdii, [1719]. First edition, small 4to, 19th-century ‘divinity’ calf over bevelled boards by Maclehose of Glasgow for William Stirling of Tarduff, Stirling arms in gilt on both covers, bookplates of William Stirling and Archibald Stirling, pencilled annotation to first blank, joints and spine a little rubbed [not in Wellcome; Worldcat lists three copies only]

Note: First edition, presentation copy from Nicolaus Bernoulli to James Stirling, inscribed by Stirling ‘Ja: Stirling Ex dono viri cl[arissimi]. D. N. Bernoulli, Venetiis, 1st September 1719’ on an initial blank. After leaving Oxford and tempted by the possibility of a professorship of mathematics, probably at Padua, where it was customary to appoint a foreigner, James Stirling had gone to Italy, and by 1719 was in Venice, a favourite haunt of members of the Bernoulli family. There he met Nicolaus Bernouilli (1687-1759), professor of mathematics at Padua, who presented Stirling with this copy of Nebel’s doctoral dissertation on barometric light, awarded under the direction of his uncle Johann Bernoulli (1667-1748), himself an authority on the subject. Wilhelm Bernard Nebel (1699-1748) was one of the first iatrophysicists (iatrophysics being the medical doctrine that the changes in the life processes and pathology of an organism are purely physical and mechanical and the body should be understood as a machine), and one of the first doctors in Germany to study the inoculation of smallpox, publishing on the subject from 1729 onwards. ‘The Nebel thesis gave [Johann] Bernoulli an opportunity to sum up the knowledge and to answer his critics. The pamphlet ends with a discussion of the uses of the light and dedicatory poems’ (Harvey, A History of Luminescence from the Earliest Times until 1900, 1957, p. 274). It was printed in Johann Bernoulli’s collected works (see lot 27). Stirling’s meeting with Nicolaus Bernoulli in Venice in 1719 is referred to in a surviving letter from Bernoulli to Stirling (lot 29). This is one of two books rescued from the office of the mining company at Leadhills by William Stirling of Tarduff, and rebound, the other being a copy of Brook Taylor’s Methodus incrementorum (lot 50).

£1,000-2,000

Lot 27

Lot 28

29

BERNOULLI, NICOLAUS (1687-1759)

THREE AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED TO JAMES STIRLING

Padua, 29th April 1719. 2 pages, 29.4 x 20.5cm, addressed ‘D[omin]e mihi plurimum colende’, signed ‘Nicolas Bernoulli’, discussing the resistance of pendulums (‘Posita gravitates vi uniformi et resistentia proportionali velocitati, non potest corpus grave oscillavi in cycloide, hoc quidem inveni per calculum’, i.e. ‘Given a uniform force of gravity and a resistance proportional to the velocity, a heavy body cannot oscillate in cycloid, which I have indeed found by calculation’), asking Stirling to examine the matter (with reference to the work of Newton, Taylor and Montmort on the subject), and referring to their meeting in Venice; Basel, 22nd October 1729. 4 pages, 22 x 15.8cm, addressed and signed at head ‘Viro clarissimo Jacobo Stirling S.P.D. Nic. Bernoulli’, with 5 diagrams, greeting Stirling’s news of the forthcoming publication of his work on the summation and interpolation of series (i.e. the Methodus differentialis) and of ‘the new theory of the moon discovered by Mr Machin’ (‘de nova theoria Lunae a D. Machin inventa’, presumably ‘The Laws of the Moon’s Motion’, published in the first edition in English of Newton’s Principia, 1729), proceeding to a detailed discussion of both subjects with reference to Maupertuis, Cramer, Pemberton and others, short split to centre of transverse fold;

Basel, 1st April 1733, 4 pages, 37 x 24.5cm, addressed and signed at head ‘Viro clarissimo Jacobo Stirling Nicolas Bernoulli S.P.D.’, containing detailed

responses to Stirling’s Lineae tertii ordinis Neutonianae and Methodus Differentialis with reference to Taylor, de Moivre, Machin, and others. Together with a contemporary copy of James Stirling’s letter to Nicolaus Bernoulli, September, 1730, enclosing Machin’s answer to Bernoulli’s criticism of his treatise (‘I hope it will satisfie you intirely till you shall see the book he is now preparing for the press, which I am confident will please you extremely, as it clears up the obscure parts of Newtons third Book of principles and carry the Theory of Gravity further than even Sir Isaac himself did’), lamenting the general ignorance of the third book of the Principia, then proceeding to discussions of series (‘I cannot but think that one of us has misunderstood the other …’), Klingenstierna’s problem of ‘a curve revolving about a point’, etc. (4)

Note: Nicolaus Bernoulli, a member of the illustrious Bernoulli family of Basel, was appointed professor of mathematics at Padua in 1716, the chair which had been held a century before by Galileo. His relationship with James Stirling seems to date from Stirling’s time in Italy (c.1717-22), though they may have met when Bernoulli visited Oxford in 1712. Bernoulli’s letter of April 1719 is the earliest mathematical letter in the surviving correspondence of Stirling. The letter of 1733 contains ‘a number of valuable criticisms’ of Stirling’s Lineae tertii ordinis Neutonianae (1717) and the Methodus differentialis (1730), including Bernoulli’s discovery of a ‘a new variety of cubic omitted by both Newton and Stirling in their enumeration of cubic curves’ (Tweedie, pp. 207-8).

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: A Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, 1922, pp. 131-150.

£1,500-2,000

CAMPAILLA, TOMMASO (1668-1740)

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO JAMES STIRLING

dated 6th May 1738, 2 pages, in Latin, on scientific and mathematical works by Newton and others, 20.5 x 29cm, addressed by Campailla on separate folded sheet to ‘Domino Stirlingh Societatis Regiae Londiensis Socio’

Note: ‘Campailla was born at Modico in Sicily and died in 1740. He studied in succession law, astrology and philosophy, and finally devoted himself entirely to the natural sciences and medicine’ (Tweedie, 1922, p. 208).

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: A Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, 1922, pp. 158-9.

£1,000-1,500

31

MATHEMATICS AND GEOMETRY

COLLECTION OF WORKS, 18TH CENTURY

Simpson, Thomas. Elements of Plane Geometry. [Bound with:] Trigonometry, Plane and Spherical; with the Construction and Application of Logarithms. London: for John Nourse, 1747-8. First editions, 2 works in 1 volume, 8vo (19.8 x 11.8cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt coronet devices and red morocco label to spine, v [1] 194 [1], [2] 77 [1] pp., initial advertisement leaf; Ferguson, James. Select Mechanical Exercises: shewing how to Construct Different Clocks, Orreries, and Sun-Dials. London: for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, 1778. Second edition, 8vo (21.2 x 12.8cm), contemporary calf, red morocco label, [12] 272 p., half-title, engraved portrait frontispiece, 9 engraved folding plates, directions to the binder leaf, I8 and K1 with old staining and related paper-disruption to lower margins not affecting text;

Ibid. Lectures on Select Subjects in Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, Pneumatics, and Optics. London: for W. Strahan [and others], 1784. Sixth edition, 8vo (20.8 x 12.6cm), contemporary calf, red morocco label, xiv 396 [6] [3] 4-48 pp., 36 engraved folding plates (numbered 1-23 and 1-13), half-title with advertisements verso; Macgregor, John. A Complete Treatise on Practical Mathematics. Edinburgh: for Bell and Bradfute, 1792. First edition, 8vo in fours (21 x 13cm), contemporary marbled sheep, red morocco label, xii 431 pp., 10 engraved folding plates; Euclid. Elements of Geometry … To which is added, a Treatise of the Nature and Arithmetic of Logarithms … The Elements of Plain and Spherical Trigonometry … A Preface … by Doctor John Keil [sic]. London: for T. Woodward, 1749. Sixth edition, 8vo (20.1 x 12cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco spine-label, xiv, title-page with ownership inscription ‘Jas. Stirling 1789’ (possibly James Stirling, 1772-1860, the 7th), 18 engraved plates (all but one folding), front free endpaper removed, first plate partially laid down, occasional browning; and 5 others similar (10)

£400-600

32

DU HAMEL, JEAN-BAPTISTE

REGIAE SCIENTIARUM ACADEMIAE HISTORIA

Paris: Joannem-Baptistam Delespine, 1701. Second edition, 4to, folding map, engraved plate, contemporary calf, spine with gilt tooling, some rubbing to covers and spine

£200-300

33

MARIOTTE, EDME

OEUVRES

Leiden: Pierre Van Der Aa, 1717. 2 volumes in 1, small 4to, title-pages in red and black, 26 folding plates, contemporary calf rubbed, some browning to plates;

Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovier de. A Conversation on the Plurality of Worlds … to which is added Mr. Addison’s Defence of the Newtonian Philosophy. London: Daniel Evans, 1758. 12mo, contemporary calf (2)

£300-400

34

CUMING, SIR ALEXANDER (C.1690-1775)

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO JAMES STIRLING

dated Kensington, 4th July 1728, containing demonstrations of four mathematical proofs ‘transmitted me from Scotland this day by Mr George Campbell’ (i.e. ‘Let water run out of the circular hole NBRD whose radius BC=r’; ‘Le ADP be the elliptick orbit which any of the planets describes about the Sun placed in one of the foci S’; ‘Let the angle Y be found which beareth the same proportion to an angle of 57.29578 degrees’; ‘Let z represent the ratio of the centripetal force at the aequator of any planet to the power of gravity there’), with diagrams illustrating the first two proofs, addressed and signed at foot ‘Dear Mr Stirling, Your most obedient humble servant, Alexr Cuming’, 2 pages, 30.5 x 19cm

Note: A noteworthy survival from a curious 18th-century figure best remembered as the self-styled ‘king of the Cherokees’, who recommended James Stirling’s membership of the Royal Society in 1726. Sir Alexander Cuming ‘was the only son of Sir Alexander Cuming, M.P., the first baronet of Culter, Aberdeen. Cuming went to the Scotch bar, but gave up his profession on receiving a pension. In 1720 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society … He was on friendly terms with De Moivre and Stirling, both of whom acknowledge their indebtedness to him for valuable suggestions. At Aberdeen there is preserved a short letter … from him to Maclaurin, in which he shows his interest in the controversy regarding fluxions. In his introduction to the Methodus Differentialis, Stirling speaks of him as “Spectatissimus Vir’. Being a friend of [George] Campbell he had a share in the dispute between Maclaurin and Campbell’ (Tweedie, p. 201). In 1729-30 he undertook an unofficial mission to the Cherokees, ‘which resulted in his crowning as king and return to England accompanied by seven Cherokee chiefs. Cuming then spent several years hoping to be confirmed as overlord of the Cherokees, advocating various banking and settlement plans, and experimenting with alchemy’ (Newberry Library, online).

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: a Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, 1922, pp. 93-4.

£500-800

35

35

SIMPSON, THOMAS

ESSAYS ON SEVERAL CURIOUS AND USEFUL SUBJECTS, IN SPECULATIVE AND MIX’D MATHEMATICKS

Illustrated by a Variety of Examples. London: by H. Woodfall, jun., for J. Nourse, 1740. First edition, 4to in half-sheets (22.6 x 17.8cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, coronet devices gilt to spinecompartments, red morocco label to second, red sprinkled edges, viii 142 [2] pp., title-pages printed in red and black, woodcut head-and tailpieces and initials, diagrams throughout text, errata leaf to rear with advertisements verso, a few sections of skinning to covers, final page and errata leaf marked [Wallis 150.3]

Note: ‘The first application of the Newton-Raphson process to the solution of transcendental equations’ (Cajori, History of Mathematics, 1919, p. 227). The work contains thirteen papers, of which the second ‘treats of the motion of bodies affected by projectile and centripetal forces, wherein the invention of orbits and the motion of apsides, with many others of the most considerable matters in the first book of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia, are fully and clearly investigated’ (Simpson’s preface, p. vi).

£300-400

36

SIMSON, ROBERT

SECTIONUM CONICARUM LIBRI V

Edinburgh: apud T. et W. Ruddimannos, 1735. 4to (22.1 x 16.5cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, dove of peace motif gilt to spinecompartments, red morocco label, viii 204 pp., 36 engraved folding plates, manuscript corrections to pp. v, 137, 140 and 194, title-page slightly marked, small worm-track to top margins of text-leaves and plates from about p. 94, another appearing from p. 198, both gradually widening but text and images never affected, light marginal spotting [ESTC T70287]

Note: First edition, presentation copy from the author to James Stirling, with Stirling’s ownership inscription ‘Ja: Stirling’ and his annotation ‘Donum Authoris’ to the title-page. Robert Simson held the chair in mathematics at the University of Glasgow for 50 years, from 1711 to 1761, making a lasting impact on mathematical education in Scotland. He was an important figure in the restoration and translation of classical mathematical texts, and his standing as a geometer is reflected in the enduring legacy of the ‘Simson Line’. Together with James Stirling and Colin Maclaurin he was one of three pre-eminent Scottish mathematicians in the first half of the 18th century Stirling and Simson engaged with Newton’s legacy in different ways: Stirling (and Maclaurin) were ‘part of the research programme in Britain spawned by Newton’s formulation of the fluxional calculus, while the work of Robert Simson and Matthew Stewart was inspired by Newton’s preference for geometrical as opposed to algebraic analysis’ (Broadie, ed., The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment, 2003, p. 105).

£500-800

Lot

37

SIMSON, ROBERT (1687-1768)

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO JAMES STIRLING

dated Glasgow, 22nd July 1740, addressed to Stirling at Leadhills, 2 pp., commencing ‘I had the favour of yours yesterday with the theorem concerning the Ellipse, the demonstration I found of it is as follows, which I hope will not be disagreeable to you’, with two diagrams by Simson, and annotated apparently by James Stirling with various mathematical equations to head of the first page and to recto of conjugate blank, chips and tears to edges, 18.5 x 23cm £800-1,200

38

GARDINER, WILLIAM

TABLES OF LOGARITHMS, FOR ALL NUMBERS FROM 1 TO 102100 and for the Sines and Tangents to every Ten Seconds of each Degree in the Quadrant; as also, for the Sines of the First 72 Minutes to Every Single Second: with Other Useful and Necessary Tables. London: for the author, 1742. First edition, 4to, contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco label, [6] 14 [226] pp., errata slip tipped to a1 verso, binding slightly rubbed, label chipped, spotting to endpapers, title-page slightly marked [Tomash & Williams G28]

Note: ‘William Gardiner was a land surveyor in the East Midlands and London area … Gardiner’s tables were noted for their accuracy and were highly regarded in their time. Although they contained some errors, they were used as the basis of many other tables - those of Callet being the most famous’ (Tomash and Williams). The list of subscribers includes John Theophilus Desaguliers, Edmond Halley, Colin Maclaurin, Pierre Louis Maupertuis, and Hans Sloane. £300-500

39

HALLEY, EDMOND (EDITOR) - APOLLONIUS OF PERGA CONICORUM LIBRI OCTO

et sereni antissensis de sectione cylindri et coni libri duo. Oxford: e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1710. Folio (40 x 24.9cm), contemporary mottled calf, decorative blind panels to sides, [10] 250 [10] 171 [5] 88 pp., engraved frontispiece and title-page vignette by M. Burghers, books 1-4 of Apollonius and all of Serenus printed with Greek and Latin text in parallel columns, Arabic types used in preface to books 5-7 of Apollonius, profusely illustrated with diagrams throughout the text [ESTC T133191]

Note: First complete edition of Conics, one of 400 copies, this copy with James Stirling’s ownership inscription (‘Ja. Stirling’) and note of price paid (£1s7d0) to the front free endpaper, and generous margins befitting an acknowledged monument of scientific printing in 18th-century Oxford, a work ‘beyond praise alike in respect of its design and execution’ (T. L. Heath, cited after Carter, A History of the Oxford University Press, 1975, vol. 1, p. 243).

Stirling arrived in Oxford late in 1710, matriculating in January 1711 as a nonjuror. After the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715 he wrote a begging letter to his father requesting a loan of £5 on account of the Bishop of Rochester’s having ‘[vented] his wrath on my countrymen and me in stopping the paying of our Exhibitions’ (Tweedie, James Stirling, a Sketch of his Life and Works, 1922, p. 6). His acquisition of this copy, for the considerable sum of £1s7, may therefore date from a later, more prosperous period, or was perhaps a predictably extravagant purchase by a new undergraduate hungry for knowledge. The work sold quickly, and when the Delegates of the press decided to sell off the remaining stock in 1712, only 95 copies remained in the warehouse.

‘The original text of Conics was in eight books. A Greek text (edited from the original of Apollonius) survives for only the first four books, and an Arabic version of books 5 to 7 is preserved in manuscript in the Bodleian Library and elsewhere. The eighth book is entirely lost but there are references to it in Greek and Islamic texts. Halley edited the Greek and Arabic texts, revised the translations into Latin, and printed his edition of the Greek opposite his Latin translation for the first four books, and his Latin alone for books 5 to 7. He also printed a Latin version of the eighth book that he had recovered from allusions by Greek and Islamic commentators. Although other manuscripts, Greek and Arabic, have since turned up, Halley’s edition has stood the test of time and is still highly regarded’ (ODNB).

£1,500-2,000

40

EUCLID

[OPERA] QUAE SUPERSUNT OMNIA

ex recensione Davidis Gregorii. Oxford: e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1703. Folio (40.5 x 23.8cm), contemporary panelled calf, xvi 686 [2] pp., engraved frontispiece and title-page vignette, errata leaf to rear, Greek and Latin text in parallel columns, woodblock diagrams throughout, chip to head of spine and to corner of label [Carter, A History of the Oxford University Press, vol. 1, p. 241; ESTC T146918]

Note: First edition thus, one of 250 large-paper copies from the total edition of 750, published as part of Oxford’s attempt, first proposed in 1672, to publish the complete works of the ancient Greek and Latin mathematicians in the original language, in a series projected to comprise 21 volumes. (For the Oxford edition of the Conics of Apollonius, edited by Edmond Halley, see the previous lot.)

£400-600

41

BACON, ROGER

OPUS MAJUS AD CLEMENTEM QUARTUM PONTIFICEM ROMANUM

Ex MS Codice Dubliniensi, cum aliis quibusdam collato, nunc primum edidit S. Jebb. London: William Bowyer, 1733. Folio (36.9 x 23.2cm) title-page in red and black, 2 folding plates, folding table, contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco label, slightly worn, small split to front joint, leather peeling away from corner of rear board [Dibner 76; ESTC T128058; Norman 99; Wellcome II 83]

Note: First edition, one of 30 copies on large paper, of Bacon’s chief work, edited by Samuel Jebb from the 16th century Trinity College manuscript, which was believed at the time to be the only complete manuscript copy. Subsequent discoveries revealed a seventh part, first published in 1860. Inserted between parts IV and V is a separate treatise ‘De multiplicatione specierum’. Bowyer’s ledgers show ‘220 copies printed on crown and 30 on royal’ (ESTC).

£1,200-1,800

SIMPSON, THOMAS

THE DOCTRINE AND APPLICATION OF FLUXIONS

London: J. Nourse, 1750. 2 parts in 1 volume, 8vo (19.2 x 12.2cm), xii 274, [4] 275-576 pp., contemporary speckled calf, raised bands to spine, gilt rules and lozenges to compartments, red morocco label, part 2 with separate title-page and errata leaf, pagination and register continuous, H3 with loss to fore margin

Note: First edition. The work is based on the author’s 1737 work A Treatise of Fluxions but is described in the preface as ‘a new book, rather than a second edition of the said treatise … First, because the present work is vastly more full and comprehensive; and, secondly, because the principal matters in it which are also to be met with in that treatise, are handled in a different manner’.

£300-500

43

STEWART, MATTHEW

SOME GENERAL THEOREMS OF CONSIDERABLE USE IN THE HIGHER PARTS OF MATHEMATICS

Edinburgh: printed by W. Sands, A. Murray, and J. Cochran, sold by W. Sands and by J. Knapton, 1746. First edition, 8vo in half-sheets (20 x 12.4cm), [4] 163 pp., contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments with star and flower tools, red morocco label, twin fillet frames gilt to covers, 4 engraved folding plates, spine and extremities very slightly rubbed, short crack to head of front joint [ESTC T114965]

Note: A rare and important work by the father of Dugald Stewart, a handful of copies traced in auction records. Matthew Stewart owed his interest in Greek geometry to Robert Simson, whom he met at Glasgow University, the pair together developing an ‘extremely innovative’ approach to the subject (ODNB). Stewart later studied at Edinburgh University under Colin Maclaurin.

£300-500

44

[MONTMORT, PIERRE RÉMOND DE] ESSAY D’ANALYSE SUR LES JEUX DE HAZARD

Paris: Jacque Quillau, 1708. 4to (25.1 x 18cm), contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label, xxix 189 [3] pp., 3 engraved folding tables, 4 engraved headpieces showing board-game players and gamblers, 2 engraved vignettes of backgammon tables at pp. 127 and 130, spine somewhat worn, X3 with closed tear to fore margin [Tomash & Williams M121]

Note: First edition, second issue. Other copies, also dated 1708, are known to lack the tables and contain uncorrected text: these are presumed to represent the first issue. ‘This work made Montmort’s reputation. It is one of the earliest treatments of statistics and probability, though perhaps not the first. The only other contender for that honour would be a 1657 publication by Huygens’ (Tomash & Williams).

£500-800

45

MOIVRE, ABRAHAM DE THE DOCTRINE OF CHANCES

Or, a Method of Calculating the Probabilities of Events in Play. London: printed by W. Pearson, for the Author, 1718. 4to in twos (26 x 19.8cm), engraved device to title and final leaf, contemporary speckled calf, label chipped, joints slightly split, some very minor worming to lower margins, not affecting text [Babson 181; ESTC T33065; Tomash & Williams M114]

Note: First edition of ‘the foundation for the field of probability and statistics’ (Tomash & Williams): ‘the second book devoted entirely to the theory of probability and a classic on the subject’ (Babson). Dedicated to Newton, it is De Moivre’s most important work. In it ‘he developed a series of algebraic and analytic tools for the theory of probability, like a new “algebra”, for the solution of the problem of coincidences which foreshadowed Boolean algebra, the method of generating functions, or the theory of recurrent series for the solution of differential equations’ (ODNB).

£3,000-4,000

Lot 42

Lot 44

Lot 43

47

MOIVRE, ABRAHAM DE THE DOCTRINE OF CHANCES

or, a Method of Calculating the Probabilities of Events in Play. London: printed for the Author, by H. Woodfall, 1738. 4to (28 x 22cm), contemporary calf, [4] xiv 256 pp., binding rubbed and scuffed, lacking label, with a bifolium signed 2L1-2 and comprising ‘Table of Contents’ (paginated 257-8), and errata leaf (unpaginated, verso blank) loosely inserted and apparently never bound in (the margins being wider than the book’s and consequently nicked and rumpled), binding rubbed, C1 with loss to lower fore corner [ESTC N6410, cf. T33064 for copies with the final quire 2L; Kress 4395; Tomash & Williams M118 refers]

Note: Second edition, greatly enlarged and improved, possibly a large-paper copy. ‘[The] first edition [of 1718] is essentially a gambler’s handbook. It was in the second edition (1738) that de Moivre proposed an approximation to the binomial probability distribution of events (the so-called normal distribution). This distribution remained the basis of the science of statistics for the next two hundred years’ (Tomash & Williams). Copies comprising 256 pages and lacking the Table of Contents or errata leaf, as here, might represent an earlier issue.

£1,000-1,500

MOIVRE, ABRAHAM DE ANNUITIES UPON LIVES

or, the Valuation of Annuities upon any Number of Lives; as also, of Reversions. To which is added, an Appendix concerning the Expectations of Life, and Probabilities of Survivorship. London: by William Pearson, 1725. 8vo (22.1 x 13cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, twin fillet frames gilt to covers, [2] 4 viii 108 [2] pp., P3 (final printed leaf) comprising a table on each side (the first headed ‘Dr Halley’s Table of Observations, exhibiting the Probabilities of Life’), P4 probably an original blank, binding rubbed, front joint cracking, manuscript correction to p. 87 [ESTC N30304; Kress 3595; Tomash & Williams M113]

Note: First edition, presentation copy from the author to James Stirling, inscribed by Stirling ‘Ja: Stirling Ex dono Authoris’ on the front pastedown, with an extensive manuscript list of errata to the initial blank, unsigned but in the hand of Abraham de Moivre.

‘Abraham de Moivre pioneered the newly emerging field of probability and statistics … [His] assumptions of a uniform death rate after the age of twelve and uniform interest rates became the basis for annuity and insurance rates for the next 150 years. This landmark volume is de Moivre’s major work in the area’ (Tomash & Williams).

£2,000-3,000

48

MOIVRE, ABRAHAM DE ANNUITIES ON LIVES

London: for the author, by Henry and George Woodfall, 1743. Second edition, 8vo, contemporary calf gilt, red morocco gilt label to spine, a little dust-soiling to the initial leaves [ESTC N28369]

£300-500

49 SIMPSON, THOMAS

THE DOCTRINE OF ANNUITIES AND REVERSIONS

deduced from General and Evident Principles. [Bound with:] An Appendix containing some Remarks on a Late book on the same Subject. London: J Nourse, 1742-3. First editions, 2 works in 1 volume, 8vo in half-sheets (19.6 x 11.9cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, coronet devices gilt to spine-compartments, red morocco label, viii 128, [2] 16] pp., [ESTC T77592 & N30641; Goldsmiths’ 7930 for The Doctrine]

Note: Uncommon with the appendix, anonymous but attributed to Simpson.

£300-500

50

TAYLOR, BROOK

METHODUS INCREMENTORUM DIRECTA ET INVERSA

London: impensis Gulielmi Innys, 1717. 4to in half-sheets (22.5 x 16.2cm), 19th-century ‘divinity’ calf by Maclehose of Glasgow for William Stirling of Tarduff, gilt decoration including Stirling family arms to covers, edges dyed red, viii 118 [2] pp., corrigenda leaf to rear, diagrams in text, 19th-century bookplate of a later James Stirling the Venetian, browning, damp-staining to head and foot of quires S-Z and 2G [ESTC N3972; Norman 2058]

Note: First edition, second issue, with James Stirling’s ownership inscription and purchase note ‘J Stirling 23 June 1725 pr. 4 sh’ to an initial blank. A letter from William Stirling of Tarduff (tipped to the rear endpaper) explains that this is one of two books which he retrieved from the offices at Leadhills and had rebound, the other being a copy of the doctoral dissertation of German physician Wilhelm Nebel, presented to Stirling by Nicolaus Bernoulli (see lot 28).

A pencilled note to the initial blank adds: ‘This book belonged to James Stirling… known as ‘The Venetian’, it was found at Lead Hills, Lanarkshire, and given to James Stirling of Glentyan by his nephew Wm Stirling, Christmas 1881’. The Methodus incrementorum was first published in 1715; copies with a 1717 title-page are described by ESTC as ‘probably a reissue of the 1715 edition with the first two preliminary leaves reset’. The work introduced what is now known as ‘Taylor’s theorem’, a process for expanding functions into infinite series, and is considered one of the foundational works in the calculus of finite differences. It represented an important advance on the ideas expounded by Newton in his 1711 paper ‘Methodus differentialis’, as did Stirling’s book Methodus differentialis, which was published in 1730 and cites Taylor’s work (at page 24). The earliest evidence of Stirling’s engagement with the Royal Society is the record of his attendance at a lecture given by Taylor on logarithms and numerical solutions to equations in April 1717.

£800-1,200

STIRLING, JAMES (1692-1770)

MATHEMATICAL NOTEBOOKS

3 holograph notebooks, comprising:

1) Folio (30 x 20cm), contemporary comb-marbled wrappers, [35] ff., f. [1] loose, in ink and pencil, with diagrams throughout, partial ownership inscription ‘James Stirl’ on f. [2], inside rear wrapper with two lists of names of mathematicians and other figures under headings ‘Books Given to’ and ‘Not yet given’, presumably referring to copies of the Methodus differentialis (1730), recipients including Moivre, Pemberton, Mclaurin (sic), N Bernouilli, Cramer, Bradley, and Halley, Jones, Pemberton, Klingenstierna, Taylor, and others, other contents including:

ff. [1-12], a series of propositions on circle geometry; ff. [13-14] notes on Isaac Newton’s Tractatus de Quadratura Curvarum; f. [21] ‘A table of Areas of Binominal Curves’; ff. [31-32], notes on ancient shipbuilding and astronomy with reference to the Bible, Apollonius, the Egyptians, Diodorus Siculus

2) Folio (31.8 x 20cm), contemporary comb-marbled wrappers, [37] ff., front wrapper near detached, contents include:

f. [1] notes and calculations on pendulums and gravity; f. [3] Lemma on ellipses (‘Suppose now the breadth of the elliptic ring AFBEMD to be infinitly diminished; and any two ordinates whatsoever to be drawn infinitly near’);

ff. [4] et seq., headed ‘To find the direction and quantity of the force of gravity on the surface of an oblate spheroid’, with diagrams and profuse equations;

with 1 f. at rear headed ‘Section I. Of the magnitude of the Earth according to the Antients’;

3) 4to (22.4 x 17.8cm), contemporary calf-backed comb-marbled boards with vellum tips, annotated on front board ‘This about Series and Such things’ apparently in James Stirling’s hand, [83] ff., approx. 15 diagrams and graphs, contents include:

ff. [5-7], on the relation between solar years and lunar periods including reference to Scaliger, in Latin and English; ff. [8-39], extensive notes on infinite series, with demonstrations, in Latin, begins ‘Theorema Joannis Bernoulli pro summatione dignitatam est perutilis sicuti D. Moivre eandem applicuit seriebus infinitis’ (‘The theorem of Johann Bernoulli for the summation of series is very useful as D. Moivre applied it to infinite series’); f. [11], ‘Regula pro formatio numerorum D[omi]ni Bernoulli pro summatione postestatum’ (‘Mr Bernoulli’s rule for the formation of numbers for the summation of powers’); f. 39 concludes ‘De hoc theoremata haec sunt notanda, quod ubi series quae summanda proponitur sit magnitudine finitatum

summa hic assignata pure sumpta est eiusdem valor, at ubi series est magnitudine infinita, quod accidit quando est n major unitate, vel etiam quando est n unitas ut in casu secundo, quando n est unitas vel minor unitate vel numerus negativus’; ff. [39-40], lists of natural logarithms; ff. [40-52], notes on mechanics and gravity, in English and Latin, focusing on the oscillation of a pendulum in a cycloid and its application to measuring figure of the earth, noting measurements taken at Pello, Jamaica, Paris, London (e.g. f. [42]: ‘The force of gravitation on the surface of a planet is to the centrifugal force, in a ratio compounded of the duplicate ratio of the periodic time of a satellite to the diurnal revolution of the plan inversely, and directly of the triplicate ratio of the distance of the satellite to the semidiameter of the planet’);

ff. [52-4], ancient measures;

f. [54] et seq., notes on fluxions and series, ‘Determination coefficientium’ and ‘coefficientes adductae’ (coefficient of determination and adduced coefficients, ff. [60]-[61];

f. [69], notes on ancient measures from Pococke; with [14] ff. at front and rear comprising accounts for Leadhills mines including payment of workers, 1741-3, and a laid-in autograph memorandum on smelting at Leadhills, dated 15 May 1735, beginning ‘The famous tryal betwixt the furnace and mills is now over …’ (foolscap bifolium, 4 pp.).

Note: A microcosm of the variety and extent of James Stirling’s intellectual labours, these notebooks contain workings on all his principal areas of interest, including series, geometry, gravity and the figure of the earth, and weights and measures. The inclusion in one notebook of methodical accounts for the mines at Leadhills foreshadows the path of his later career, whereas the attention to oscillation and pendulums recalls the subject of his first known letter to Newton, written from Venice in 1719 and published in Brewster’s Memoirs (‘I beg leave to let you know, that Mr. Nicholas Bernoulli proposed to me to enquire into the curve which defines the resistances of a pendulum, when the resistance is proportional to the velocity’).

All three notebooks were consulted by mathematician and historian of mathematics Ian Tweddle for his 1988 work James Stirling: ‘This about Series and Such Things’, where they are referred to respectively as G2, G3 and G6. Tweddle’s study contains brief summaries of each notebook as well as selective analyses of their mathematical content. Notebook 1/G2 probably dates from c.1730 in light of the list of mathematicians’ names presumed to be list of recipients of the Methodus differentialis, which appeared in that year; 2/G3 is ‘probably from the mid 1730s with later additions’ (Tweddle, p. 3); 3/G6 contains accounts for Leadhills mines dated 1741 and 1743, though the other content, much of which relates to the Methodus, possibly ‘predates the accounts’ (ibid., p. 4).

Literature: Ian Tweddle, James Stirling: ‘This about Series and Such Things’, A Discussion of the Later Works of Scottish Mathematician James Stirling (1692-1770), based mainly on Material from his Notebooks, Edinburgh, 1988.

£3,000-5,000

52

STIRLING, JAMES (1692-1770)

’METHODUS DIFFERENTIALIS SIVE TRACTATUS DE SUMMATIONE ET INTERPOLATIONE SERIERUM INFINITARUM’

author’s holograph manuscript, c.1730, written in ink on loose leaves, ‘Pars Prima’ comprising 64 numbered pages measuring 190 x 230mm, followed by ‘Pars Secunda’ being numbered pages 64 [i.e.65]-111 [i.e. 112] on larger leaves measuring 20 x 31cm to 22.5 x 36cm, the text including the published introduction but without the preface or errata, verso of the final leaf (with Propositio XXXIII recto) with Stirling’s recommended title (‘Methodus Differentialis …’) and notes to the printers (‘If there be any room left in the last page, it may be filled up with Errata, but in case there be no room left, the Errata may be put in the end of the preface’ and ‘I kept the boy above a quarter of an hour here; send me the rest of the Leaves that are printed off & a proof of this as soon as you can, because I must look it over and see if there are any Errata’). Occasional corrections, variable light soiling, a few small chips and losses to edges

Note: James Stirling’s holograph manuscript of his masterpiece and ‘principal contribution to mathematics’ (ODNB), which introduced the Stirling numbers and Stirling’s formula. Published in 1730, the Methodus is a greatly expanded version of his ‘Methodus differentialis Newtoniana illustrata’, a paper communicated to the Royal Society in 1719 in response to Newton’s own ‘Methodus differentialis’, which had been written in 1676 but was not published until 1711 with its inclusion by William Jones in the Analysis per quantitatum series, fluxiones, ac differentias. The introductory section of the works contains ‘Stirling’s discussion of what are now called “Stirling numbers” (important in modern combinatorial theory) and in example 2 of proposition 28 there is his version of ‘Stirling’s formula’ for approximating to the logarithm of a large factorial (an early example of an asymptotic series)’ (ODNB). ‘The Methodus differentialis … is surely one of the early classics of numerical analysis. It contains not only the results and ideas for which Stirling is chiefly remembered today (the Stirling numbers, Stirling’s interpolation formula, Stirling’s formula for ln n!), but also a wealth of material on transformations of series and limiting processes. Inverse factorial series, especially hypergeometric series, are much in evidence and asymptotic series … also appear. Interpolation and quadrature are discussed and there is an impression collection of calculations throughout to illustrate the efficacy of the methods presented. Stirling’s book was well received by his contemporaries … [and] the book’s influence has extended over more than two and a half centuries’ (Tweddle, James Stirling’s Methodus Differentialis, p. 1).

Literature: Ian Tweddle (ed.), James Stirling’s Methodus Differentialis: An Annotated Translation of Stirling’s Text, London, 2003. Niccolo Guicciardini, The Development of Newtonian Calculus in Britain 1700-1800, Cambridge, 1989, p. 33 et seq.

£40,000-60,000

STIRLING, JAMES (1692-1770)

METHODUS DIFFERENTIALIS SIVE TRACTATUS DE SUMMATIONE ET INTERPOLATIONE SERIERUM INFINITARUM

London: typis Gul. Bowyer, impensis G. Strahan, 1730. First edition, 4to in half-sheets (27.5 x 21.3cm), contemporary mottled calf, [6] 13 [1] 15-153 [1] pp., woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials, diagrams in text, binding rubbed, wear to spine, partial splitting to joints, a sliver of thumbing to lower margins, a few other old marks and blemishes internally [ESTC T110104; Wallis 307.882]

Literature: Ian Tweddle (ed.), James Stirling’s Methodus Differentialis: An Annotated Translation of Stirling’s Text, London, 2003.

ibid., James Stirling: ‘This about Series and Such Things’, A Discussion of the Later Works of Scottish Mathematician James Stirling (1692-1770), based mainly on Material from his Notebooks, Edinburgh, 1988, pp. 13-14, 50, 56-8, 95-8. Niccolo Guicciardini, The Development of Newtonian Calculus in Britain 1700-1800, Cambridge, 1989, p. 33 et seq.

£20,000-30,000

First edition, James Stirling’s personal working copy, with his ownership inscription to the title-page, four pages of autograph annotations to the rear blanks, and autograph marginalia to some 50 pages, ranging from corrections of typographical errors to substantial additions to the text. Evidently a large-paper copy: Bowyer’s ledgers records 26 copies printed on royal, and 425 standard copies printed on crown.

During the 1720s Stirling was busy with his work as a tutor at Watts’s Academy in Little Tower Street, Covent Garden, delaying his completion of the text, a situation on which he remarked in a letter written to Gabriel Cramer in 1730 accompanying presentation copies for Cramer and Nicolaus Bernoulli (see lot 21 and Tweddle, 2003, p. 3):

‘The first part has been written 8 or 9 years ago, so that if I were to write it again I should scarce change anything in it; But indeed that is more than I can say for the second part, because there was not above one half of it finished, when the beginning of it was sent to the printer. And altho’ I am not

conscious of any errors in it but typographical ones, yet I am sensible that it might have been better done.’

This copy was consulted by mathematician and historian of mathematics Ian Tweddle for both his annotated English edition of the text, which incorporates Stirling’s autograph corrections and additions, and a broader study of Stirling’s work based on his manuscripts and notebooks. Stirling’s notable marginalia include a detailed footnote to pp. 120-1 elaborating the remark in Proposition 23 that ‘in practice it is not necessary to have recourse to series, for it suffices to take the proportional mean between the semicircumference of the circle and n + ½’ (Tweddle, 1988, p. 50). His annotations to the blanks include demonstrations of three variants of Proposition 28 using Abraham de Moivre’s second series, and of a further case of a problem whereby, ‘given a sequence of numbers z in arithmetic progression and a functional relation between the values T and T’ of a function at successive values of z’, it is proposed to find a series to represent the function at intermediate values of z (ibid., p. 94).

STIRLING, JAMES

THE DIFFERENTIAL METHOD

or, a Treatise concerning Summation and Interpolation of Infinite Series. Translated into English, with the Author’s Approbation, by Francis Holliday. London: for E. Cave, 1749. 4to in half-sheets (23.1 x 17.5cm), contemporary sprinkled calf with gilt lozenges and beaded rules to spine-compartments, viii 141 pp., advertisement leaf at rear, with 2 laid-in autograph letters signed from Francis Holliday to James Stirling (each a foolscap bifolium, 3 and 4 pp., first letter addressed to Stirling at Leadhills and dated 15 April 1747, with a few tears, the second undated but evidently addressing Stirling’s response to the first letter) [ESTC N6849; Wallis 307.885]

Note: First edition in English. This copy contains two important letters to Stirling from the translator Francis Holliday, a Nottinghamshire schoolmaster and clergyman whose works include An Introduction to Fluxions (1777). The first, dated April 1747, provides a list of typographical errors in the 1730 edition, evidently at Stirling’s request, and mentions the opinion of some eminent London mathematicians that the Methodus ‘no where had shewn from a given series how to find the equations of the successive terms’. In the second letter Holliday thanks Stirling for drawing his attention to further errors which he had not noticed (‘I had been pretty sure of all when I ventured to send you the account of ’em, but I find the old proverb verified, humanum est errare’), before providing a lengthy demonstration of ‘some new forms for fluents’. Holliday describes in the preface to his translation how ‘Being unwilling to commit any mistakes … I had recourse to Mr Stirling himself, and he was so obliging as to give me all the assistance I needed’.

Literature: Ian Tweddle (ed.), James Stirling’s Methodus Differentialis: An Annotated Translation of Stirling’s Text, London, 2003. Niccolo Guicciardini, The Development of Newtonian Calculus in Britain 1700-1800, Cambridge, 1989, p. 33 et seq.

£3,000-5,000

55

STIRLING, JAMES (1692-1770)

DIPLOMA OF THE ROYAL PRUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Berlin, 14th February 1747, engraved document on vellum, 27.5 x 35.4cm, with decorative border and calligraphic text, Stirling’s name added in manuscript (‘Stirling’), signed lower right by Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759) as president of the Academy, countersigned by Johann Heinrich Samuel Formey (1711-1797) as secretary, red wax seal detached but present. Together with a letter signed to James Stirling from Martin Folkes (1690-1754) as president of the Royal Society, London, 10th June 1747, enclosing the diploma with personal congratulations, and sharing news of acquaintances including de Moivre (‘whom we dined with the other day on the occasion of his compleating his eightieth year’), a few chips to edges, short split to edge of transverse fold, a few spots, the letter possibly autograph (2)

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: a Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, Oxford, 1922, p. 192 (Folkes’s letter only).

£800-1,200

MAUPERTUIS, PIERRE LOUIS MOREAU DE DISCOURS SUR LES DIFFÉRENTES FIGURES DES ASTRES d’ou l’on tire des conjectures sur les étoiles qui paroissent changer de grandeur; et sur l’anneau de Saturne. Avec une exposition abrégée des systemes de M. Descartes et de M. Newton. Paris: de l’Imprimerie royale, 1732. 8vo (19.1 x 11.8cm), contemporary French calf with gilt floral devices to spinecompartments, marbled endpapers, [4] 83 pp., woodcut device to title-page, woodcut headpiece and initial, diagrams in text [Wallis 122]

Note: First edition, presentation copy to James Stirling, inscribed ‘pour Monsieur Jac. Stirling de la Societé Royale, par son tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur Maupertuis’ on the initial blank. An important association copy of the author’s first book, ‘the first Newtonian treatise ever published in France’ (Storni, ‘Knowledge in Motion: The Circulation of Maupertuis’s Discours sur les différentes figures des astres […]’, Philosophical Reviews in German Territories (1668-1799), 2025, Vol. I, p. 59) In 1728 Maupertuis spent three months in London, making the acquaintance of the circle of Newtonians there including Stirling, Henry Pemberton and Abraham de Moivre, with the latter orchestrating his admission to the Royal Society. He was not necessarily in sympathy with every aspect of mathematical investigation then being pursued in Britain, greeting Stirling’s Methodus Differentialis (1730) with the weary remark that ‘this business of series [is] the most disagreeable thing in mathematics’ (Bellhouse, Abraham de Moivre, 2011, p. 35).

£1,000-1,500

57

DORTOUS DE MAIRAN, JEAN-JACQUES TRAITÉ PHYSIQUE ET HISTORIQUE DE L’AURORE BORÉALE

Paris: Imprimerie royale, 1733. First edition, 4to (25.2 x 18.9cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label, viii 281 pp., 15 engraved folding plates, joints rubbed, short crack to head of rear joint

Note: First edition, presentation copy to James Stirling, inscribed by the author ‘Pour Monsieur Stirling de la Societé Royale des Sciences par son tres humble et très obeïssant serviteur Dortous de Mairan, a Paris ce 14e fevrier 1734’ on an initial blank. ‘The first step toward a unified theory of aurora, the zodiacal light and cometary tails was taken by Jean-Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan … a French Cartesian physicist and a member of the Academy of Sciences’ (Heidarzadeh, A History of Physical Theories of Comets, 2008 p. 154). The work includes criticism of Newton’s theory of cometary tail formation. £500-800

THE FIGURE OF THE EARTH: GEOLOGY, GEODESY & TECHNOLOGY

58

MAUPERTUIS, PIERRE LOUIS MOREAU DE

LA FIGURE DE LA TERRE

déterminée par les observations … faites par ordre du roy au cercle polaire. Paris: Imprimerie royale, 1738. 8vo, contemporary tan calf, xiv [4] 184 pp., engraved folding map, 9 engraved folding plates, extremities slightly rubbed, spine-label perished

Note: First edition, presentation copy from the author to James Stirling, inscribed ‘Donum Authoris’ by Stirling on the initial blank. The book was sent to him care of the astronomer John Machin, who informed Stirling of the gift in a surviving letter dated 22nd June 1738 (see lot 66): ‘Monsr Maupertuis has sent you a present of his book which I have deliverd to Mr Watts for you. It contains a complete account of the measurement in the North. Mr Celsius likewise published two or 3 sheets on the same subject chiefly to shew that Cassini’s measurement was far inferior to this in point of exactness, and which I suppose you will need no argument to prove when you have read over M. Maupertuis’s book’. Stirling had recently written a paper entitled ‘Of the Figure of the Earth, and the Variation of Gravity on the Surface’, published in 1735, and considered it ‘an important contribution to the theoretical study of the earth’s shape and its gravitational forces’ (ODNB). He was overtaken in his work on the subject by Colin Maclaurin and others, although it is clear from his surviving letters that he would have made a more substantial contribution had it not been for his commitments as manager of the mines at Leadhills.

£600-800

59

BOUGUER, PIERRE

LA FIGURE DE LA TERRE

déterminée par les observations de Messieurs Bouguer, et De La Condamine, de l’Académie Royale des Sciences, envoyés par ordre du Roy au Pérou, pour observer aux environs de l’Equateur. Avec une relation abregée de ce voyage, qui contient la description du pays dans lequel les opérations ont été faites. Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert, 1749. 4to (25.2 x 18.6cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, [24] cx 394 [2] pp., 9 engraved folding plates (including a map of Quito and environs, and a plate containing two profile views of the Cordillera), errata leaf to rear [Norman 285; Sabin 6876]

Note: First edition ‘of ‘the most important work to issue from the Peruvian expedition of 1735-1744, undertaken … with the goal of measuring an arc of the meridian near the equator, which resulted in the determination of the shape of the earth as an oblate spheroid’ (Norman). In addition to the main geodetic programme, Bouguet used the expedition to carry out important work on atmospheric refraction, the dilation of solids at different temperatures, and the measurement of heights using a barometer.

£400-600

AGRICOLA, GEORGIUS

DE ORTU ET CAUSIS SUBTERRANEORUM LIB. V.

De natura eorum quae effluunt ex terra lib. iiii. De natura fossilium lib. x. De veteribus et novis metallis lib. ii. Bermannus, sive De re metallica Dialogus. Interpretatio Germanica vocum rei metallicae, addito indice foecundissimo. Basel: Froben, 1546. Folio in sixes (30.5 x 19cm), 18th-century British sprinkled calf, dove of peace motifs gilt to spine, text in roman letter, woodcut Froben device to title-page and verso of final leaf, woodcut initials, binding slightly rubbed, spine-label perished, medial blank g6 discarded but retaining medial blank M6 (not mentioned in Adams), occasional faint creasing across lower fore corners, front free endpaper detached, title-page slightly marked, worm-track to lower margins of quires R-S, final leaf (Y8) dampstained and with small hole affecting one word [Adams A345; Ferguson I p. 9, ‘a very well printed book’; VD16 A 928]

Note: First edition, a major contribution to the Scientific Revolution, including the first dedicated treatise on geology in ‘De ortu’, and ‘the first modern text-book of mineralogy and petrology’ (Ferguson) in ‘De natura fossilium’, together with a new edition of Bermannus, which on first publication in 1530 ‘for the first time gathered together the unsystematic knowledge of the miners’ (ibid.).

£3,000-5,000

61

AGRICOLA, GEORGIUS

DE RE METALLICA LIBRI XX

Basel: Froben, 1561. Folio in sixes (30.5 x 19cm), 18th-century British sprinkled calf, dove of peace motifs gilt to spine, woodcut Froben device to title-page and colophon leaf, 2 folding woodcut plates, profusely illustrated with woodcuts throughout the text, retaining medial blank alpha6, binding rubbed, leather along joints split (cords holding), initial blank detached, title-page slightly marked, closed tear to head of h5 affecting five lines of text, browning to K1, damp-staining to R2-5 [Adams A350; Ferguson I p. 9; VD16 A 934; cf. Duveen p. 4, GarrisonMorton 13252 and PMM 79 for the first edition, 1556]

Note: Second edition of ‘the first systematic treatise on mining and metallurgy and one of the first technological books of modern times’ (PMM), five years after the first edition of 1556, likewise the work of master Basel printer Hieronymus Froben. ‘De Re Metallica was for so long the standard work on mining and metallurgy, and it was followed by most of the writers who succeeded Agricola. Not one of their works, however, was on the same scale, was so systematically arranged, so well and classically written, so entirely based on persona and practical experience. Besides, Agricola’s treatise abounds with woodcuts which are vigorous and artistic, and give a picturesque and vivid delineation of the processes and machinery. The works are also furnished with vocabularies of technical terms and indices. For chemistry the De Re Metallica is of much interest, for, besides the general metallurgical processes described … there are sections upon assaying, cupellation, preparation of salts … the distillation of nitric acid, and so on. Agricola was the pioneer of mineralogical science in modern Europe’ (Ferguson).

£3,000-5,000

62

STIRLING, JAMES (1692-1770) - THE SCOTS MINING COMPANY ARCHIVE OF LETTERS AND PAPERWORK RELATING TO THE MANAGEMENT OF LEADHILLS MINE

Orders and Instructions given to Mr James Stirling Chief Agent to the Company for making Mines, Minerals & Metals in Scotland, at Leadhills 28th August 1738, being a book of orders given to James Stirling from the Court, regarding Leadhills, upon commencement of his management of the company’s affairs, 21.5 x 32.5cm, vellum bound book; and other loose documents, similar, including those relating to working hours and conditions of miners; Copy book of letters sent by James Stirling to the directors of the Leadhills mine, dated 1736 and 1737, the reverse of the book completed with additional notes of mathematics, physics, weights and measures, 20 x 32.5cm, vellum bound, many loose leaves;

Large quantity of letters, dated 1736-1801, sent to James Stirling and, latterly, his heir Archibald Stirling, regarding the administration of the mine;

A Catalogue of Books contained in the Miners’ Library at Leadhills, 1800. Small 12mo pamphlet in paper wrappers (quantity)

Note: James Stirling was appointed manager of Leadhills Mine in 1735. Subsequently, much of his time was devoted to the mine although he continued his mathematical writing and correspondence. It was under his management that the mine was brought back from the brink of bankruptcy and miners’ conditions were improved. Orders and instructions to James Stirling dated 1738 indicate the mine’s precarious financial situation prior to Stirling’s arrival:

‘Sir, Pursuant to the full powers given to us, we have made a Strict enquiry & Examination, into all the Companie’s Affairs, & finding the former Orders & Instructions not Duely observed nor so well Adapted to the business as more experience would have furnished. We therefore hereby revoke all Orders & Instructions given before this time & do now charge you with the Execution of the Company’s Affairs …’.

Stirling’s heir, Archibald Stirling, succeeded him in managing Leadhills Mine as well as inheriting the family estate.

£3,000-4,000

Lot 62

63

[GEODESY]

GROUP OF WORKS ON THE FIGURE AND HISTORY OF THE EARTH, 18TH CENTURY

Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de. The Figure of the Earth, determined from Observations made by Order of the French King, at the Polar Circle … translated from the French. London: for T. Cox [and others], 1738. First edition in English, 8vo (19.9 x 12.6cm), contemporary mottled calf gilt, marbled edges, vii [1] 232 pp., 9 engraved folding plates, engraved headpiece to p. 29, manuscript annotations in ink and pencil to p. 7 and final blank, L1 with closed tear in margin; Burnet, Thomas. The Sacred Theory of the Earth: containing an Account of the Original of the Earth, and of all the General Changes which it hath undergone, or is to undergo, till the Consummation of all Things … Sixth Edition. London: for J. Hooker, 1726. 2 volumes, 8vo, contemporary

panelled calf, xxxii 456, [16] 568pp., engraved portrait frontispiece and additional title-page, 12 engraved plates (mostly folding), 2 engraved vignettes in text, one full-page engraving to verso of p. 559 in volume 2, each volume with advertisement leaf to rear, with James Stirling’s ownership inscriptions (‘Ja: Stirling’) to title-page of volume 1 and front pastedown of volume 2, volume 1 plate 9 partly split along one fold, volume 2 lacking front free endpaper;

Ibid. Telluris Theoria Sacra … Editio Secunda. London: Walter Kettilby, 1689. 2 parts in 1 volume, 4to (19.9 x 15.2cm), contemporary panelled calf, [14] 287, [18] 262 pp., 2 engraved frontispieces, 2 engraved folding plates, engravings in text, part 2 with errata supplied in manuscript (the errata page crossed through), front joint cracked (4)

£500-800

64

BRADLEY, JAMES (1693-1762)

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO JAMES STIRLING

dated Oxford, 2nd December 1733, regarding ‘The Figure of the Earth’ and ‘The Jamaican Experiment’: ‘I apprehend this Retardation of the Clock (so much greater than what is derived by a Computation founded on the Principles of Gravity and an Uniform Density in ye several parts of the Earth) must be rather ascribed to an inequality in the Density of the parts of ye Earth near which the Clock is fix’d, than to the greater Heat. For the greatest part of the force of Gravity upon any particular Body arising from the parts of the Earth that are near it …’, 3pp., 18.5 x 22.5cm, a little tear to signature with slight loss

Note: Stirling’s contemporary at Balliol College, Oxford, John Bradley was appointed fellow of the Royal Society in 1718, Oxford professor of astronomy in 1721, and astronomer royal in 1742 on the death of Edmond Halley. His principal discovery is the aberration of starlight, ‘the first direct evidence for the revolution of the Earth around the Sun’ (Ency. Brit.).

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: a Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, 1922, pp. 161-2.

£2,000-3,000

CLAIRAUT, ALEXIS (1713-1765)

AUTOGRAPH LETTER

SIGNED TO JAMES STIRLING

dated Paris, 2nd October 1738, 3 pages, in French, evidently the first letter in any correspondence between them, apologising for inadvertent similarities between his recent memoir on ‘La figure de la Terre’ sent from Lapland to the Royal Society and Stirling’s own article on the subject from the Philosophical Transactions, and requesting Stirling’s comments on his second memoir on the subject, 18.5 x 22.5cm

MACHIN, JOHN (1680-1751)

Note: Clairaut accompanied Maupertuis on the French expedition to Lapland in 1736-7, eventually publishing his classic account of his findings, La théorie de la figure de la terre, in 1743. He provided indispensable assistance to the Marquise de Châtelet in her French translation of Newton’s Principia, the first in the language, and saw it through the press in 1759 following her death several years previously. The memoir by Stirling that he refers to in his letter is his ‘Of the Figure of the Earth, and the Variation of Gravity on the Surface’, published in 1735.

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: a Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, Oxford, 1922, pp. 176-7.

£500-700

TWO AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED TO JAMES STIRLING

First letter, ‘Thursday morning’, otherwise undated, possibly c.1733, on a dispute with Bernoulli, noting that ‘I shall be able to give him entire satisfaction as to every objection that he makes’ on ‘whether there be a point in his locus from whence the planet will appear to move equally swiftly in the apsides and one of the middle distances’, and requesting to raise the matter at the Royal Society, addressed ‘To Mr Stirling at the Academy in little Tower Street’ on integral address leaf, faint pencilled annotation ‘Mr Gregory, Mr Klingensterna, Mr Campbell, Mr [?], 2 for myself’ at end of letter, possibly by Stirling, 2 pages, 20 x 16cm;

Second letter dated 22nd June 1738, containing a detailed discussion of Maupertuis’s La figure de la terre, encouraging Stirling to publish his own proposition on the subject and noting the positions of Maclaurin and Newton, together with references to ‘the scheme of a grand project of the Czarina [Catherine the Great] for making a compleat mapp of her whole empire’, Euler’s work on series, and the publication of De Moivre’s new book (very likely the second edition of The Doctrine of Chances): ‘Monsr Maupertuis has sent you a present of his book, which I have deliverd to Mr Watts for you. It contains a complete account of the measurement in the North. Mr Celsius likewise published two or 3 sheets on the same subject, chiefly to shew that Cassini’s measurement was far inferior … There have been great wrangles and disputes in France about this measurement … You will see that this measurement in the North … will serve to prove that the figure is much more oblate … But perhaps it will be safer to wait for the account from Peru before any conclusion be drawn … Your proposition concerning the figure … could never find a time to appear in the world with a better grace … Mr Macklaurin … taking occasion to speak of the figure of the Earth, and that Sir Is. has supposed but not demonstrated it to be a spheroid, proceeds on in the following words: “Mr Sterling if I remember right told me in April that none of those who have considered this subject have shewed that it is accurately of that figure”…’, 4 pages, 23 x 18cm, splits to folds (2)

Note: John Machin was appointed fellow of the Royal Society in 1710, acting as secretary from 1718 and 1747. In 1712 he sat on the committee appointed to adjudicate the Newton-Leibniz priority dispute, and became professor of astronomy at Gresham College the following year. His essay ‘The Laws of the Moon’s Motion, according to Gravity’ was printed in the first edition in English of Newton’s Principia (1729). His first letter, containing a riposte to Bernoulli, is probably connected to Bernoulli’s lengthy letter to Stirling of 1st April 1733, for which see lot 29 (and Tweedie, pp. 141-150). The second letter contains a lucid summary of Maupertuis’s newly published La figure de la terre: the presentation copy from Maupertuis to Stirling, which Machin mentions as having deposited at Watts’s Academy, can be found at lot 58.

Published: Charles Tweedie, James Stirling: a Sketch of his Life and Works along with his Scientific Correspondence, Oxford, 1922, pp. 172-5.

£2,000-3,000

Lot 66

67

WOODWARD, JOHN

AN ESSAY TOWARDS A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH, AND TERRESTRIAL BODYES, ESPECIALLY MINERALS

London: A. Bettesworth and W. Taylor, 1723. Third edition, 8vo, engraved headpieces and initials, contemporary calf, spine gilt, red morocco gilt label to spine

£200-300

68

PRIESTLEY, JOSEPH

THE HISTORY AND PRESENT STATE OF ELECTRICITY, WITH ORIGINAL EXPERIMENTS

London: for J. Dodsley, J. Johnson and B. Davenport, and T. Cadell, 1767. First edition, 4to (24.8 x 19.6cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco label, [4] xxxi 736 [8] pp., 8 engraved plates from drawings by J. Mynde after Priestley (all but one folding), 18th-century ownership inscription of Archibald Stirling to front pastedown, small tear to foot of rear joint, closed marginal tear to 4O3, faint creasing across lower outer corners to about the final third of the book [Norman 1748]

Note: The first systematic history of electrical discovery and the author’s first scientific work, which he was encouraged to write by his friend Benjamin Franklin.

£1,000-1,500

BLACK, JOSEPH

EXPERIMENTS UPON MAGNESIA ALBA, QUICK-LIME, AND OTHER ALCALINE SUBSTANCES

To which is annexed, An Essay on the Cold produced by Evaporating Fluids, and of some other Means of producing Cold; by William Cullen. Edinburgh: for William Creech, and for J. Murray, and Wallis and Stonehouse, London, 1777. Small 8vo in half-sheets (15.7 x 9cm), [2] 133 [1] pp., contemporary tree calf, smooth spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label, small woodcut in text [cf. GarrisonMorton 919 for the first edition, 1754, and Duveen p. 81 and Wellcome II p. 172 for the 1782 edition, also including Cullen’s Essay; not in Ferguson]

Note: First separate edition in English, the third overall, of the most important works in the history of chemistry, Joseph Black’s historic account of the isolation and discovery of carbon dioxide. It was first published in Latin as the author’s MD thesis under the title De humore acido a cibis orto, et magnesia alba (1754), followed by an expanded English edition titled ‘Experiments upon Magnesia Alba, Quicklime, and some Other Alcaline Substances’, which appeared in the second volume of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh’s Essays and Observations (1756). The 1754 is a famous rarity; the present edition was the first to contain Cullen’s Essay and is itself highly uncommon, with no other copy traced in auction records.

£500-800

SCIENCE AND MEDICINE

COLLECTION OF WORKS, 18TH CENTURY

Mackenzie, James. The History of Health, and the Art of Preserving it. Edinburgh: William Gordon, 1758. First edition, 8vo, contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco label, xii 436 pp., 2E1 with closed tear in text; Cotes, Roger. Hydrostatical and Pneumatical Lectures. Published with Notes by his Successor Robert Smith. London: for the editor, 1738. First edition, 8vo, contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco label, [16] 243 [7] pp., 5 engraved plates, 2 leaves of advertisements to rear, C4 with short closed tear, one plate with short split to fold; Geoffroy, Etienne-François. A Treatise of the Fossil, Vegetable, and Animal Substances, that are made Use of in Physick … Translated from a Manuscript Copy of the Author’s Lectures, read at Paris. By G. Douglas. London: for W. Innys [and others], 1736. First edition, 8vo, contemporary sprinkled calf, xxiv 387 [13] pp.;

Barba, Alvaro Alonson. A Collection of Scarce and Valuable Treatises upon Metals, Mines, and Minerals. London: J. Hodges, 1740. Second edition, 12mo, contemporary calf, red morocco label, [16] 319 [2] pp., engraved frontispiece, front free endpaper inscribed ‘AS 1760’ (i.e. Archibald Stirling);

Nicholson, William. The First Principles of Chemistry. London: G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1790. First edition, 8vo, contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco label, xxvii [1] 532 [5] pp., engraved folding plate, front free endpaper detached;

Macquer, Pierre Joseph. Elements of the Theory and Practice of Chymistry. Translated from the French. London: A. Millar, and J. Nourse, 1758. First edition in English, 2 volumes, 8vo, contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco labels, xix 419 [1], viii 434 pp., 6 engraved plates, initials of Archibald Stirling to front pastedowns (see above; dated 1761 in first volume), occasional marginalia; and 2 others similar (10)

Note: Chapter 9 of Mackenzie’s work is headed ‘Of the Arabian physic … of Rhases and Avicenna concerning health … Of the Tacuin of Elluchasem Elmithar’. Golf is mentioned on pages 193 (‘a safe and moderate exercise, performed on a bare smooth common, by driving two small hard balls with proper bats …’) and 281 (‘The golf should also be practised, where a proper field or bare common can be met with’). Roger Cotes was an editor of Newton’s Principia

£500-800

71

HUTTON, JAMES

THE THEORY OF THE EARTH, FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH

[Edinburgh, c.1787]. [2] 96 [2] pp., half-title, ‘Explanation of Plate’ leaf to rear, 2 engraved plates, caption-title to p. 1 [ESTC T53062; Norman 1130].

[Bound after:] Whitehurst, John. An Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth. London: for the author, 1778. [8] 199, half-title, 4 engraved plates (2 folding), with one additional folding plate apparently not called for (‘Section of the … Lead Mines in Wear-Dale’, frayed).

2 works in 1 volume, 4to (25.6 x 19.8cm), contemporary marbled calf, red morocco spine-label (‘Theorys of the Earth’), marbled edges

Note: First edition, the extremely rare offprint issue, of one of the most important scientific papers ever published, apparently preceding its appearance in the first volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society in Edinburgh in 1788. The paper was read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in March and April 1785, and ‘offprints … were in circulation in 1787, and possibly in 1786’ (DSB). It proposed for the first time that geological phenomena were to be explained by immutable laws rather than supernatural intervention, an interpretation which came to be known as ‘uniformitarianism’. The paper was expanded by Hutton for publication in book form, of which the first two volumes of a projected three were published in 1795; the work remained incomplete on Hutton’s death in 1797, with the third and final volume, compiled from his notes, not appearing until 1899.

£3,000-5,000

WEIGHTS & MEASURES:

STIRLING, JAMES (1692-1770)

COLLECTION OF MANUSCRIPT NOTEBOOKS ON WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

comprising:

1) [Treatise on weights and measures] ‘A Dissertation on Measures and Length’, 31 pages, with an additional 42 pages of notes and calculations, quarter calf;

2) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising chapter 1 and other notes, alongside mathematical calculations, without defined chapters, 264 pages, quarter calf;

3) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising chapters 8 - 10, 135 pages in James Stirling, the Venetian’s hand, with 12 further pages of legal notes in a later hand, quarter calf;

4) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising chapters 20-30 and a few additional mathematical workings, 156 pages, half vellum;

5) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising part of chapter 19chapter 25, with a few additional notes and calculations, 171 manuscript pages, half vellum;

6) [Treatise on weights and measures] ‘Of the Attic and Roman Measures of Length’, and other subjects, 170 pages of notes and mathematical calculations, quarter vellum;

7) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising part of chapter 10 - chapter 13, 80 pages, with a further 93 pages (flipped) comprising historical and mathematical notes, half calf;

8) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising part of chapter 14chapter 16, with a collection of other notes, 116 manuscript pages in Stirling’s hand and 23 pages of legal notes in a later hand, quarter calf;

9) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising chapters 1 - an unspecified later chapter, 76 manuscript pages, half vellum, the first leaf with calculations torn with loss;

10) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising part of chapter 19chapter 24, with a few additional mathematical notes, 116 manuscript pages, half vellum;

11) [Treatise on weights and measures] a disbound collection of draft pages and other notes, 136 manuscript pages, loosely inserted in half vellum covers;

12) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising a draft of chapters 1-5 of Stirling’s Treatise, with some additional mathematical notations and workings, 85 manuscript pages, contemporary half vellum;

13) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising part of chapter 18 then chapter 19, with a large number of additional notes and calculations, the notes largely relating to the works of Herodotus, Pliny &co., 167 manuscript pages, contemporary half calf;

14) [Treatise on weights and measures] beginning with Chapter 1: ‘Of the English Troy pound, the Paris pound, and the modern Roman pound’, comprising 10 manuscript pages, followed by ‘Theory of Agriculture’, comprising 170 manuscript pages, quarter vellum;

15) [Treatise on weights and measures] beginning with Chapter 1: ‘Of the English and Paris weights and the modern pound of Rome’, comprising 77 numbered manuscript pages followed by 92 pages of mainly mathematical workings, quarter vellum;

16) [Treatise on weights and measures] Untitled but the same text as above, comprising 26 pages, with the remainder of the book completed in a later relative’s hand being a journal addressed to an unnamed person, possibly written abroad, with many references to Alexander Pope and Lord Bolingbroke, quarter vellum;

17) ‘Arabian Measures and Length’, comprising 85 leaves (the majority written on one side only with calculations or supplementary notes overleaf, all in Stirling’s hand providing a history of measurement, the final leaf or leaves apparently lacking, contemporary quarter calf;

18) ‘Of Weights and Measures’, collected by S. Robert Stuart late regent in the college of Edinburgh, comprising 80 manuscript pages possibly in another hand, with page of manuscript in the hand of James Stirling, contemporary quarter calf; each of these volumes c.20 x 25.5cm;

19) Manuscript treatise ‘Concerning some of the modern Measures of Length’ and discussing measurements of the Earth, 54 numbered leaves

with additional mathematical calculations and diagrams, followed by ‘Of Almamous Measure of a Degree’, comprising c.130 pages of text and mathematical calculations / diagrams, full vellum with “Coppy Book” to upper cover, 21.5 x 32.5cm;

20) An untitled composite album of bound maps and prints, mainly referring to the Holy Land and Middle East, including ‘A Map of Paradise, Mount Ararat and the City of Babel’, a print of Noah’s Ark, ‘A Plan of the Temple of Jerusalem’, etc., possibly collected by James Stirling and referring to the areas covered in his treatise (20)

Note: A more complete version of Stirling’s ‘Treatise on Weights and Measures’ can be found in lot 73. The work was not published in full, however short extract was published posthumously as ‘An account of the money, coins, and weights, used in England, during the reigns of the Saxon princes’ in the Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, I, 1792. The notebooks included in this lot appear to be James Stirling’s drafts of his treatise, with much additional information and a large collection of notes. The final item contains studies and thoughts of modern measurement, including the dimensions of the Earth, a topic which greatly interested James Stirling. £12,000-16,000

73

STIRLING, JAMES (1692-1770)

’TREATISE ON WEIGHTS AND MEASURES AND COINAGE’

James Stirling’s holograph manuscript, volume 1 comprising 96 manuscript pages followed by 124 manuscript leaves (several with text to verso, often calculations) numbered 1-18 and 29-134; volume 2 comprising leaves 135-290, contemporary quarter calf with red morocco gilt spine labels showing the title ‘Stirling on Weights’, text block and spine of volume 1 split

Note: The most complete copy of James Stirling’s manuscript ‘Treatise on Weights and Measures’. Related notebooks can be found in lot 72. A short extract of the text was published posthumously as ‘An account of the money, coins, and weights, used in England, during the reigns of the Saxon princes’ in the Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, I, 1792, pp. 216-33. However, the work was never published in full.

£3,000-4,000

74

STIRLING, JAMES (1692-1770), HIS COPY, WITH ANNOTATIONS A REPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO ENQUIRE INTO THE ORIGINAL STANDARDS OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES in this Kingdom, and to consider the Laws relating thereto … Published by Order of the House of Commons. London: for John Whiston [and others], 1758. Folio (31.4 x 19.4cm), contemporary calf-backed marbled boards, vellum tips, 78 pp., with James Stirling’s autograph marginalia to some 16 pages, C1 partly detached, a copy of the same report for the following year (1759) bound in at rear (21 pp.)

£400-600

75

GREAVES, JOHN

MISCELLANEOUS WORKS OF MR. JOHN GREAVES, PROFESSOR OF ASTRONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Many of which are now first published. London: J. Hughs, 1737. 2 volumes, 8vo (19.4 x 11.4cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, 7 (of 8 engraved) plates (including 4 folding), occasional Arabic and Hebrew types, manuscript annotations by James Stirling (1692-1770) to margins of several pages (e.g. volume 1 pp. 2 ‘Pocock mentions a pyramid of brick’, 208, 278, 342, volume 2 pp. 410, 494, 522), manuscript calculations and further notes also in his hand (in pencil and ink) to endpapers (e.g. ‘Sherif signified noble hence coemes the English name of the old gold coins vid. Pococke’, volume 1 label chipped, plate facing p. 79 with split to fold, old repair to foot of s3, occasional finger-soiling, a few leaves dog-eared [Wallis 346 for ‘A Dissertation upon the Sacred Cubit of the Jews’; Babson 230 refers] (2)

Note: First collected edition, including the first edition in any language of Isaac Newton’s ‘A Dissertation upon the Sacred Cubit of the Jews … Translated from the Latin of Isaac Newton, not yet published’ (volume 2, pp. 405-433), which itself refers at length to Greaves’s own work on the subject, Pyramidographia (1646). Stirling’s notes and markings in this copy are related chiefly to passages on ancient weights and measures, on which subject he wrote an unpublished manuscript treatise (see lot 73).

£600-800

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, COINAGE, CURRENCY

COLLECTION OF WORKS, 18TH CENTURY

Arbuthnot, John. Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures, explain’d and exemplify’d in several Dissertations. London: J. Tonson, 1727. 4to, title-page in red and black, errata label to A1 verso, 18 tables including the folding table ‘The Assays Weights & Values of Coins … compiled by Sir Isaac Newton whilst Master of the British Mint’, small annotation to p. 212 in the hand of James Stirling (1692-1770), contemporary calf;

77

CLARKE, WILLIAM

THE CONNEXION OF THE ROMAN, SAXON, AND ENGLISH COINS

Deduced from observations on the Saxon weights and money. London: William Bowyer, 1767. 4to, illustrations in text, contemporary calf

£150-250

78

AGRICOLA, GEORGIUS DE MENSURIS ET PONDERIBUS ROMANORUM ATQUE

Fleetwood, William. Chronicon Preciosum: or, an Account of English Gold and Silver Money. London: T. Osborne, 1745. Second edition, 8vo, 12 plates, appendix and advert leaf, contemporary calf, ownership signature of A. Stirling;

Martin-Leake, Stephen. An Historical Account of English Money… London: W. Meadows, 1745. Second edition, 8vo, contemporary calf; Gordon, William. The Universal Accountant and Complete Merchant. Edinburgh: A. Donaldson, 1765. 2 volumes, 8vo, engraved frontispiece, folding table, contemporary calf; [Hooper, George]. An Inquiry into the State of the Ancient Measures, the Attick, the Roman, and especially the Jewish. London: R. Knaplock, 1721. 8vo, contemporary calf, a few annotations; Millan, J. Coins, Weights & Measures, ancient & modern, of all nations. Reduced into English on above 100 tables, collected & methodiz’d from Newton, Folkes, Arbuthnot, Fleetwood &c. London: J. Millan, 1747. 12mo, engraved plates throughout, contemporary calf; Hamilton, Robert. An Introduction to Merchandise. Edinburgh: Charles Elliot [and for C. Elliott, T. Kay & Co., London], 1788. Second edition, 8vo, contemporary calf; Hutton, Charles. A Key to Hutton’s Arithmetic. London: G.G.J. and J. Robinson, 1786. 12mo, contemporary calf; Ibid. A Complete Treatise on Practical Arithmetic; and Book-Keeping. London: G.G.J. and J. Robinson, 1788.. Eighth edition, 12mo, contemporary calf;

[Swinton, John] A Proposal for Uniformity of Weights and Measures in Scotland… Edinburgh: Peter Hill, 1789. Second edition, 8vo, contemporary tree calf, red morocco gilt label to spine; [Gilbert, Geoffrey]. An Historical View of the Court of Exchequer, and of the King’s Revenues there Answered. In the Savoy: E. and R. Nutt, 1738. 8vo, contemporary calf, erased ownership signature to front pastedown (12)

£500-700

GRAECORUM LIB V.

De externis mensuris et ponderibus Lib. II. Ad ea, quae Andreas Alciatus denus disputavit de mensuris et ponderibus, brevis defensio Lib I. De mensuris, quibus intervalla metimur Lib. I. De restituendis ponderibus atque mensuris Lib. I. De precio metallorum et moneis Lib. III. Basel: Froben, 1550. Folio in sixes (30.5 x 19cm), 18th-century British sprinkled calf, spine with dove of peace motifs gilt to compartments, text in roman letter, frequent Greek and Hebrew types, woodcut Froben device to title-page and verso of errata leaf, historiated woodcut initials throughout, retaining medial blanks q8 and x6, manuscript bibliographical note in an 18th-century hand (possibly James Stirling’s) to front free endpaper, manuscript marginalia to pp. 12, 35, 120, and index, a few leaves with pagination added in manuscript, binding rubbed, spine-label perished, front free endpaper near-detached, occasional faint creasing across lower fore corners, t1 with short slit to either side of peripheral section of diagram to create folding tab sparing diagram from trimming by binder, similar diagram on x4 just cropped at head, u4 with old stain to lower margin, a few other old marks and blemishes [Adams A344; Tomash & Williams A43; VD16 A 918]

Note: First folio edition of Agricola’s treatise on weights and measures and the first to include, among substantial further additions, the important treatise ‘De precio metallorum et moneis’, which ‘breaks new ground in discussing the price differential between gold and silver and the influence on the local economy of foreign as well as counterfeit money’ (Tomash & Williams). The work was first published in 1533, in the form of a quarto edition by Froben in Basel and an octavo edition by Wechel in Paris, priority not established, followed by a Venetian quarto of 1535. £600-800

Lot 76

Lot 78

THE CLASSICAL WORLD IN PRINT:

PLATO

APANTA TA SOZOMENA

[graece]. Opera quae extant omnia. Ex nova Joannis Serrani interpretatione … Henr. Stephani de quorundam locorum interpretatione judicium, et multorum contextus Graeci emendatio. [Geneva:] excudebat Henr. Stephanus [Henri Estienne the younger], 1578. First edition of the translation by Jean de Serres and first complete edition, 3 volumes, folio (36.8 x 23.8cm), near-contemporary mottled calf, woodcut device on title-page, woodcut headpieces, initials and culs-de-lampe, some marginalia in Greek in an early hand, inscription in Greek dated 1653 repeated to each front free endpaper (with addition in Latin dated 1665 in volume 1), bindings worn, all volumes with some damp-staining to upper margins, corresponding old repairs obscuring a few page numbers and running heads, a little additional dampstaining in places, some very minor marginal worming [Adams P1439; Renouard cols. 145-6; Schreiber 201; USTC 450772]

Provenance: 1) Faint early ownership inscriptions to title-pages of volumes one and two, the first apparently reading in part ‘M. Hubert Docteur de Medecine’, the second ‘Hubert d’Orleans D. Med.’, possibly Etienne Hubert d’Orleans (1567-1614), French physician and Arabist.

2) ‘Franciscus Sevin’, ownership inscriptions to the title-page of volumes one and three, with later inscriptions ‘ex bibliotecha F. Sevin’ to front pastedowns of each volume, likely to be François Sevin (1682-1741), French philologist and codicologist, who from 1737 to his death was keeper of the king’s manuscripts under Louis XV (cf. Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France, shelfmark Z 44 A, for an example of the same ownership inscription, attributed to François Sevin, in a copy of Scheffer, De militia navali veterum, Uppsala, 1654).

Note: ‘Henri Estienne’s monumental edition of Plato. The first complete edition, which for two centuries remained the indispensable instrument of Platonic studies; to this day its pagination is universally accepted as the standard system of reference to the text of Plato’ (Schreiber). The first edition of the translation by Jean de Serres.

The strikingly elaborate large title page device, designed for this work, makes its first and only appearance. The copy is complete with its dedications to Elizabeth I, James VI and the Canton of Bern: their absence is usually the work’s most common defect.

£3,000-4,000

ARISTOTLE

OPERA OMNIA QUAE EXTANT

Graece et Latine … Sed novissimae huic editioni quae hactenus prodierunt, ornatissimae accessit brevis ac perpetuus in omnes Aristotelis libros commentarius … Authore Guillelo Du Val. Paris: Typis Regiis, 1619. 2 volumes, folio in sixes (40 x 26.2cm), contemporary reversed calf ruled in blind, edges dyed red, signatures a6 e6 i4 a-p6 A-5P6, a2 A-L6 a4 b-5c6 5d4, [32] 1251 [37], [4] 1104 [31] pp., title-pages printed in red and black with engraved portrait vignettes, Greek and Latin text in parallel columns, woodcut and type-ornaments headpieces, woodcut factotums, folding table (between leaves d4-5 in volume 1), occasional inked marginalia (volume 1 p. 933, volume 2 pp. 89, 92, 471-491, loss to spine-ends, ties perished, title-pages slightly marked and damp-stained, occasional damp-staining elsewhere (e.g. volume 1 quire R, a few quires towards centre of volume 2, etc.) [cf. Renouard 219.5 for the 1629 edition]

Provenance: Each volume with the contemporary ownership inscription ‘Dominus factus est justitia nostra, Thomas Warmstry’ to the front free endpaper: this is possibly the royalist Anglican clergyman Thomas Warmstry or Warmstrey (c.1610-1665), who served as dean of Worcester and is remembered for his 1658 work The Baptized Turk Note: Renouard implies that this edition was to an unspecified extent the work of Antoine Estienne (1592-1674), noting that he signed the colophon of the 1629 ‘Typis Regiis’ edition, and was therefore likely to have been ‘no stranger to the printing of the two editions of 1619 and 1639’. Estienne held the title of king’s printer (imprimeur du roi) from 1615. ‘For more than 50 years he followed his profession in a manner worthy of his ancestors … It was the Société des éditions grecques, of which he was a member, for whom he printed the beautiful Greek-Latin edition of Aristotle … [of] 1629. It is believed that the editions of Aristotle of 1619 and 1639, published by the same Society, were also printed by him, at least in part’ (Hoefer, Nouvelle biographie générale, 1856, vol. 16, cols. 555-6).

£600-800

81

STRABO

GEOGRAPHIKON BIBLOI 17

[graece]. Rerum geographicarum libri XVII. Amsterdam: J. Wolters, 1707. 2 volumes, folio (31.6 x 19.6cm), half-title to each volume, volume 1 with title-page in red and black with engraved vignette, engraved additional title-page, Greek and Latin text in parallel columns, contemporary sprinkled calf, spines gilt in compartments, rubbed, title-labels perished (retaining numbering-labels), joints cracked, strip of skinning to volume 1 front cover (2)

£300-500

82

XENOPHON TA EURISKOMENA

[graece]. Quae exstant opera … Graece multo quam ante castigatius edita … Latine tertia nunc cura ita elucubrata … opera Joannis Leunclavii. Frankfurt: apud Andreae Wecheli heredes, Claudium Marnium, et Joan. Aubrium, 1596. 2 volumes in 1, folio (34.9 x 21.8cm), late 17th- or early 18th-century calf, gilt spine, gilt stamp on boards showing the arms of François Lefebure de Caumartin (16681733), Bishop of Blois, with his bookplate to front pastedown, printer’s woodcut device to title-page and verso of final blank (4E6), Greek and Latin text in parallel columns, shallow loss to head and foot of spine, boards and joints a little rubbed with two small areas of skinning to front board [Adams X15; USTC 707510]

Provenance: François Lefebure de Caumartin (1668-1733), Bishop of Blois.

Note: Caumartin was a scholar of Jansenist leanings and passionate about books. Although he himself produced nothing, he left behind a library containing nearly 10,000 manuscripts and printed works. His library was sold in Paris in 1735, with a published catalogue entitled Catalogue des livres de la bibliotheque de feu Monseigneur Jean-FrançoisPaul le Febvre de Caumartin, Evêque de Blois, &c.: dont la vente se fera en détail, le lundy 10 janvier 1735 & jours suivans, depuis deux heures de relevée jusqu’au soir, au Couvent des Grands Augustins (Paris, 1734).

£300-500

83

ARCHIMEDES

PANTA SOZOMENA

[graece]. Opera quae extant. Novis demonstrationibus commentariisque illustrata. Per Davidem Rivaltum. Paris: apud Claudium Morellum, 1615. Folio (35 x 21.8cm), title-page in red and black, woodcut figures and diagrams throughout the text, contemporary calf, binding worn, titlepage with small chip to upper fore corner and 17th- or 18thcentury ownership inscription ‘Da. Masterton’, lacking free endpapers

Note: First edition of this influential bilingual version of the works of Archimedes, based on the Greek editio princeps of 1544 with assistance from what is now known as the ‘B’ manuscript (Codex Parisinus 2360). The propositions are in Greek, while the proofs are in Latin and ‘somewhat retouched’ (Heath, The Works of Archimedes, 1897, p. xxix).

£1,000-1,500

84

CATO, MARCUS PORCIUS, & OTHERS

LIBRI DE RE RUSTICA

Paris: apud Galeotum [Galliot], 1533. Folio (33.1 x 21cm), contemporary French calf, gilt fleurons to spine-compartments, gilt strapwork lozenge to centre of each cover, text in roman letter, ruled by hand in red ink, printer’s woodcut device to title-pages, a few woodcut diagrams in text, early annotations and ownership inscriptions including ‘L. Lelarge’ to front endpapers and title-page, occasional early marginalia, binding worn, spine with later manuscript title to top compartment and loss to head and foot, a few small marginal worm-tracks, intermittent dampstaining, final blank H10 apparently original but pasted down, replacing endpaper [Adams S810]

£300-500

85

DIOSCORIDES

TOU ANAZARBEOS TA SOZOMENA HAPANTA [graece]. Opera quae extant omnia.Ex nova interpretatione Jani-Antonii Saraceni. [Frankfurt]: sumptibus haeredum Andreae Wecheli, Claudii Marni, et Joan Aubrii, 1598. 2 parts in 1 volume, folio (35.2 x 22cm), old calf ruled in gilt, woodcut device to title-page, 2 engraved portraits in text, Greek and Latin text in parallel columns, binding rubbed and scuffed, joints split, title-page creased and with old ink inscription to head, a couple of minor wormholes to margins [Adams D658; USTC 683348]

£300-500

86

SUIDAS

[OPERA] NUNC PRIMUM INTEGER LATINITATE DONATUS

… opera et studio Aemili Porti. Geneva: Petrum de la Roviere, 1619. 2 volumes, folio (33.5 x 21cm), title-pages in red and black with printer’s woodcut device, Greek and Latin text in parallel columns, later tan calf gilt, armorial bookplates reading ‘De Tudert, covers rubbed, shallow loss to head and foot of each spine, splitting to joints-ends, volume 1 initial gatherings creased (2)

£300-400

87

VITRUVIUS POLLIO, MARCUS

DE ARCHITECTURA LIBRI DECEM

… accesserunt Gulielmi Philandri Castilionii, civis Romani annotationes castigatiores, et plus teria parte locupletiores. Lyon: apud Joan. Tornaesium [Jean de Tournes], 1552. Folio (24.8 x 16.2cm), contemporary French sheep panelled in blind with gilt fleurons to spine compartments and within roundels to centre of each board, [8] 447 [29] pp., A4 ²A4 a-z4 ³A-³Z4 2a-2r4, retaining the errata (2r3) and the final leaf (2r4, blank but for publisher’s woodcut device verso), folding plate, criblé woodcut initials, woodcut illustrations in text including roundel portrait to²A4 verso, roman and italic types, title-page inscribed ‘Emp. Ludg. anno 1552 12 s 6 d.’ (apparently later), occasional manuscript marginalia in ink and old underlining in sanguine crayon (see provenance), marginal spill-burn to ³M1, wear and skinning to binding, slightly later manuscript spine-title [Adams V908; Cicognara 912]

Provenance: Title-page inscribed ‘Camill. Falconer, aggr. Lugd. Natal. fili Andr. nepos 1693’, with manuscript marginalia in Latin and detailed annotations to rear endpapers in French, all possibly in the same hand. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge holds a copy of the 1499 Aldine edition of Julius Firmicus Maternus’s Astronomicorum Libri Octo with an identical inscription on the title-leaf.

Note: First edition of Vitruvius to include the influential commentary of French humanist Guillaume Philander (Philandrier), which was originally published separately in 1544.

£500-800

STIRLING, JAMES (1692-1770), HIS COPIES

CLASSICAL LITERATURE, A GROUP OF WORKS FROM HIS LIBRARY, 17TH-18TH CENTURY

Juvenal & Persius. Satirae … editio tertia. London: R. Clavell [and others], 1707. 8vo, contemporary panelled calf, ownership inscription ‘Ja: Stirling 1729’ and mathematical calculations to front pastedown, front free endpaper annotated with the genealogy of Christ in an 18th century hand (probably Stirling’s), small tear to corner of A3; Lucretius. De rerum natura. Oxford: e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1695. 8vo, contemporary panelled calf, ownership inscription ‘James Stirling 1729’ to front pastedown, damp-staining; Sallust. [Opera] cum veterum historicorum fragmentis]. Leiden: ex officina Elzeviriana, 1634. 24mo, contemporary mottled calf, ownership inscription and purchase note ‘Ja: Stirling pr 2s 6d July 1726’ to front pastedown.

Together with 15 others, generally 18th-century British editions of Greek and Latin authors, with the ownership inscriptions of later members of the Stirling family (not the original James) (18)

£400-600

89

[JUSTINIAN]

’IN QUATUOR LIBRO INSTITUTIONUM JUSTINIANI ANNOTATIONES INCHOATES’

Angers, 29 November 1673. Manuscript in Latin, folio (28.8 x 18.2cm), [86] pp., approx. 50 lines to the page, closely written in a 17th-century British (probably Scottish) hand, followed by 40 pp. in a later hand (c.1775), comprising copies of the letters of Jonathan Swift, manuscript list of accounts to rear free endpaper headed ‘Ane accompt of the monie I depursed the tyme I was at Angers’, beginning ‘I was seven moneths at Angers’ (the leaf torn with loss and with mathematical calculations on verso), spine lined medieval manuscript waste (on vellum, in Latin, retaining several decorative initials), contemporary mottled calf, a few small wormtracks, tear to head of spine

CONTINENTAL BOOKS

COLLECTION OF WORKS, 17TH-18TH CENTURY Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Ta euriskomena, istorika te kai retorika, suggrammata [in Greek]. Scripta quae exstant, omnia, et historica, et rhetorica. Frankfurt: apud heredes Andreae Wecheli, 1584. 2 volumes, folio (34.8 x 21.5cm), old vellum, manuscript spinetitles, each volume retaining final leaf (blank but for printer’s woodcut device verso), volume 1 with wear to board-edges, volume 2 with loss to vellum at head of spine, variable spotting and browning, marginal repairs to volume 1 index leaf 2V1 and volume 2 preliminary leaf (:)3 [Adams D625]; Seneca. Opera quae exstant omnia: a Justo Lipsio emendata et scholiis illustrata. Editio quarta. Antwerp: ex officina Plantiniana Balthasaris Moreti, 1652. Folio (41 x 25.5cm), contemporary Dutch vellum prize-binding for Dordrecht gymnasium, each cover with gilt device comprising figure of Minerva within laurel frame and legend ‘Minerva Dordracena’, [16] xxxvi 911 pp., half-title with engraved portrait verso (=*1), engraved architectonic title-page (=*2), 2 full-page engravings (the dying Seneca in his bath by Cornelis Galle after Peter Paul Rubens, and a bust portrait), dampstaining to index, printed prize-leaf dated 1724 addressed by hand to one Jan van Cruijskerken (now detached); Clüver, Philipp. Germaniae antiquae. Leiden: ex officina Elzeviriana, 1631. Folio (36.2 x 22cm), contemporary vellum, manuscript spine-title, arabesque centrepieces to covers in blind, [32] 748 [16] pp., half-title with engraved portrait frontispiece verso, engraved allegorical title-page, 26 plates, 11 folding maps, plates 15-16 (on a single bifolium) loose [Willems 345];

Note: A manuscript commentary on the Institutes of Justinian apparently by a 17th-century Scottish visitor to Angers. In the 17th century the university in the city was a popular destination for travelling Scotsmen such as polymath Robert Sibbald (1641-1722), who is known to have sat examinations there.

£400-600

Horace. [Opera] cum erudito Laevini Torrentii commentario, nunc primum in lucem edito. Antwerp: ex officina Plantiniana apud Joannem Moreum, 1608. 4to (25.8 x 18.2cm), contemporary Dutch vellum prize-binding, [20] 839 [47] pp., engraved title vignette, 2 engraved portraits, colophon leaf with printer’s woodcut device verso, printed prize-leaf dated 1617 and completed in manuscript bound in before title-page, vellum soiled, front inner hinge split, title-page with two ownership inscriptions (one effaced) and marginal repair, variable browning throughout (5)

£600-800

GREEK HISTORIANS

COLLECTION OF FOLIO EDITIONS, 17TH-18TH CENTURY Herodotus. Istorion [in Greek]. Historiarum libri ix … Editionem curavit et suas itemque Lud. Casp. Valckenarii, notas adjecit Petrus Wesselingius. Amsterdam: sumptibus Petri Schoutenii, 1763. Folio (40.5 x 24cm), contemporary calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label, [24] 868 177 [69] pp., half-title, engraved additional title-page, engraved folding plate (facing p. 166), with a laid-in foolscap bifolium (31.8 x 19.6cm) containing 2 pages of manuscript notes on Herodotus’s account of the Egyptians and ancient weights and measures (e.g. ‘Among the nomades in Lybia there is a wild beast of the bigness of an ox, called orys: from the length of whose horns the Phoenicians took the length of their cubit’), apparently by James Stirling (1692-1770), damp-staining to front free endpaper and half-title; Thucydides. Peri tou Peloponnesiakou polemou biblia okto [in Greek]. De bello Peloponnesiaco libri octo … recensuit, et notas suas addidit Josephus Wasse. Editionem curavit, suasque animadversiones adjecit Carolus Andreas Dukerus. Amsterdam: apud R. & J. Wetstenious et Gul. Smith, 1731. Folio (39.6 x 23.5cm), contemporary calf, gilt spine [36] 34 1-728 48 123 pp., half-title, engraved frontispiece, title-page printed in red and black with engraved vignette, 2 engraved folding maps, Greek and Latin text in parallel columns, spine-label perished, small worm-track to lower margins of last few leaves; Pausanias. Tes Ellados Periegesis [in Greek]. Hoc est, Graeciae descriptio accurata … accesserunt Gul. Xylandri et Frid. Sylburgii annotationes, ac novae notae Joachimi Kuhnii. Leipzig: apud Thomam Fritsch, 1696. Folio (33.5 x 19.8cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, spine gilt in compartments, marbled edges, [28] 895 pp., 899-943 columns, [76] pp., half-title, titlepage in red and black with engraved vignette of Pegasus, Greek and Latin text in parallel columns, closed tear in V1, small section of worming in text from about p. 860, index browned [either VD17 39:128725Q or VD17 547:697701A, each with the same collation but apparently with the figure of Pegasus looking down or straight ahead respectively, the distinction unclear in practice]; and 1 other (4)

£300-500

92

GREEK AUTHORS

COLLECTION OF FOLIO EDITIONS, 17TH-18TH CENTURY Procopius of Caesarea. Historiarum. Nunc primum Graece editi. Accessit Liber de aedificiis Justiniani fere suplo quam antea auction. Opera Davidis Hoeschilii. Augsburg: apud Davidem Francum, 1607. Folio (31.8 x 20.4cm), old calf, [8] 376 56 [60] pp., engraved allegorical titlepage, main text entirely in Greek, pencilled marginalia joints cracked, binding worn [VD17 39:123445Q];

Aristophanes. Komodiae endeka [title in Greek]. Comoediae undecim, cu, scholiis antiquis. Geneva: sumptibus Caldorianae societatis, 1607. Folio in sixes (34 x 21cm), contemporary calf, [36] 916 [27] pp., text in Greek and Latin, double column, free endpapers lacking or pasted down, title-page spotted and slightly creased, marginal spotting throughout, marginal damp-staining to prelims, a few small chips and losses to edges; Clement of Alexandria. Euriskomena [title in Greek]. Opera, quae extant. Recognita et illustrata per Joannem Potterum. Oxford: e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1715. 2 volumes, folio (39.5 x 23.5cm), contemporary calf, red morocco labels, dog’s-tooth roll gilt to spines and covers, engraved vignette of the Sheldonian Theatre to each title-page, [16] 642, [2] 643902 913-1060 [4] 206 [50] pp., volume 1 sig. 4L2 untrimmed at corner [ESTC T144834];

Julius Pollux. Onomastikon en biblioic deka [title in Greek]. Onomasticum Graece et Latine. Amsterdam: ex officina Wetsteniana, 1706. 2 volumes, folio (32.4 x 19.5cm), contemporary marbled calf (possibly French), gilt spines, marbled endpapers, edges dyed red, [4] 48 683, [2] 687-1388 [16] 178 [9] pp., Greek and Latin text in parallel columns, half-titles, engraved architectonic frontispiece and additional allegorical title-page, engraved folding plate, volume 2 with nicks to head of spine and closed tear in 7H3 (6)

£400-600

Lot 92

GREEK AND LATIN AUTHORS

COLLECTION OF WORKS, 17TH-18TH CENTURY

Suetonius. XII Caesares, et in eos Laevini Torrentii commentarius auctior et emendatior. Antwerp: ex officina Plantiniana, apud viduam, et Joannem Moretum, 1591. 4to (24.2 x 16.5cm), 17th- or early 18thcentury British binding of panelled calf, engraved title-page, early marginalia to a few pages (e.g. 123, 278, 296), final blank 3+4 apparently original, spine worn, head of front joint split [Adams S5052]; Ammianus Marcellinus. Rerum gestarum … emendati ab Henrico Valesio … editio posterior. Paris: ex officina Antonii Dezallier, 1681. Folio (34 x 21cm), contemporary calf, gilt spine, red morocco label, marbled edges, [32] xxxiv 676 [2] 100 [14] pp.;

Pliny the Elder. Historiae naturalis libri XXXVII. Quos interpretatione et notis illustravit Joannes Harduinus … Editio altera emendatior et auctior. Paris: Antonii-Urbani Coustelier, 1723. 2 volumes, folio (37.5 x 20.3cm), contemporary calf ruled in gilt, [32] 790, [2] 835 [4] 836-1289 [1] pp., engraved folding map, 11 engraved plates of coins, bindings slightly rubbed, wear to spines and tips, volume 1 label chipped, front joint partially cracked, volume 2 label perished; Claudius Aelianus. De natura animalium, London: William Bowyer, 1744. 2 volumes, 4to, uncut in contemporary calf-backed comb-marbled boards with quarter calf, majority of leaves unopened, fore and bottom edges untrimmed, occasional marginal damp staining, tear to page 291 [ESTC T88657]; together with one other (Cassius Deo, 1606, title-page loose, this work not collated) (7) £400-600 94

CLASSICAL LITERATURE

COLLECTION OF BRITISH EDITIONS OF GREEK AND LATIN AUTHORS, 17TH-18TH CENTURY

Cassius Dio. The History … Done from the Greek, by Mr. Manning. London: for A. and J. Churchill, 1704. 2 volumes, 8vo, contemporary panelled calf, [24] 407, [8] 375 pp., volume 1 with light intermittent damp-staining; Quintilian. De Institutione Oratoria … ex tribus codicibus mss. et octo impressis emendavit, atque lectiones variantes adjecit Edmundus Gibson. Oxford: e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1693. 4to, contemporary panelled calf, edges dyed red, [22] 645 73 pp., half-title, early ownership inscriptions of one Peter Laroche to rear blank; Epictetus. Enchiridion Latinis versibus adumbratum. Per Edvardum Ivie. Oxford: e theatro Sheldoniano, 1715. 8vo, contemporary half vellum, comb-marbled sides, [6] 109 [3] pp., engraved frontispiece and title-page vignette, errata leaf to rear, ownership inscription ‘E Marshall, Coll. Vigorn [i.e. Worcester], 1792’ to front pastedown, early marginalia to pp. 60 and 91; Callimachus. Hymni et epigrammata. London: impensis Gul. Thurlbourne, 1741. 8vo, contemporary calf, gilt spine, xviii 243 [1] 53 [1] pp., 2E4 cancelled and not replaced (pagination continuous), pp. iii/iv slit at head; Xenophon. Memorabilium socratis dictorum … recensuit, suisque annotationibus auxit Bolton Simpson, editio secunda. Oxford: e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1749. 2 parts in 1 volume, 8vo, contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt spine with red morocco label, [16] 360 [30] [2] 363-383 [4] pp., duplicate of final leaf of index bound in before title-page of second part; and 16 others similar, contemporary calf bindings (24)

£400-600

95

CLASSICAL LITERATURE

COLLECTION OF WORKS, CONTINENTAL IMPRINTS, 16TH-18TH CENTURY

Macrobius, Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius. In Somnium Scipionis libri II; Conuiuiorum Saturnaliorum libri VII. Paris: : [H. Estienne], 1585. 8vo, contemporary vellum, final leaves of index supplied in manuscript [Adams M71; USTC 171902]; Justinius. Historiae Philippicae… Leiden: Theodorum Haak, 1719. 8vo, contemporary vellum; Tasso, Torquato. Goffredo overo Gierusalemme Liberata Poema Heroico… Vittorio Veneto: Marco Claseri, 1604. 8vo, contemporary marbled boards;

Tibullus, Albius. Albii Tibulli equitis Rom. quae extant, ad fidem Veterum Membranarum sedulo castigata. Amsterdam: Ex Officina Wetsteniana, 1708. 4to, contemporary calf; Valierus Maximus cum Selectis Variorum observat… Leiden: Franciscum Hackium, 1651. 8vo, contemporary calf with gilt arms to covers; Celsus, Aulus Cornelius. De Medicina, Libri Octo. Amsterdam: Joannem Wolters, 1713. 8vo, contemporary calf; Orosi, Pauli. Historiarum Libri Septem … Leiden: Geradum Potuliet, 1738. 4to, contemporary calf; Boccaccio, Giovanni. Il Decameron. Amsterdam, 1665. 12mo, contemporary calf; Curtius Rufus, Quintus. Historia Alexandri Magni. Amsterdam: Elzevier, 1673. 8vo, contemporary calf; Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Opera. Amsterdam: Rod. & Gerh. Wetstenios, 1724. 4 volumes, 4to, contemporary calf gilt, rubbed; and approx. 30 others, the lot sold as seen (48)

£500-700

96

PLUTARCH

THE LIVES OF THE NOBLE GRECIANS AND ROMANES

London: Thomas Vautrollier, 1579. First edition of Thomas North’s translation, folio, woodcut medallion portraits within decorative cartouches, initials and head and tail pieces, contemporary blind ruled and panelled calf, a few annotations in an early hand, title-page damaged with loss of the imprint and part of device, damage to upper part of the final leaf with some loss of text, lower corner of *iiii torn with loss of text, lacking four initial leaves including blank, lacking Aii-iii, some light dampstaining, mainly marginal, occasional staining including to pp. 47-8, a few small rust holes occasionally affecting text

Note: Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch is celebrated as Shakespeare’s principal historical source for his Roman plays. ‘Although modern scholarship generally recognises Shakespeare’s knowledge of Latin … as well as French and Italian, it is widely accepted that he used Sir Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch’s Lives. Ubiquitously dubbed ‘Shakespeare’s Plutarch’, its first edition in the English vernacular appeared in 1579 and was followed by expanded editions in 1595 and 1603. North translated the Lives from the French version of Jacques Amyot, published in 1559 … Shakespeare’s borrowings should be seen in the light of the fact that Plutarch’s Lives were admired in early modern England for their profound interest in the complexities of the human character and their didactic significance’ (Dimitrova, ‘Taking Centre Stage: Plutarch and Shakespeare’, in Sophia Xenophontos and Katerina Oikonomopoulou, Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Plutarch, 2019, p. 493).

£2,000-3,000

Lot

HISTORY & LITERATURE:

STUKELEY, WILLIAM STONEHENGE

A Temple Restor’d. London: W. Innys and R. Manby, 1740. First edition, folio, engraved portrait frontispiece and 34 plates, single-page table, contemporary calf, slightly rubbed, plate 3 (‘A Prospect of Stonehenge’) lacking first folding section, tear to plate 5 with slight loss, other occasional closed tears [ESTC T146679] £500-800

98

ANTIQUARIAN LITERATURE COLLECTION OF WORKS, MAINLY 18TH CENTURY

Newcomb, Thomas. The Manners of the Age: in Thirteen Moral Satires. Written with a Design to expose the Vicious and Irregular Conduct of Both Sexes, in the Various Pursuits of Life. London: for Jer. Batley, 1733. First octavo edition (presumably following the quarto edition of the same year), contemporary sheep gilt, [4] 587 pp., errata leaf, woodcut tailpieces, small closed tear in X1 [ESTC T97208]; [Pope, Alexander]. The Dunciad, Variorum. With the Prolegomena of Scriblerus. London: for A. Dod, 1729. 4to, contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt spine, red morocco label, 29 [3] 2-124 [2] pp., engraved title-page, addenda leaf, bound with at rear John Gay, Polly: an Opera, London: for the author, 1729, [2] vii [1] 1-72 pp., 31 pp. engraved music to rear; [Ramsay, Andrew Michael, ‘Chevalier’]. Travels of Cyrus. London: James Bettenham, 1730. Fourth edition, 4to, contemporary panelled calf, [4] xvi [4] 363 [1] 110 pp., engraved head and tailpieces and initials by Vandergucht, ownership inscription of James Stirling to front pastedown, binding rubbed, joints cracked, lacking rear free endpaper; and 16 others (these not collated), all in contemporary calf, including Niccolo Macchiavelli, Opere, The Hague, 1726 (4 volumes, 12mo), Montesquieu, L’esprit des loix, Edinburgh, 1750 (2 volumes, 8vo), works by Smollett and Voltaire, and similar (26)

£300-500

BRITISH HISTORY

COLLECTION OF WORKS, MAINLY 18TH CENTURY

Montrose, James, Marquess of. Memoirs. Edinburgh: W. Ruddiman jun. and Company, 1756. 8vo, contemporary calf, [2] xxvi [2] 412 pp., engraved portrait frontispiece; Bolingbroke, Henry St John, Viscount. A Letter to Sir William Windham. II. Some Reflections on the Present State of the Nation. III. A Letter for Mr. Pope. London: A. Millar, 1753. 8vo, contemporary calf, half-title, etched portrait frontispiece [2] 531 pp.;

Idem. Letters, on the Spirit of Patriotism. London: A. Millar, 1749. 8vo, contemporary calf, xi [1] 9-251 pp.;

Mitchell, J., & Jn. Dickie. The Philosophy of Witchcraft. Paisley: Murray and Stewart, 1839. 18mo, contemporary half calf by J. Neilson of Paisley, viii 424 pp., etched frontispiece, loss to head of spine; [Borlase, Edmund]. The History of the Execrable Irish Rebellion. Trac’d from many preceding Acts, to the Grand Eruption The 23. of October, 1641. London: Henry Bronze, and Richard Chiswell, 1780. 4to, contemporary calf, lacking at least the folding table and errata leaf; and 13 others similar, all in contemporary calf (19)

£300-500

100

PRIDEAUX, HUMPHREY

MARMORA OXONIENSIA, EX ARUNDELLIANIS, SELDENIANIS, ALIISQUE CONFLATA

Oxford: e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1676. First edition, folio, engraved illustrations throughout text, contemporary calf, rubbed with a little worming to upper cover, a little dampstaining, mainly to title-page

£200-300

Lot 97

101

CLARENDON, EDWARD HYDE, EARL OF THE HISTORY OF THE REBELLION AND CIVIL WARS IN ENGLAND

Dublin: John Hyde, and Robert Owen, 1719. 3 volumes, folio, 3 engraved portraits, contemporary panelled calf, volumes 1 and 2 restored and rebacked with modern spines, pagination somewhat erratic however text continuous throughout (3)

£150-250

102

STIRLING, JAMES (1692-1770)

COLLECTION OF AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED TO MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY, 1715-1762

19 in total, 27 pp., written from Oxford, London, Edinburgh and Leadhills, mainly addressed to his brother John Stirling, other recipients being his father Archibald Stirling (1651-1715), and brother Charles Stirling (d. 1739, merchant in Jamaica), including:

To Archibald Stirling, from Oxford, 23rd July 1715, describing Jacobite rioting across England and the withdrawal of his university scholarship (as a result of his being a non-juring student): ‘the Bishop [of Rochester] vents his wrath on my countrymen and me in the stopping of the paying of our Exhibitions … Now I am forced to ask about 5 lib … No doubt you know what a generell change of the affections of the people of England the late procedings hath occasioned; the mobbs begun on the 28th of May to pull down meeting houses and Whiggs houses, and to this very day they continue doing the same, the mobb in Yorkshire and Lancashire amounted to severall thousands, and would have beat of the forces sent against them had they not been dissuaded by the more prudent sort and they are now raging in Coventry and Daintry: so as the court saith the nation is just ripe for Rebellion. There were several houses of late at London searched for the Chevalier’, 2 pp.;

To John Stirling, from London, 5th June 1725, mentioning Isaac Newton apparently in connection to the search for a patron (‘Sr Isaac Newton lives a little way of in the country, I go frequently to see him, and finds him extremly kind and serviceable in every thing I desire, but he is much failed and not able to do as he has done’), learning French (‘I have changed my lodgings and am now in a French house and I frequent French coffee houses in order to attain the language which is absolutely necessary’), etc., 2 pp., loss of text from rodent damage; and similar, on matters including: personal finances and domestic affairs (‘I had 100 lib to pay down here when I came first to the academy and now have 70 lib more, all this for instruments’); society and family gossip including marriages and courtships; opportunities for family members in Guinea, Jamaica and the East India Company; family illnesses and deaths; improvements at Leadhills, and more

Note: An important collection of letters situating James Stirling the mathematician in his 18th-century milieu of Jacobite agitation, nascent commercialism, imperial expansion, and burdensome patronage networks, with the challenges of everyday life, notably personal finances and importunate relations, met variously with exasperation or recourse to bawdy humour. The collection was consulted by Charles Tweedie for his biography James Stirling: a Sketch of his Life and Work (Oxford, 1922), and by William Fraser for his family monograph The Stirlings of Keir and their Family Papers (Edinburgh, 1858, pp. 83-86), which provides useful background information on the other members of Stirling’s family. Stirling’s father Archibald was a prominent Jacobite who had been tried for high treason for his role in the Brig o’Turk Gathering of 1708. Two years later James Stirling matriculated at Oxford as a non-juring student, having avoided taking the oath of supremacy. All the evidence of his ensuing university career indicates that he shared his father’s sympathies, and, according to Tweedie ‘took a leading part among the Balliol students in the disturbances of 1714-16’. He is mentioned frequently by the non-juring diarist Thomas Hearne, who records that ‘Mr Stirling a Scotchman of Balliol College’ was arrested in December 1715, then tried and cleared at Oxford assizes a few months later for cursing George I. In 1717 Stirling left Oxford without a degree, apparently having refused to submit to the oaths and therefore regain his scholarships, instead taking up an invitation to Venice from the Venetian ambassador to London, a turn of events which introduced him to many of the leading scholars of Europe and therefore proved a decisive moment in his mathematical career.

£1,000-1,500

103

THOMSON, JAMES LIBERTY, A POEM

[comprising:] Antient and Modern Liberty compared: being the First Part of Liberty, a Poem; Greece: being the Second Part; Rome: being the Third Part; Britain: being the Fourth Part; The Prospect: being the Fifth Part. London: for A. Millar, 1735-6. 5 parts in 1 volume, 4to (28.1 x 21.4cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt spine, red morocco label, half-title to each part, final advertisement leaf to parts 1 and 5, part 1 title-page retaining price ‘one shilling’ at foot [Rothschild 2425 for part 1]

Note: First editions, on large paper, the volume presented by the author to James Stirling, inscribed ‘Donum authoris’ by Stirling on the front pastedown. Thomson wrote Liberty after acting as travelling companion over the years 1730 to 1733 to Charles Talbot, the son of the Solicitor General. The poem was published in five parts, three in early 1735, the remaining two a year later. Even if it was not a success, Thomson set great store by it. Stirling and Thomson met as tutors at Watts’s Academy in Little Tower Street, London, which had been opened in 1715/16 by Thomas Watts (1695–1742?), the mathematician and entrepreneurial agent. Stirling had made his way to London by 1725 after his time in Venice. Thomson would have already encountered Newtonian scientific ideas when at Edinburgh University and he would have grasped these more surely through his acquaintance with Stirling and the Academy’s programme of lectures on Newtonian topics.

Watts’s Academy was to be Stirling’s address for the next ten years. During this time, Watts became a director in the Sun Fire Office that held the lease for the Scots Mining Company at Leadhills. In 1735, doubtless with Watts’s support, Stirling was appointed Chief Agent at Leadhills and eventually lived in Scotland full-time. He remained in the post until the end of his life.

£300-500

[BINDING]

THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

containing the Lives, Opinions, Actions and Discourses of the Philosophers of Every Sect. By Thomas Stanley. London: for W. Battersby [and others], 1700. Third edition, folio (36.4 x 23cm), contemporary panelled calf, covers with decorative central panels of stencilled arabesque designs incorporating heart motifs, [36] 658 [12], [4] 63 [1] pp., engraved portrait frontispiece, title-page printed in red and black, engraved full-length portraits of philosophers throughout the text, ‘The history of the Chaldaick Philosophy’ with separate dated title-page, engraved bookplate of the Right Honourable the Lord John Drummond to verso of title-page, binding rubbed, small section of skinning to lower corner of rear board, moderate spotting and browning to contents, paper-disruption to 3Q2 [ESTC T102824];

Stillingfleet, Edward. Origines Britannicae, or the Antiquities of British churches. London: by M. Flesher for Henry Mortlock, 1685. First edition, folio (31.5 x 19.2cm), contemporary mottled calf, red morocco spine label, blind panels to covers [2] lxxiii [9] 364 pp. [ESTC R20016]; and 2 others (Bible; Greek; Septuagint, Septuaginta interpretum … Summa cura edidit, Joannes Ernestus Grabe, Oxford: e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1707-9, first edition, volumes 1-2 of 4 bound in 1, folio, contemporary calf, main text in Greek; and Humphrey Prideaux, The Old and New Testament connected in the History of the Jews, 1724, seventh edition, 2 volumes, folio, contemporary calf, engraved plates, spine-labels perished) (5)

£300-400

105

FOLIOS, MAINLY 18TH CENTURY GROUP OF WORKS

Spencer, John. De Legibus Hebraeorum Ritualibus. Cambridge, 1727. 2 volumes, folio, portrait, contemporary calf with red and brown speckles; Mariana, Juan de. Historiae de Rebus Hispaniae. Libri Triginta. The Hague: Pierre de Hondt, 1733. 4 volumes bound in 2, folio, contemporary calf; Gordon, Sir Robert, of Gordonstoun. A Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland. Edinburgh: George Ramsay and Co., 1813. First edition, folio, portrait frontispiece, 2 plates, including one folding, contemporary calf, bookplate of Archibald Stirling; [Craig, Sir Thomas]. The Right of Succession to the Kingdom of England. London: Dan. Brown, &co., 1703. Folio, worn, some worming and dampstaining; Burnet, Gilbert. The Memoirs of the Lives and Actions of James and William, Dukes of Hamilton and Castleherald. London: R. Royston, 1777. 4to, portrait frontispiece, contemporary calf (7)

£400-600

106

JOSEPHUS, FLAVIUS TA EURISKOMENA

[graece]. Opera, quae reperiri potuerunt, omnia … nova versione donavit, et notis illustravit Joannes Hudsonus. Oxford: e Sheldoniano Theatro, 1720. 2 volumes, folio (39 x 23.5cm), contemporary calf, gilt spines, engraved vignette on title-page, halftitle to volume 2, Greek and Latin text in parallel columns, bindings a little rubbed and scuffed, title labels detached but present [ESTC T106434]. Together with 4 others (Josephus, Opera omnia, Amsterdam, 1726, 2 volumes, folio, contemporary calf; Suidas, Lexicon Graece et Latine, Cambridge, 1705, 3 volumes, folio, contemporary sheep-backed marbled boards, edges untrimmed, loss to paper on sides, cracking to joint-ends; John Selden, Opera omnia, London, 1726, 3 volumes, folio, contemporary calf; Robert Ainsworth, Thesaurus linguae Latinae, London, 1752, 2 volumes, folio, contemporary calf (these 4 works not fully collated) (12)

£600-800

TRAVEL

FAMILY TRAVEL JOURNALS

108

COLLECTION OF MANUSCRIPT JOURNALS OF TRAVELS ACROSS THE BRITISH ISLES, 18TH-19TH CENTURY

7 volumes, 12mo and 8vo (various dimensions), contemporary bindings, comprising: 1796, commencing from Leadhills (sheep-backed marbled boards, rear cover detached); 1804, from Carlisle (marbled wrappers); 1805, from Edinburgh (sheep-backed marbled boards); 1806 (reversedcalf wallet binding retaining cloth tie), from Stirling; 1807 (mottled calf wallet binding, tie lacking), first journey commencing from Glasgow, second from Stirlingshire; 1811 (half sheep, marbled sides), from Castlemilk; 1833, from Stirlingshire (marbled wrappers). Containing daily itineraries of travels across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, with detailed descriptions of industry, trade, agricultural practices and land use, towns and villages, local scenery, weather, historical monuments, castles, country seats, and similar. Passages include accounts of: shipbuilding and sailmaking at Whitby, steel manufacture in Sheffield, visits to Naworth, Chatsworth, Glamis, Harewood, among others (all in 1796); lengthy stay in Portsmouth, August 1804, with remarks on ships of war (Barfleur, Zealous, etc.), East Indiamen, visit aboard HMS Ville de Paris, transportation to Australia (‘Upwards of 5,000 men employed [at the dock], of whom about 500 are convicts; they are kept employed here till they can be sent to Botany Bay’); visit to Oxford, 1804 (‘Next visited the Bodleian Library, an immense room of the form of an H., contains 200,000 printed volumes, besides 50,000 manuscripts’); encounter at Hereford with ‘Stockdale the bookseller a most singular character’, 1804; visit to Manchester, 1804 (‘an immense number of cotton mills worked by steam, covering the whole town with immense thick columes [sic] of smoke’; ‘Examined the junction of the D[uke] of Bridgewater’s canal … where the Rochdale and Ashton Canals join’); visit to Rose Company’s copper smelting works at Swansea, 1805; Countess of Sutherland’s estates in the Highlands, 1806; Belfast cotton mills, coastal defences at Bray, visit to Bank of Ireland at Parliament House, Dublin, 1807; deposits of coal, lead and lime in Westmorland, 1833, etc.; together with 3 similar notebooks, mainly on agriculture (one dated 1799) (10)

£400-600

SCOTTISH TRAVEL AND HISTORY COLLECTION OF WORKS, MAINLY 18TH CENTURY

Pennant, Thomas. A Tour in Scotland MDCCLXIX. Warrington: printed by W. Eyres, 1774; [with] A Tour in Scotland and a Voyage to the Hebrides MDCCLXXII. Chester: printed by John Monk, 1774. Third edition; [and] A Tour in Scotland MDCCLXXII Part ii. London: printed for Benjamin White, 1776; together 3 volumes, 4to, uniformly bound in contemporary calf gilt, labels chipped and lacking, joints a little split, bookplates of Charles Lutwidge Holm Rook and Archibald Stirling; Grose, Francis. The Antiquities of Scotland. London: S. Hooper, 1789-91. 2 volumes, small folio, contemporary half calf over marbled boards, rubbed, bookplates of Archibald Stirling; Pinkerton, John. The History of Scotland from the Accession of the House of Stuart to that of Mary... London: C. Dilly, 1797. 2 volumes, 4to, contemporary calf, later James Stirling bookplates and ownership signatures;

Macpherson, John. Critical Dissertations on the Origin, Antiquities, Language, Government, Manners and Religion of the Ancient Caledonians… London: T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt, 1768. First edition, 4to, contemporary calf;

Hume, David. The History of Great Britain. Edinburgh: Hamilton, Balfour, and Neill, 1754. First edition, 2 volumes, 4to, contemporary calf; Blair, Hugh. A Critical Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian, the Son of Fingal. London: T. Beckett, 1763. First edition, 4to, contemporary calf; Sibbald, Robert. Scotia Illustrata sive Prodromus Historiae Naturalis. Edinburgh: Jacobi Kniblo, 1684. Folio, 22 plates on 20 leaves, 19thcentury half calf, title-page soiled with lower corner lacking, some dampstaining, hole to final plate (12)

Note: Hume initially wrote a history of England under the Stuart monarchs James I and Charles I. He followed this with a second history that continued to the Revolution of 1688. With the relative success of these two volumes, Hume researched the history of earlier eras and produced a total of six volumes. As a result, the fifth volume was the first to appear in print, in 1754, while the first two volumes were published last, in 1762.

£700-900

DU HALDE, JEAN BAPTISTE

A DESCRIPTION OF THE EMPIRE OF CHINA, AND CHINESE-TARTARY

together with the Kingdoms of Korea, and Tibet … With Notes Geographical, Historical and Critical; and Other Improvements, particularly in the Maps, by the Translator. London: by T. Gardner, for Edward Cave, 1738-41. 2 volumes, folio (40 x 24.6cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, spine-compartments ruled in gilt, morocco labels, edges sprinkled red, [4] xi [4] ii-xii 678, [4] 235 [1] 245-388 [10] pp., 64 engraved maps and plates (most of them folding), volume 1 with old oil-stain to inner margins of general map (bound facing titlepage) and sigs. O1-2, plate of Confucius (listed to face p. 415) bound as frontispiece, plate 26 (‘Plan of the Que tse-Kyen, listed to face p. 295) bound facing p. 660, volume 2 4H1 with extensive closed tear down fore margin, engraved music plate with short nick to fore margin, ‘The Observatory at Peking’ plate with tear to fore margin (one extending into image), a2 (index) with closed tear in text [ESTC T148343]

Note: Second edition in English, greatly improved from the first of 1736, which was in four octavo volumes and contained 19 maps and plates only. The work was originally published in French at The Hague, also in 1736. £5,000-8,000

110

SHAW, THOMAS

TRAVELS, OR OBSERVATIONS, RELATING TO SEVERAL PARTS OF BARBARY AND THE LEVANT

Oxford: printed at the Theatre, 1738. First edition, folio (35.1 x 22cm), contemporary panelled calf, [8] xv [1] 442 60 [8], half-title, title-page printed in red and black with engraved vignette, engraved headpieces and initials, frequent Arabic types, 11 engraved maps and plans (of which 6 folding), 20 engraved plates on 17 leaves (3 leaves having a plate printed on each side), engraved folding itinerary, one full page of engraved music, spine-label chipped, marginal annotation to p. 413 (relating to cubits: likely to be by James Stirling) [ESTC T114690]

£300-500

111

NORDEN, FREDERICK LEWIS

TRAVELS IN EGYPT AND NUBIA

London: Lockyer Davis and Charles Reymers, 1757. 2 volumes, 8vo, 7 leaves of maps and plates, contemporary calf gilt, numbering on spine, light staining

Note: The octavo edition of the work. A folio version with 165 plates also appeared in the same year.

£250-350

112

MARIGNY, FRANÇOIS AUGIER DE

THE HISTORY OF THE ARABIANS, UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CALIPHS

from Mahomet, their Founder, to the Death of Mostazem, the Fifty-Sixth and Last Abassian Caliph … translated from the French, with Additional Notes. London: for T. Payne; and D. Wilson and T. Durham, 1758. First edition in English, 4 volumes, 8vo, xlii 351, [4] 396, [4] 382, [4] 356 pp., contemporary speckled calf, spines ruled and numbered in gilt, half-title to each volume, bindings slightly rubbed, labels largely perished, [Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula 1539] (4)

Note: First published in French the same year as Histoire des arabes sous le gouvernement des Califes

£300-500

113

SOLIS, ANTONIO DE THE HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO BY THE SPANIARDS

Done into English from the original Spanish of Don Antonio de Solis ... By Thomas Townsend. London: T. Woodward, 1724. First English edition, folio, engraved portrait, 6 plates (including one double-page and one folding, with some loss), 2 maps, contemporary panelled calf, rubbed, previous ownership details torn away from front free-endpaper

£400-600

POCOCKE, RICHARD

A DESCRIPTION OF THE EAST, AND SOME OTHER COUNTRIES

London: J. and P. Knapton, W. Innys, [and co.], 1743-5. 2 volumes (containing 3 parts), folio, 179 engraved plates and maps and engraved dedication in volume 2, contemporary calf, slightly rubbed [Atabey 965; Blackmer 1323] (2)

Note: Pococke travelled in the eastern Mediterranean from 1737 to 1740. Volume one of this important and popular work is focused on Egypt; volume two concerns Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Cyprus, Crete, Greece, Asia Minor, Thrace, and other parts of Europe.

£1,500-2,000

115

BELL, JOHN

TRAVELS FROM ST. PETERSBURG IN RUSSIA, TO DIVERSE PARTS OF ASIA

Containing a Journey to Ispahan ... Part of a Journey to Pekin in China, through Siberia ... The Continuation of the Journey between Mosco and Pekin ... A Journey from Mosco to Derbent in Persia ... A Journey from St. Petersburg to Constantinople. Glasgow: for the author by Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1763. First edition, 2 volumes, 4to (23 x 17cm), contemporary speckled calf, red and black morocco labels, x 357 [2], [2] 426 [2] pp., volume 1 with engraved folding map frontispiece and terminal advertisement leaf, volume 2 with terminal errata leaf, bindings slightly rubbed, partial splitting to joints, map unevenly folded and creased [Cross, In the Lands of the Romanovs B23; ESTC T99651; Gaskell 415]

Note: After completing his medical studies, Stirlingshire-born John Bell (1691-1780) secured a letter of introduction to the chief physician to Tsar Peter I of Russia. Soon after arriving in Russia he was included in an embassy sent by Peter to the shah of Persia. ‘On his return Bell learned of another mission, to China, on which he was included following the recommendation of the British ambassador. Bell’s account of his remarkable journey is recorded in his one publication, Travels from St Petersburg in Russia to Various Parts of Asia (1763). Despite the tedium of the sixteen-month expedition, Bell’s account of the journey to Kazan and through Siberia to China is the most complete and interesting part of his travels. Of particular note are his descriptions of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese wall, and his residence in Peking (Beijing)’ (ODNB).

£300-500

Lot 114

116

BARTOLI, PIETRO SANTI, AND GIOVANNI PIETRO BELLORI VETERUM SEPULCRA SEU MAUSOLEA ROMANORUM ET ETRUSCORUM

[and:] Veterum lucernae sepulcrales. Leiden: Peter van der Aa, 1728. 2 works, folio (39.5 x 24cm), uniform contemporary tan calf, spines gilt in compartments, twin tan morocco labels with gilt titles and sequential numbering (‘Tom I’; ‘Tom II’), half-titles, title-pages in red and black with engraved vignettes, 44 and 37 engraved plates respectively, both works with damp-staining and related paper-softening and degradation, chiefly to margins [neither edition in Cicognara]

Note: Both works described on the title-pages as ‘editio novissima, correctior et emendatior’.

£300-500

117

LENGLET DU FRESNOY, PIERRE NICOLAS GEOGRAPHIA ANTIQUA ET NOVA

or a System of Antient and Modern Geography … designed for the Use of Schools, and of Gentlemen, who make the Antient Writers their Delight or Study. Translated from the French … with Great Additions and Improvements, from Ptolemy, Strabo Cellarius, etc. London: for John and Paul Knapton, 1742. 4to, contemporary sprinkled calf, vi [6] 157 [38] pp., 33 engraved folding maps by R. W. Seale after Cellarius, binding slightly rubbed, superficial splits to head and foot of front joint

£200-300

HARRIS, JOHN

NAVIGANTIUM ATQUE ITINERANTIUM BIBLIOTHECA

Or a Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels. London: T. Woodward, 1744. Second edition, 2 volumes, folio, titles in red and black, engraved portrait frontispiece in volume 2 (licence leaf in volume 1), 22 engraved maps and 38 plates, contemporary calf, slightly rubbed, some very minor damp-staining to endpapers and initial leaves of volume 1 [Hill 775; Tooley (Australia) 241; Sabin 30483; Goldsmiths 8040]

£2,000-3,000

120

119

CAMDEN, WILLIAM

BRITANNIA

or a Chorographical Description of Great Britain and Ireland, together with the Adjacent Lands. Written in Latin. And Translated into English, with Additions and Improvements by Edmund Gibson. London: printed for James and John Knapton, John Darby, Arthur Bettesworth, Francis Fayram, John Osborn [and others], c.1730. Second edition, later issue, 2 volumes, folio (40 x 23.8cm), contemporary mottled calf, rebacked at an early date, engraved portrait frontispiece, title-pages in red and black, 51 engraved folding maps by Robert Morden, 9 engraved plates of coins, full-page engraving (numbered ‘XX’) on recto of 5N (with a duplicate of the engraving only bound in after), woodcut and engraved illustrations within the text, bindings worn, splits to upper heads of joints, volume 1 with small worm track to lower margins of 4I-4S and maps of Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Chester and Herefordshire but text and images never affected, volume 2 with inscription giving William Camden’s dates on title-page [ESTC N43508; Skelton 117; cf. Chubb CXV] (2)

Note: Gibson’s edition of Camden’s Britannia, the first with Morden’s maps, was first published in 1695. The second edition appeared in 1722; the present edition is undated, but Skelton cites an undated reissue with the approximate date of 1730, and the conger of booksellers listed in the imprint is identified by ESTC as being active between 1729 and 1730.

£500-800

120

CLÜVER, PHILIPP

INTRODUCTIO IN UNIVERSAM GEOGRAPHIAM tam veterm quam novam … quibus in hac editione Londinensi accedunt additamenta plurima ad historiam et geographiam … London: typis M. Jenour, impensis Joannis Nicholsoni, 1711. First London edition, 4to (23.8 x 17.5cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco label, [14] 429 [47] pp., engraved additional title-page by John Sturt showing Queen Anne enthroned among exotic supplicants (sig. A1), 59 engraved maps and plates of 61 (nearly all folding), bound without plates 1 (‘Tabula Ventorum’) and 52 (‘Veteris Germaniae’), plate 4 (‘Typus orbis terrarum’) with small hole to allegorical figure at corner, small handling tears to 21 (‘Campania …’), 61 (‘Templum Solomonis’) with long closed tear, a few maps bound at different places from those indicated in index (53, ‘Germanorum veterum vestimenta’, facing p. 69; 49, ‘Fluvii Galliae’, p. 117; 54, ‘Cataractae Rheni’, p. 117); 43, Africa, p. 335), binding slightly rubbed, old staining to p. 1

Note: The notable maps include ‘America’, showing California as an island (24 x 29.5cm), ‘Imperium Sinarum’, i.e. the Chinese Empire (23 x 28.5cm), and ‘India Orientalis’, showing the East Indies (23.5 x 28.5cm).

£300-500

Lot

CELLARIUS, CHRISTOPH

NOTITIA ORBIS ANTIQUI, SIVE GEOGRAPHIA

PLENIOR

Leipzig: Joh. Friedrici Gleditschii, 1731-2. Third edition, 2 volumes, 4to, engraved portrait, 34 engraved folding maps, contemporary brown and red speckled calf with red morocco gilt labels to spines, spines in compartments with delicate gilt tooling, some rubbing to covers, particularly joints, browning to a few leaves and maps, a little spotting (2)

Note: Cellarius is known for his popularisation of the division of history into the ancient, medieval and modern periods.

£400-600

122

TRAVEL AND TOPOGRAPHY

COLLECTION OF WORKS, MAINLY 18TH CENTURY

Grotius, Hugo. Historia Gotthorum. Amsterdam: Elzevier, 1655. 8vo, additional engraved title-page, contemporary calf; Idem. De Rebus Belgicis: or, the Annals, and History, of the Low-ContreyWarrs. London: Henry Twyford, 1665. 8vo, contemporary panelled calf; Lyttelton, George Lyttelton, Baron. Letters from a Persian in English to his Friend at Ispahan. London: J. Millan, 1735. Fourth edition, 12mo, contemporary calf; Montesqieu, Charles Secondat, baron de. Persian Letters translated from the French. Glasgow: Robert Urie, 1751. 12mo, contemporary calf; Molesworth, Robert Molesworth, Viscount. An Account of Denmark, as it was in the Year 1692. Fifth edition, 8vo; Idem. An Account of Switzerland, written in the year 1714. Edinburgh: Hamilton, Balfour, and Neill, 1756. 12mo, contemporary calf; Vertot, René Aubert, abbé de. The History of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, styled afterwards the Knights of Rhodes, and at present the Knights of Malta. Edinburgh: A. Kincaid and A. Donaldson, 1757. 5 volumes, 12mo, contemporary calf;

Bayle, Pierre. An Historical Discourse on the Life of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden. Glasgow, 1757. Second edition, 8vo, contemporary calf; [Gazetteer]. The Universal Gazetteer: or, a description of the several Empires, Countries … in the Known World. London: James Rivington and J. Fletcher, 1759. 12mo, 4 folding maps, contemporary calf; Guthrie, William. A New Geographical, Historical, and Commercial Grammar; and present state of the several Kingdoms of the World. London: Charles Dilly, 1783. Eighth edition, 8vo, 19 folding maps (of 21?), 1 plate, contemporary calf, later Stirling ownership signature; [London]. A Companion to all the Principal Places of Curiosity and Entertainment in and about London and Westminster. London: J. Drew, 1789. Seventh edition, 12mo, folding map of London, contemporary calf; Simpson, James. A Visit to Flanders, in July, 1815… Edinburgh: William Blackwood…, 1816. Fourth edition, 12mo, folding map, original boards; Russell, Michael. View of Ancient and Modern Egypt. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd,1831. 8vo, engraved plates, original cloth; and 4 others, sold not subject to return (21)

£400-600

PHILOSOPHY

123

HOBBES, THOMAS LEVIATHAN

or, the Matter, Form, and Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiastical and Civil. London: Andrew Crooke, 1651 [i.e. John Darby or John Richardson, c.1695-1702]. Third edition, folio (32.8 x 20cm), contemporary panelled calf, spine richly gilt in compartments, engraved frontispiece, titlepage with typographic ‘ornaments’ device, folding letterpress table, joints rubbed, front free endpaper pasted down, rear free endpaper partly detached, title-page spotted and creased and with partly legible ownership inscription, occasional light spotting elsewhere, a few leaves browned, ‘The Contents of the Chapters’ and ‘The Introduction’ (A3-4) transposed, [ESTC R13935; Macdonald & Hargreaves 44]

£1,000-1,500

124

HOBBES, THOMAS TRACTS

Containing I. Behemoth, the History of the Causes of the Civil Wars of England … Never printed (but with a Thousand Faults) before. II. An Answer to Arch-Bishop Bramhall’s Book, called the Catching of the Leviathan, never printed before. III. An Historical Narration of Heresie … IV. Philosophical Problems dictated to the King in 1662 but never printed before. London: for W. Crooke, 1682. First edition, 8vo (18 x 10.5cm), contemporary calf, red morocco label, blind tooling to covers, vi 339 [5], [4] 160, [8] 84 [2] pp., engraved portrait frontispiece, engraved folding plate, advertisement leaf to rear (=G3), apparently retaining the initial and final blanks (A1 and G4 according to ESTC, though M & H have the frontispiece as A1), binding rubbed, pencilled mathematical notation to front free endpaper and initial blank (part of endpaper torn away), contemporary inked annotation (possibly a price) to head of front free endpaper [ESTC R19913; Macdonald & Hargreaves 100]

Note: First edition, with James Stirling’s ownership inscription (‘Ja: Stirling’) to the recto of the frontispiece. Stirling’s interest in the work was perhaps due mainly to the fourth part, ‘Philosophical Problems’, of which the first chapter is titled ‘Problems of Gravity’ and the seventh ‘Problems of Motion Perpendicular, Oblique; of Pression and Percussion; Reflection and Refraction; Attraction and Repulsion’.

£300-500

125

HUME, DAVID

POLITICAL DISCOURSES

Edinburgh: printed by R. Fleming, for A. Kincaid and A. Donaldson, 1752. First edition, 8vo in half-sheets (17.7 x 10.8cm), contemporary sprinkled calf with coronets and fillet-rules gilt to spine-compartments, [4] 304 [6] 2 pp., joints and extremities rubbed, spine-label perished [ESTC T4007; Goldsmiths’ 8689; Kress 5210]

Note: This copy contains the six-page appendix ‘Scotticisms’ and advertisement leaf bound in at the rear, often absent, including in the copy described in the Goldsmiths’ Library catalogue.

£3,000-5,000

126

HUME, DAVID

DIALOGUES CONCERNING NATURAL RELIGION

London: [no printer], 1779. Second edition, 8vo (20.9 x 12.4cm), contemporary sprinkled tan calf, smooth spine gilt in compartments incorporating Greek key and sunburst devices, dark blue morocco label, edges dyed yellow, 264 pp., half-title [ESTC T85283];

Malthus, Thomas. An Essay on the Principle of Population. London: for J. Johnson, 1806. Third edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, contemporary tree calf, red morocco labels, marbled edges, xvi 505 [61], vii [1] 559 pp., halftitles, neat, early ink inscription to head of each title-page;

[Highland murder trial]. The Trial of James Stewart in Aucharn in Duror of Appin for the Murder of Colin Campbell of Glenure, Esq; Factor for His Majesty on the forfeited Estate of Ardshiel; before the Circuit Court of Justiciary held at Inveraray. Edinburgh: for G. Hamilton and J. Balfour, 1753. First edition, 8vo, contemporary tree calf uniform with the preceding work, [4] 288 149 pp., engraved map frontispiece, dampstaining to lower fore corners at front; Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England. London: A. Strahan, for T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies, 1800. Thirteenth edition, 4 volumes, 8vo (20.8 x 12.8cm), contemporary tan calf, spines with red morocco title-labels to second compartments and green morocco numbering roundels to fourth, edges sprinkled blue, 13 engraved portraits including frontispieces, engraved folding plate (8)

£300-500

127

HUME, DAVID FOUR DISSERTATIONS

I. The Natural History of Religion. II. Of the passions. III. Of Tragedy. IV. Of the Standard of Taste. London: for A. Millar, 1757. First edition, 12mo (16.2 x 9.5cm), contemporary calf, [4] vii [3] 240 pp., half-title with advertisements verso, retaining dedication to John Home (pp. i-vii), K5-8 cancelled, C12 and D1 cancels, stubs of cancelled leaves visible, p. 9 first word ‘ative’, p. 131 first word ‘lancing’, spine rubbed, label perished [ESTC T4011]

£500-800

FERGUSON, ADAM

AN ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF CIVIL SOCIETY

Edinburgh: for A. Millar & T. Caddel [sic], and A. Kincaid & J. Bell, Edinburgh, 1767. 4to (26.5 x 20cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco spine-label, vii [1] 430 pp., joints and extremities rubbed, short superficial crack to head of front joint, 2O2 lower fore corner untrimmed by the binder [ESTC T76205; Goldsmiths’ 10264; Kress 6432]

Note: First edition, a wide-margined copy of Ferguson’s masterpiece, a major Scottish Enlightenment text which proved hugely influential among contemporary British and continental European readers alike.

£1,000-1,500

Ferguson’s analysis of the problems facing advanced commercial societies ‘touched a chord in its British readers because it offered a detailed, colourful, non-deterministic historical account of the way nations advance morally and materially towards the state of commerce, refinement, and liberty associated with eighteenthcentury Britain ... The Essay made its author famous throughout Europe … Of special significance was the Essay’s impact on the early attempts at creating the disciplines of social sciences by Ferguson’s contemporaries’ (ODNB).

129

BIBLE; ENGLISH; GENEVA VERSION THE BIBLE, THAT IS, THE HOLY SCRIPTURES CONTEINED IN THE OLDE AND NEWE TESTAMENT

London: the Deputies of Christopher Barker, 1599. 4to in eights (21.5 x 16cm), 18th century black calf panelled in gilt, all edges gilt, The Psalms of David in Meter (Edinburgh: the Heirs and Successors of Andrew Anderson, 1709) bound in at rear, covers rubbed, spine peeling, Bible lacking an initial leaf (blank?), some headlines shaved, some light damp-staining, occasional tears and holes with slight loss to letters on 3p2 and other leaves, I3 torn lacking lower corner and several words

Note: Geneva Bibles with 1599 imprints have a complex bibliographical history. Herbert identifies at least eight distinct editions, and notes that ‘the nominal date, 1599, is probably untrue in almost every case; they were apparently published at different times in Amsterdam and Dort [Dordrecht] and adopted by Barker’ (Herbert, Historical catalogue of printed editions of the English Bibles 1525-1961, p. 115). Often referred to as the Breeches Bible because of the translation of Genesis 3:7: ‘Then the eies of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed figge tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches’. £600-800

130

BIBLE; ENGLISH; AUTHORISED VERSION THE HOLY BIBLE CONTAINING THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW

Cambridge: John Field, 1668. 4to (22.2 x 16cm), unpaginated, signed pi2 A-2Q4 (2Q4 blank), A-M4, contemporary black morocco, spine and covers panelled in gilt, marbled pastedowns, all edges gilt, engraved architectonic title-page by John Chantry, New Testament title-page dated 1666, The Psalms of David in Meeter (Edinburgh: by Andrew Anderson, for James Miller, 1671) bound in at rear and with architectonic woodcut border to title-page, inscription ‘Mrs Grahame, July 7th 1702, to be bound in finest blew turkie guild over on the back onlie’ on blank verso of final leaf of New Testament (‘Mrs’ apparently written over the name ‘James’), ownership inscription of Anne Stirling dated 1765 to verso of title-page, binding rubbed [Herbert 697]

Note: ‘This edition is sometimes known as the “Preaching Bible”, being well adapted for pulpit use: it is printed in small type, with a very full page’ (Herbert).

131

BIBLE; LATIN; VULGATE BIBLIA SACRA

vulgatae editionis; Sixti Quinti pont. max. jussu recognita, atque edita. Venice: apud Daminaum Zenarum, 1603. Folio in eights (37.9 x 25cm), contemporary vellum, [12] 786 24 62 pp., title-page printed in red and black with large woodcut device, text in double column, profusely illustrated throughout with woodcut vignettes, woodcut headpieces and initials, P3 (I Kings 9-12) replaced by a duplicate of P1, vellum soiled, wear to spine over cords, ties and front free endpaper lacking, title-page with a little fraying to fore margin and small hole to foot

Note: James Stirling’s copy, acquired by him during his sojourn in Venice, the occasion of his family nickname ‘the Venetian’, with his manuscript ownership inscription and purchase note reading ‘Ja: Stirling 10 Nov 1720 pret. 22 L. V.’, presumably 22 Venetian lire, to the title-page. Stirling left Oxford without a degree in 1717 and travelled to Venice soon after at the invitation of Venetian ambassador to London, Nicholas Tron. ‘Apparently Stirling had the expectation of a professorship of mathematics but this fell through on religious grounds. Little is known about what Stirling did during this period. He did make the acquaintance of Nicolaus Bernoulli, professor of mathematics at the University of Padua (1716-22) and there is a record of his being at that university in 1721. He also appears to have been asked to obtain information about the Venetian glass industry for some merchants in England; according to some accounts he had to flee for his life, having discovered some of its closely guarded secrets’ (ODNB).

£300-500

132

BIBLE; ENGLISH; AUTHORISED VERSION THE HOLY BIBLE

containing the Old and New Testaments. Oxford: Thomas Baskett, 1761. 4to in eights (26.8 x 21.6cm), contemporary dark blue morocco gilt, covers with large diamond-shaped central lozenges built up from various tools including acorns and crescent moons, comb-marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, unpaginated, signatures A-3I8 A-N8 A-R8 S4 a-d4, engraved additional title-page, binding rubbed, occasional spotting, Psalms with a little softening and a few closed tears in lower margins, Apocrypha sig. K2 torn costing a few letters at lower fore corner [Herbert 1138]

£200-300

£300-500

RELIGION

COLLECTION OF WORKS, 17TH-18TH CENTURY

[L’Estrange, Roger]. Sammelband of pamphlets on religious and political matters, late 17th century. 4to, contemporary mottled calf, gilt spine (lacking label), contents comprise: 1) The Holy Cheat. London: Joanna Brome, 1682, ownership inscription of Archibald Stirling to title-page; 2) The Reformation Reform’d: or, a Short History of New-Fashioned Christians. London: Joanna Brome, 1681; 3) The Dissenters Sayings. London: Joanna Brome, 1683, 2 parts, fourth and second editions; 4) Notes upon Stephen College. London: Joanna Brome, 1681. Second edition; 5) Citt and Bumpkin in a Dialogue over a Pot of Ale, concerning Matters of Religion and Government. London: Joanna Brome, 1681. 2 parts, fifth and fourth editions; 6) A Further Discovery of the Plot. London: Henry Brome, 1681. Fourth edition; 7) Discovery upon Discovery. London: Henry Brome, 1680. Second edition; 8) Narrative of the Plot. London: printed by J.B. for Hen. Brome, 1680. Third edition; 9) Case of a Civil Dialogue betwixt Zekiel and Ephraim. London: H. Brome, 1680. Second edition; with 3 further tracts bound in at rear (extensively eaten away);

[Collins, Anthony]. The Scheme of Literary Prophecy considered; in a View of the Controversy, occasioned by a Late Book, intitled, a Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion. London: printed in the year 1727. 8vo, contemporary panelled calf, ownership inscription of James Stirling (possibly the mathematician but perhaps a successor) to front free endpaper;

Dodwell, Henry. Separation of Churches from Episcopal Government, as practised by the Non-Conformists… London: Benjamin Tooke, 1679. 4to, title-page in red and black, contemporary calf, lacking front free endpaper;

[Leslie, Charles]. The Case Stated, between the Church of Rome and the Church of England. London: for George Strahan, 1714. Fourth edition, 8vo, contemporary panelled calf; Hooker, Richard. A Faithful Abridgment of the Works. London: Benjamin Bragg, 1705. 8vo, contemporary panelled calf, dampstaining; Book of Common Prayer. London: John Baskett, 1725. 8vo, contemporary calf;

[Sclater, William]. An Original Draught of the Primitive Church. London: Geo. Strahan, 1717. 8vo, contemporary panelled calf; [Sage, John]. A Vindication of a Discourse entituled the Principles of the Cyprianic Age. London: for Robert Clavel, and George Strahan, 1701. 4to, contemporary mottled calf; Stillingfleet, Edward. An Answer to several Late Treatises, occasioned by a Book entituled a Discourse concerning the Idolatry practised in the Church of Rome. London: for Henry Mortlock, 1673. 8vo, contemporary mottled calf;

Cudworth, Ralph. The True Intellectual System of the Universe. London: J. Walthoe, & co., 1743. Second edition, 2 volumes, 4to, contemporary red and brown mottled calf, title-page in red and black, folding engraved additional title; Laud, William. A Relation of the Conference between William Laud, Late Archbishop of Canterbury, and Mr. Fisher the Jesuite. London: Tho. Bassett, & co., 1673. Third edition, small folio, contemporary calf; and 12 others, 17th-19th century (sold as seen) (36)

£400-600

Lot 134

134

QUR’AN; ENGLISH

THE KORAN, COMMONLY CALLED THE ALCORAN OF MOHAMMED

Translated into English immediately form the Original Arabic; with Explanatory Notes, taken from the most approved Commentators. To which is prefixed a Preliminary Discourse. By George Sale. London: by C. Ackers, for J. Wilcox, 1734. 4to (25 x 19.2cm), contemporary sprinkled calf, [6] iii-ix [3]187 [1] 508 [16] pp., title-page printed in red and black, engraved folding map of Arabia with inset view of Mecca, 3 engraved genealogies (of which 2 folding), engraved folding plate with plan and view of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, pencilled ownership inscription ‘J Stirling’ to front pastedown (possibly a descendant of the mathematician), binding rubbed, loss to spinelabel, front joint cracked [ESTC T146975]

Note: First edition of George Sale’s translation of the Qur’an, the first English translation to be made directly from the Arabic.

£700-1,000

135

MARTIN, DAVID

HISTOIRE DE LA BIBLE

Amsterdam: Martin Schagen, 1724. 4to (29 x 21.5cm), two parts in one volume, each with full-page engraved frontispiece, illustrated with halfpage engraved illustrations throughout, 2 title-pages in red and black, contemporary full red morocco, triple gilt filet on covers, spine decorated gilt in compartments, gilt edges, loss to foot of spine

Note: French translation of the bible by theologian David Martin (1639-1721). Many of the engravings after the Dutch artist Jan Luyken (1649-1712).

£200-300

LATER WORKS

AGRICULTURE

COLLECTION OF WORKS, MAINLY 18TH CENTURY

Tull, Jethro. Horse-Hoeing Husbandry: or, an essay on the principles of Vegetation and Tillage… London: A. Millar, 1751. Third edition, 8vo, 7 folding plates, contemporary calf gilt; Dickson, Adam. A Treatise of Agriculture. Edinburgh: printed for the Author, and A. Donaldson, 1762. 8vo, 2 folding plates, contemporary calf;

Nicol, Walter. The Practical Planter, or, a Treatise on Forest Planting. Edinburgh: printed for the Author, 1799. 8vo, contemporary calf; Anderson, James. Essays relating to Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Edinburgh: William Creech / London: T. Cadell, 1777. 2 volumes, 8vo, contemporary calf;

Young, Arthur. A Six Weeks Tour through the Southern Counties of England and Wales. London: W. Strahan, 1769. Second edition, 8vo, contemporary calf, some soiling to binding; Mortimer, J. The Whole Art of Husbandry… London: R. Robinson, 1721. Fifth edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, contemporary panelled calf; Home, Francis. The Principles of Agriculture and Vegetation. London: T. Cadell, 1776. Third edition, 12mo, contemporary calf; Bonar, James. A Treatise on the History and Management of Bees. Edinburgh: William Creech, 1796. Second edition, 8vo, contemporary calf, James Stirling ownership signature;

Magné de Marolles, Gervais François. An Essay on Shooting. London: T. Cadell, 1789. First edition in English, 8vo, contemporary calf, ownership signature of a later James Stirling; Young, Arthur. The Farmers’ Guide in Hiring and Stocking Farms. London: W. Strahan…, 1770. 2 volumes, 8vo, contemporary calf; Jackson, James. Essays on various Agricultural Subjects and an Account of the Parish of Penicuik. Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1733. 8vo, original boards; Ness, John William. A Treatise on the Game Laws of Scotland… Edinburgh: John Thomson and Co., 1818. 8vo, original boards; Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland. Select Transactions. Edinburgh: Sans, Brymer, Murray and Cochran, 1743. 8vo, contemporary calf; and one other (17) £600-800

137

BARING-GOULD, SABINE

ICELAND: ITS SCENES AND SAGAS

London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1863. First edition, 8vo, chromolithographed frontispiece, 3 colour plates, folding map and 12 monochrome plates, contemporary half calf over marbled boards

£100-150

Lot 137

138

LANCHESTER, ANN MARGARET

MIROIR DE LA MODE

To be continued monthly. Vol. I. London: Madame Lanchester, 1803. 4to, frontispiece and 25 hand-coloured plates, half roan over marbled boards, slight offsetting of colour to a couple of leaves, ownership signature of Harriet Aston 1804 to title-page, and another, later, to front free-endpaper [Tooley 330]

Note: Mrs Lanchester was a modiste and dress designer who had shop premises on London’s New Bond Street. According to Tooley, the first volume was all that was published, although sale records cite copies of a second volume from 1804 containing either three or five plates, suggesting that publication may have ceased before the completion of the volume. According to the British Museum biography ‘one plate is known’ from an attempt to revive the work in 1807, and Mrs Lanchester was declared bankrupt in 1810.

£700-900

139

PORTER, SIR ROBERT KER

TRAVELS IN GEORGIA, PERSIA, ARMENIA, ANCIENT BABYLONIA ...

DURING THE YEARS 1817-20

London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1821-22. First edition, 2 volumes, 4to, 2 portrait frontispieces, two folding maps, 82 plates (five of which are hand-coloured), 5 single-page maps and a chart, original paper-covered boards with printed paper lettering pieces, covers detached, some foxing and spotting throughout (2)

£800-1,200

140

JOHNSTONE, JOHN

A SYSTEMATIC TREATISE ON THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF DRAINING LAND

Edinburgh: University Press, 1834. Third edition, 4to, 25 plates, original quarter cloth over paper boards, Gargunnock bookplate

£200-300

141

BINDINGS

COLLECTION OF WORKS

Kames, Henry Home, Lord. Sketches of the History of Man. Edinburgh: A. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1788. 4 volumes, third edition, 8vo, contemporary calf; Shakespeare, William. Plays. London: Wynne and Scholey, 1803. 10 volumes, 8vo, contemporary tree calf, spines gilt; Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London: T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, 1802. New edition, 12 volumes, 8vo, contemporary calf;

Dickens, Charles. The Cricket on the Hearth. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846. First edition, impression unknown, half calf over marbled boards (27)

£300-500

Lot 138

142

STUART, JOHN

SCULPTURED STONES OF SCOTLAND

Aberdeen: printed for the Spalding Club, 1856. First edition, 2 volumes, folio, 296 lithographic plates, including some coloured, original half roan over green cloth, some foxing, several loose photographs of ancient sites (2)

£200-300

143

MACGIBBON, DAVID AND THOMAS ROSS

THE CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND

from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century. Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1887-92. 5 volumes, 8vo, original olive cloth gilt, top edges gilt, bookplates of Archibald Stirling; Pugin, Augustus Welby. Details of Antient Timber Houses of the 15th & 16th Centuries, selected from those existing at Rouen, Caen, Beauvais, Gisors, Abbeville, Strasbourg, etc. London: Ackermann & Co., 1836. First edition, 4to, contemporary brown half morocco over marbled boards, plates, bookplate of a later James Stirling (6)

£200-300

144

[STIRLING, WILLIAM MACGREGOR]

NOTES HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ON THE PRIORY OF INCHMAHOME

Edinburgh: William Blackwood and John Murray, 1815. First edition, 4to, with autograph annotations by the author, dedication laid down to front pastedown (‘The Corrections & Additions with the Pen are done by the Author from respect towards the Lady for whom this Copy is intended, Edinburgh 15 Anne’s Street, 28th November 1832, William MacGregor Stirling’), with a tipped-in note promising a copy to Mr James Ballantyne, original boards, hinges split

£200-300

145

MCIAN, ROBERT RONALD

THE CLANS OF THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

… With Accompanying Description and Historical Memoranda of Character, Mode of Life, etc. etc. London: Willis and Sotheran, 1857. Second edition, 2 volumes, folio (36.4 x 25.4cm), original red quarter morocco, spines gilt in compartments, covers with elaborate overall gilt decoration incorporating large centrepieces of the royal arms of Scotland, all edges gilt, 72 hand-coloured lithographic plates of Highland dress, 2 chromolithographic heraldic plates, bookplates of Archibald Stirling, joints and tips rubbed, gutta percha perishing with several plates detached or detaching, a few plates soiled and with evidence of removal, mounting (with adhesive residue verso) and reinsertion, occasional light marginal spotting elsewhere [Tooley 323]

£1,000-1,500

146

REGENCY MUSIC

MANUSCRIPT SONG BOOK OF LATITIA H. HIBBERT, DATED 1818

comprising 137 manuscript leaves, with many German and European tunes (Frankfort Waltz, A Bohemian Air, Neapolitan Waltz etc.), with many others having a Scottish flavour and accompanying lyrics (Mrs Macdonald, Roy’s Wife of Aldivalloch, The Birks of Inveraray, Roslin Castle [without lyrics], Down the burn Davie, etc.), several songs also written in French, 19th century red straight-grain morocco gilt, ruled in red throughout, some rubbing, the name ‘Latitia H. Hibbert’ to the rear free endpaper

£300-500

147

RUSKIN, JOHN

THE STONES OF VENICE [AND] MODERN PAINTERS

The Stones of Venice. Orpington: George Allen, 1886. 3 volumes, fourth edition, all edges gilt; Modern Painters. Orpington: George Allen, 1888. 5 volumes, plus index. Uniformly bound 4to in brown morocco gilt, morocco gilt dentelles, some slight rubbing and dust-soiling to covers (9)

£400-600

148

THORBURN, ARCHIBALD

BRITISH BIRDS

London: Longmans, Green and Co.,1916. 4 volumes, folio, 82 coloured plates, original red cloth gilt, top edge gilt; Idem. Game Birds and Wild Fowl of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1923. First edition, folio, 30 (of 38) plates only, original red cloth gilt (5)

£200-300

149

MORRIS, FRANCIS ORPEN

A HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS

London: John C. Nimmo, 1891. Third edition, 6 volumes 4to, original green cloth with gilt detailing on covers and spines, 394 hand-coloured wood-engraved plates (a few detached)

£200-300

First edition of ‘the first art-historical work illustrated by photography’ (Gernsheim), presentation copy from the author, inscribed ‘To James Stirling Esqr… from W. S., Keir, Jan. 1 1849’ in Talbotype Illustrations on the verso of the title-page.

‘In 1848, William Stirling, later Sir William Stirling Maxwell (1818-1878), published his three-volume Annals of the Artists of Spain, the first scholarly history of Spanish art in English, as well as the first contextual history of Spanish art in any language. Another pioneering feature of this work was that the three text volumes were accompanied by a limited edition fourth volume of Talbotype illustrations. The existence of this fourth volume of Talbotypes has enabled the Annals of the Artists of Spain to be hailed as the first art history book to be illustrated with photographs. Despite the Talbotypes’ shortcomings as reproductions of works of art, this volume marked the beginning of a revolution in the methodology of art history, in which photographs and photographically illustrated books would become essential tools’ (Macartney).

This appears to be the first copy of the Talbotype Illustrations to have come to auction in over 10 years, and only the second in 60 years. Fifty copies were printed, of which 25 were in the present octavo format, and 25 on large paper (28 x 180cm), with 16 surviving copies being counted in Hilary Macartney’s survey. The three text volumes, Annals of the Artists of Spain, were printed in a run of 750 sets in octavo and 25 on large paper; the present set is one of 25 special sets of the octavo issue, which were probably intended for presentation, and contain ‘proof impressions of the plates on india paper, and two extra plates, being the dedication, and the Virgin and Child, facing page 795’ according to a limitation statement facing the title-page of the first volume.

150

STIRLING-MAXWELL, SIR WILLIAM

ANNALS OF THE ARTISTS OF SPAIN

[And:] Talbotype Illustrations to the Annals of the Artists of Spain. London: John Ollivier, 1848-7. 4 volumes (Annals in 3 volumes, Talbotype Illustrations in 1 volume), 8vo (22.5 x 13.2cm), original blue cloth by Bone and Son (with their ticket), spines lettered in gilt, heraldic devices to covers in gilt, xliii 508, [3] 510-948, [3] 950-1481 ii, xii [2] pp., each volume of Annals with engraved additional title-page with aquatint and hand-colouring, title-pages printed in red and black, initials printed in red, engraved dedication leaf printed in red and black to volume 1, volumes 1 and 2 with a total of 12 engraved plates on india paper (mounted as issued) and 2 lithographic plates, Talbotype Illustrations with 66 Talbotypes (i.e. salted paper prints from calotype negatives) executed by Nicolaas Henneman under the supervision of the author (various dimensions, from 8 x 6cm to 13 x 19cm), mounted as issued (with printed frames and numbers to mounts), Talbotype title-page and dedication (both also mounted), armorial bookplates of James Stirling, mild toning to spines, Talbotype Illustrations with faint mottling to covers, spotting to edges of textblocks, a few scattered instances of spotting internally, variable fading to Talbotypes, slight undulation to mounts of Talbotypes [Gernsheim 9]

Literature: Hilary Macartney, ‘William Stirling and the Talbotype Volume of the Annals of the Artists of Spain’, History of Photography 30 (4), pp. 291-308.

£10,000-15,000

SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS

151

CASED SILVER-MOUNTED LODESTONE

MID-18TH CENTURY

probably English or Dutch, formed of three joined magnetised flat iron/steellike pieces, terminating in two poles, mounted with upper and lower silver plates with scalloped borders, the top flat engraved ‘N’ and ‘S’, rotating on a suspension mount and twin pendant rings of silver, resting on a semicircular iron/steel-like bar armature (or magnet keeper) drilled with a single hole, mounted inside its original velvet lined ray skin/shagreen case (the case 7.5cm long x 5.5cm wide)

Note: Lodestones are naturally occurring magnetised pieces of the mineral magnetite, which can attract iron. Pieces of lodestone, suspended so they could turn, were the first magnetic compasses. Their importance to early navigation is indicated by their name, which in Middle English means ‘course stone’ or ‘leading stone’, from the now-obsolete meaning of lode as ‘journey or way’. It is believed that lodestones acquire their magnetic properties from the intense magnetic fields generated by lightning strikes. They are usually found near the surface of the Earth, rather than buried deep underground, making it more probable they were magnetised by lightning rather than the Earth’s relatively weak magnetic field. The first relatively strong compound magnet was made by Servington Savery of Devon (1670-1744), who published in 1730. The first commercial examples were made ten years later by Gowin Knight (1713-1772). The design and construction of English compasses/lodestones in the early to mid-18th century were similar for both the naturally magnetic lodestones and the early examples of artificial permanent magnets beginning to be developed at that time.

£2,000-3,000

Note: Thomas Heath (1698-1773) was a mathematician and scientific instrument maker. His trade cards were illustrated with mathematical instruments and advised ‘Globes, Spheres, Weather Glasses. All sorts of Mathamatical Instruments in Silver, Brass, Ivory or Wood according to the best improvements are accurately Made & Sold by Tho Heath at the Hercules & Globe next door to ye Fountain Tavern in the Strand, London. Also Mathametical books sold’.

152

GEORGE II SILVER AND SHAGREEN INSTRUMENT CASE, THOMAS HEATH, LONDON

CIRCA 1730-50

oblong case/etui with silver mounts, opening to a fitted interior with a 4 ¼” plotting scale engraved ‘T Heath London’, a brass and steel compass engraved ‘T. Heath Fecit’, and an articulated brass and steel drawing pencil/ pen point, 12.5cm long

£400-600

For a similar pocket case of silver mathematical instruments by Heath see: The Science Museum, London, Object Number 1954-327, and the National Maritime Museum (Gabb Collection).

Lot

VERY RARE SCOTTISH GEORGE II CASED SILVER SIMPLE ‘POCKET’ MICROSCOPE, JOHN CLARK, EDINBURGH

CIRCA 1749-1754

engraved ‘John Clark Inv. & Fec. Edinb.’ to the back, the folding stage frame also with a finely engraved scale to the side and hinged in the middle, the bottom with a rotating concave substage mirror and the top with double operative stages, the upper stage objective viewer with a sliding dovetail slide with five graduated simple objectives, each viewed through the aperture as the slide is pushed through, the lower stage with tracks for two sliding dovetail specimen slides, adjusted with a fine-focus screw, together with a pronged magnifying arm, a delicate blued iron/steel pointer/spike, a pair of silver forceps and a sliding slide-mounter, also with two ivory screwtop boxes containing mica slips (known as talcs) and brass split rings and a small ivory brush with fine hair bristles, all inside a fitted pale blue silk lined black ray skin/shagreen covered case, the domed lid and silver threaded ferrule to the top, forming the supporting stand to secure the microscope the box 6.5cm square

Note: John Clark was an Edinburgh goldsmith, jeweller and optical instrument maker working circa 1749-1796. He advertised twice for subscribers for his first silver simple ‘pocket’ microscope in 1749 and 1751, which was priced at 5 guineas. He advertised again in 1754 for an updated version of his pocket microscope, priced at 4 guineas.

David J. Bryden mentions only one other example of a silver pocket microscope signed John Clark which matched the specifications described in the 1749 and 1751 newspaper advertisements. Referred to by Bryson as the ‘1749 Model’, it was also signed ‘John Clark Inv. & Fec. Edinb.’ It was sold Sotheby’s & Co, London, 2nd May 19662, lot 60, and was believed to have been bought by a Dutch collector. Bryden was aware of six identical examples of the later silver pocket microscope model matching the specifications described in the 1754 advertisements, these were all signed ‘J. Clark fecit Edin’.

The present lot is a very rare example of the earliest model of silver pocket microscope by Clark. ‘John Clark was the first Edinburgh instrument-maker to publicise his wares through the medium of the press, and the language of the advertisements for his microscopes clearly indicates the market at which sales were aimed. Pocket microscopes made of silver were advertised for sale by subscription in 1749 and 1754, with a minimum of 50 purchasers required before the manufacture of a batch of instruments was undertaken. By insisting on a down payment from subscribers Clark ensured a viable level of future sales and raised an initial capital from which he could finance the project. Examples of his silver microscopes survive as evidence of the success of the subscription proposals, the second of which was achieved in the face of direct competition from Thomas Henderson, an Edinburgh ironmonger who was retailing London-made microscopes.’ (Bryden, 1972, p. 18).

Literature: D. J. Bryden, Three Edinburgh Microscope Makers: John Finlayson, William Robertson and John Clark, Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, Original Series 33 (1972), pp. 165–176, Plate VI, figure (a), for an illustration of the 1749 design microscope, which presumably is a photograph of the example sold by Sotheby’s & Co, London, 2nd May 1966, lot 60.

Ibid. Scottish Scientific Instrument-Makers 1600-1900, Royal Scottish Museum Information Series, Edinburgh, 1972, pp. 17-18, fig. 6, for a photograph of the later model of pocket microscope by Clark dated 1773, and the excerpt quoted above on the following page.

£4,000-6,000

BRASS SEMI CIRCULAR PROTRACTOR

18TH CENTURY

engraved with 0-180 degree scale and a plotting scale, unsigned, 24cm long

£100-150

155

BRASS CIRCULAR PROTRACTOR

18TH CENTURY

5 ¾ inches, engraved with 0-360 degree scale, unsigned, 15cm diameter

£100-150

156

GEORGE

II BRASS

SURVEYOR’S

WHEEL, THOMAS HEATH, LONDON CIRCA 1730-50

also called a clickwheel, hodometer, waywiser or trundle wheel, formed of a four spoked brass wheel with steel outer rim, held by two pronged scrolling arms with a steel bracket for a handle, the side of the arm mounted with a turned brass case, the hinged interior with a silvered brass dial, engraved with inside scale for I-V miles, each divided into eight furlongs, the outer scale with a furlong of 0-660 feet, two pierced steel hands, signed ‘T. Heath Fecit’, 47cm long

Note: Thomas Heath (1698-1773), scientific and mathematical instrument maker.

£800-1,200

Lot 155

Lot 154

157

SCOTTISH BRASS FIELD SIGHTING COMPASS AND STAND, JOHN MILLER, EDINBURGH

LATE 18TH-CENTURY

the compass with silvered compass track dial, signed Miller, Edin.’, the edge engraved with outer 0-360 degree scale, with one detachable sighting arm (one lacking), all housed in a turned plain mahogany box; together with a matching brass folding tripod stand and screw locking key, housed in a separate turned plain mahogany box, the larger box 12cm diameter (2)

Note: John Miller (1746-1815) was an optical, mathematical and philosophical instrument maker. He worked in the London workshop of George Adams before moving to Edinburgh, where he was active circa 1774-1803.

£300-500

158

BRASS SURVEYOR’S LEVEL

LATE 18TH / EARLY 19TH CENTURY

possibly Scottish, unsigned, inside a fitted triangular mahogany case, the case 28cm long (2)

£300-500

159

GEORGE II CASED SET OF BRASS DRAWING INSTRUMENTS, THOMAS HEATH, LONDON

CIRCA 1730-50

the instruments include a large finely engraved heavy brass plotting scale, signed ‘T. Heath, London’, a large beam compass with two articulated magnifying lens, a brass and steel compass, an articulated brass and steel drawing pencil/pen point, a turned brass pointer, a small fitted box with two pen points, all inside a fitted mahogany box (the box 39cm long)

£400-600

160

CASED SET OF BRASS DRAWING INSTRUMENTS, TROUGHTON AND SIMMS, LONDON

CIRCA 1826-50

the instruments include a large finely engraved sliding rule, signed ‘Troughton & Simms, London’, a brass sliding bridge rule, a caliper slide, a larger brass and steel compass, a similar smaller compass, an articulated brass and steel drawing pencil/pen point, two other similar points, all inside a fitted velvet lined leather box (the box 34.5cm long x 11cm wide)

Note: Troughton & Simms was a British instrument-making firm. Their shop in Fleet Street became the hub of the finest scientific instrument making in London during a period in which there was increasing demand for precision instruments for astronomy, surveying and measurement. They created instruments for Greenwich Observatory as well as exploring and surveying expeditions.

£200-300

Lot 157

Lot 158

Lot 160

AUCTION 04 DECEMBER 2025

CONDITIONS OF SALE 25.1

FOR BUYERS (UK)

These Conditions of Sale and the Saleroom Notices as well as specific Catalogue terms, set out the terms on which we offer the Lots listed in this Catalogue for sale. By registering to bid and/or by bidding at auction You agree to these terms, we recommend that You read them carefully before doing so. You will find a list of definitions and a glossary at the end providing explanations for the meanings of the words and expressions used.

Special terms may be used in Catalogue descriptions of particular classes of items (Books, Jewellery, Paintings, Guns, Firearms, etc.) in which case the descriptions must be interpreted in accordance with any glossary appearing in the Catalogue. These notices and terms will also form part of our terms and conditions of sales.

In these Conditions the words “Us”, “Our”, “We” etc. refers to Lyon & Turnbull Ltd, the singular includes the plural and vice versa as appropriate. “You”, “Your” means the Buyer. Lyon & Turnbull Ltd. acts as agent for the Seller. Lyon & Turnbull Ltd. acts as agent for the Seller. On occasion where Lyon & Turnbull Ltd. own a lot in part or full the property will be identified in the catalogue with the symbol (��) next to its lot number.

A. BEFORE THE SALE

1. DESCRIPTIONS

OF LOTS

Whilst we seek to describe Lots accurately, it may be impractical for us to carry out exhaustive due diligence on each Lot. Prospective Buyers are given ample opportunities to view and inspect before any sale and they (and any independent experts on their behalf) must satisfy themselves as to the accuracy of any description applied to a Lot. Prospective Buyers also bid on the understanding that, inevitably, representations or statements by us as to authorship, genuineness, origin, date, age, provenance, condition or Estimated selling price involve matters of opinion. We undertake that any such opinion shall be honestly and reasonably held and only accept liability for opinions given negligently or fraudulently. Subject to the foregoing neither we the Auctioneer or our employees or agents accept liability for the correctness of such opinions and no warranties, whether relating to description, condition or quality of Lots, express, implied or statutory, are given. Please note that photographs/images provided may not be fully representative of the condition of the Lot and should not be relied upon as indicative of the overall condition of the Lot. All dimensions and weights are approximate only.

2. OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR DESCRIPTION OF LOTS

We do not provide any guarantee in relation to the nature of a Lot apart from our authenticity warranty contained in paragraph E.2 and to the extent provided below.

(a) Condition Reports: Condition Reports are provided on our Website or upon request. The absence of a report does not imply that a Lot is without imperfections. Large numbers of such requests are received shortly before each sale and department specialists and administration will endeavour to respond to all requests although we offer no guarantee. Any statement in relation to the Lot is merely an expression of opinion of the Seller or us and should not be relied upon as an inducement to bid on the Lot. Lots are available for inspection prior to the sale and You are strongly advised to examine any Lot in which You are interested prior to the sale. Our Condition Reports are not prepared by professional conservators, restorers or engineers. Our Condition Report does not form any contract between us and the Buyer. The Condition Reports do not affect the Buyer’s obligations in any way.

(b) Estimates: Estimates are placed on each Lot to help Buyers gauge the sums involved for the purchase of a particular Lot. Estimates do not include the Buyer’s Premium or VAT. Estimates are a matter of opinion and prepared in advance. Estimates may be subject to change and are for guidance only and should not be relied upon.

(c) Catalogue Alterations: Lot descriptions and Estimates are prepared in advance of the sale and may be subject to change. Any alterations will be announced on the Catalogue alteration sheet, made available prior to the sale. It is the responsibility of the Buyer to make themselves aware to any alterations which may have occurred.

3. WITHDRAWAL

Lyon & Turnbull may, at its discretion, withdraw any Lot at any time prior to or during the sale of the Lot. Lyon & Turnbull has no liability to You for any decision to withdraw.

4. JEWELLERY, CLOCKS & OTHER ITEMS

(a) Jewellery:

(i) Coloured gemstones (such as rubies, sapphires and emeralds) may have been treated to enhance their look, through methods such as heating and oiling. These methods are accepted practice but may make the gemstone less strong and/or require special care in future.

(ii) All types of gemstones may have been improved by some method. You may request a gemmological report for any Lot which does not have a report

if the request is made to us at least three weeks before the date of the sale and You pay the fee for the report in advance of receiving said report.

(iii) We do not obtain a gemmological report for every gemstone sold in our sales. Where we do get gemmological reports from internationally accepted gemmological laboratories, such reports may be described in the Sale Particulars. Reports will describe any improvement or treatment only if we request that they do so, but will confirm when no improvement or treatment has been made. Because of differences in approach and technology, laboratories may not agree whether a particular gemstone has been treated, the amount of treatment or whether treatment is permanent. The gemmological laboratories will only report on the improvements or treatments known to the laboratories at the date of the report.

(iv) For jewellery sales, all Estimates are based on the information in any gemmological report or, if no gemmological report is available, You should assume that the gemstones may have been treated or enhanced.

(b) Clocks & Watches: All Lots are sold “as seen”, and the absence of any reference to the condition of a clock or watch does not imply the Lot is in good condition and without defects, repairs or restorations. Most clocks and watches will have been repaired during their normal lifetime and may now incorporate additional/ newer parts. Furthermore, we make no representation or warranty that any clock or watch is in working order. As clocks and watches often contain fine and complex mechanisms, Buyers should be aware that a general service, change of battery or further repair work, for which the Buyer is solely responsible, may be necessary. Buyers should also be aware that we cannot guarantee a watch will remain waterproof if the back is removed. Buyers should be aware that the importing watches such as Rolex, Frank Muller and Corum into the United States is highly restricted. These watches cannot be shipped to the USA and only imported personally. Clocks may be sold without pendulums, weights or keys.

(c) Alcohol: may only be sold to persons aged of 18 years and over. By registering to bid, You affirm that You are at least that age. All collections must be signed for by a person over the age of 18. We Reserve the right to ask for ID from the person collecting. Buyers of alcohol must make appropriate allowances for natural variations of ullages, conditions of corks and wine. We can provide no guarantees as to how the alcohol may have been stored. There is always a risk of cork failure and allowance by the Buyer must be made. Alcohol is sold “as is” and quality of the alcohol is entirely at the risk of the Buyer and no warranties are given.

(d) Books-Collation: If on collation any named item in the sale Catalogue proves defective, in text or illustration the Buyer may reject the Lot provided he returns it within 21 days of the sale stating the defect in writing. This, however, shall not apply in the case of unnamed items, periodicals, autographed letters, music M.M.S., maps, drawings nor in respect of damage to bindings, stains, foxing, marginal worm holes or other defects not affecting the completeness of the text nor in respect of Defects mentioned in the Catalogue, or at the time of sale, nor in respect of Lots sold for less than £300.

(e) Electrical Goods: are sold as “works of art” only and if bought for use must be checked over for compliance with safety regulations by a qualified electrician first. Use of such goods is entirely at the risk of the Buyer and no warranties as to safety of the goods are given.

(f) Upholstered items: are sold as “works of art” only and if bought for use must be checked over for compliance with safety regulations (items manufactured prior to 1950 are exempt from any regulations). Use of such goods is entirely at the risk of the Buyer and no warranties as to safety of the goods are given. We provide no guarantee as to the originality of any wood/material contained within the item.

B. REGISTERING TO BID

1. NEW BIDDERS

(a) If this is Your first time bidding at Lyon & Turnbull or You are a returning Bidder who has not bought anything from us within the last two years You must register at least 48 hours before an auction to give us enough time to process and approve Your registration. We may, at our discretion, decline to permit You to register as a Bidder. You will be asked for the following:

(i) Individuals: Photo identification (driving licence, national identity card or passport) and, if not shown on the ID document, proof of Your current address (for example, a current utility bill or bank statement)

(ii) Corporate clients: Your Certificate of Incorporation or equivalent document(s) showing Your name and registered address together with documentary proof of directors and beneficial owners, and;

(iii) Trusts, partnerships, offshore companies and other business structures please contact us directly in advance to discuss requirements.

(b) We may also ask You to provide a financial reference and/or a deposit to allow You to bid. For help, please contact our Finance Department on +44(0)131 557 8844.

2. RETURNING BIDDERS

We may at our discretion ask You for current identification as described in paragraph B.1.(a) above, a finance reference or a deposit as a condition of allowing You to bid. If You have

not bought anything from us in the last two years, or if You want to spend more than on previous occasions, please contact our Finance Department on +44(0)131 557 8844.

3. FAILURE TO PROVIDE THE RIGHT DOCUMENTS

If in our opinion You do not satisfy our Bidder identification and registration procedures including, but not limited to, completing any anti-money laundering and/or anti-terrorism financing checks we may require to our satisfaction, we may refuse to register You to bid, and if You make a successful bid, we may cancel the contract between You and the Seller.

4. BIDDING ON BEHALF OF ANOTHER PERSON

(a) As an authorised Bidder: If You are bidding on behalf of another person, that person will need to complete the registration requirements above before You can bid, and supply a signed letter authorising You to bid for him/her.

(b) As agent for an undisclosed principal: If You are bidding as an agent for an undisclosed principle (the ultimate Buyer(s)) You accept personal liability to pay the Purchase Price and all other sums due, unless it has been agreed in writing with us before commencement of the auction that the Bidder is acting as an agent on behalf of a named third party acceptable to us and we will seek payment from the named third party.

5. BIDDING IN PERSON

If You wish to bid in the saleroom You must register for a numbered bidding paddle before You begin bidding. Please ensure You bring photo identification with You to allow us to verify Your registration.

6. BIDDING

SERVICES

The bidding services described below are a free service offered as a convenience to our clients and we are not responsible for any error (human or otherwise), omission or breakdown in providing these services.

(a) Phone bids

Your request for this service must be made no later than 12 hours prior to the auction. We will accept bids by telephone for Lots only if our staff are available to take the bids. If You need to bid in a language other than English You should arrange this Well before the auction. We do not accept liability for failure to do so or for errors and omissions in connections.

(b) Internet Bids

For certain auctions we will accept bids over the internet. For more information please visit our Website. We will use reasonable efforts to carry out online bids and do not accept liability for equipment failure, inability to access the internet or software malfunctions related to execution of online bids/ live bidding.

(c) Written Bids

While prospective Buyers are strongly advised to attend the auction and are always responsible for any decision to bid for a particular Lot and shall be assumed to have carefully inspected and satisfied themselves as to its condition we shall, if so instructed, clearly and in writing execute bids on their behalf. Neither the Auctioneer nor our employees nor agents shall be responsible for any failure to do so. Where two or more commission bids at the same level are recorded we Reserve the right in our absolute discretion to prefer the first bid so made. Bids must be expressed in the currency of the saleroom. The Auctioneer will take reasonable steps to carry out written bids at the lowest possible price, taking into account the Reserve. If You make a written bid on a Lot which does not have a Reserve and there is no higher bid than Yours, we will bid on Your behalf at around 50% of the lower Estimate or, if lower, the amount of Your bid.

C. DURING THE SALE

1.

ADMISSION TO OUR AUCTIONS

We shall have the right at our discretion, to refuse admission to our premises or attendance at our auctions by any person. We may refuse admission at any time before, during or after the auction.

2. RESERVES

Unless indicated by an insert symbol (∆), all Lots in this Catalogue are offered subject to a Reserve. A Reserve is the confidential Hammer Price established between us and the Seller. The Reserve is generally set at a percentage of the low Estimate and will not exceed the low Estimate for the Lot.

3. AUCTIONEER’S DISCRETION

The maker of the highest bid accepted by the Auctioneer conducting the sale shall be the Buyer and any dispute shall be settled at the Auctioneer’s absolute discretion. The Auctioneer may move the bidding backwards of forwards in any way he or she may decide or change the order of the Lots. The Auctioneer may also; refuse any bid, withdraw any Lot, divide any Lot or combine any two or more Lots, reopen or continuing bidding even after the hammer has fallen.

4. BIDDING

The Auctioneer accepts bids from:

(a) Bidders in the saleroom; (b) Telephone Bidders, and internet Bidders through Lyon & Turnbull Live or any other online bidding platform we have chosen to list on and;

(c) Written bids (also known as absentee bids or commission bids) left with us by a Bidder before the auction.

5. BIDDING

INCREMENTS

Bidding increments shall be at the Auctioneer’s sole discretion.

6. CURRENCY CONVERTER

The saleroom video screens and bidding platforms may show bids in some other major currencies as Well as sterling. Any conversion is for guidance only and we cannot be bound be any rate of exchange used. We are not responsible for any error (human or otherwise) omission or breakdown in providing these services.

7. SUCCESSFUL BIDS

Unless the Auctioneer decides to use their discretion as set out above, when the Auctioneer’s hammer falls, we have accepted the last bid. This means a contract for sale has been formed between the Seller and the successful Bidder. We will issue an invoice only to the registered Bidder who made the successful bid. While we send out invoices by post/or email after the auction, we do not accept responsibility for telling You whether or not Your bid was successful. If You have bid by written bid, You should contact us by telephone or in person as soon as possible after the auction to get details of the outcome of our bid to avoid having to pay unnecessary storage charges.

8. RELEVANT LEGISLATION

You agree that when bidding in any of our sales that You will strictly comply with all relevant legislation including local laws and regulations in force at the time of the sale for the relevant saleroom location.

D.

THE BUYER’S PREMIUM, TAXES AND ARTIST’S RESALE ROYALTY

1. THE PURCHASE PRICE

For each Lot purchased a Buyer’s Premium of 26% of the Hammer Price of each Lot up to and including £800,000, plus 20% from £800,001 thereafter. VAT at the appropriate rate is charged on the Buyer’s Premium. No VAT is payable on the Hammer Price or premium for printed books or unframed maps bought at auction. Live online bidding may be subject to an additional premium (level dependent on the live bidding service provider chosen). This additional premium is subject to VAT at the appropriate rate as above.

2. VALUE ADDED TAX

Value Added Tax is charged at the appropriate rate prevailing by law at the date of sale and is payable by Buyers of relevant Lots.

(a) Lots affixed with (†): Value Added Tax on the Hammer Price is imposed by law on all items affixed with a dagger (†). This imposition of VAT maybe because the Seller is registered for VAT within the European Union and is not operating under a Margin Scheme.

(b) Lots affixed with (*): A reduced rate of Value Added Tax on the Hammer Price of 5% is payable. This indicates that a Lot has been imported from outwit the European Union. This reduced rate is applicable to Antique items.

(c) Lots affixed with [Ω]: Standard rate of Value Added Tax on the Hammer Price and premium is payable. This applies to items that have been imported from outwit the European Union and do not fall within the reduced rate category outlined above.

3. ARTIST’S RESALE ROYALTY (DROIT DE SUITE)

This symbol § indicates works which may be subject to the Droit de Suite or Artist’s Resale Right, which took effect in the United Kingdom on 14th February 2006. We are required to collect a royalty payment for all qualifying works of art. Under new legislation which came into effect on 1st January 2012 this applies to living artists and artists who have died in the last 70 years. This royalty will be charged to the Buyer on the Hammer Price and in addition to the Buyer’s Premium. It will not apply to works where the Hammer Price is less than £1,000. The charge for works of art sold at and above £1,000 and below £50,000 is 4%. For items selling above £50,000, charges are calculated on a sliding scale. All royalty charges are paid to the Design and Artists Copyright Society (‘DACS’) and no handling costs or additional fees are retained by the Auctioneer. Resale royalties are not subject to VAT. More information on Droit de Suite is available at www.dacs.org.uk.

E. WARRANTIES

1. SELLER’S WARRANTIES

For each Lot, the Seller gives a warranty that the Seller;

(a) Is the owner of the Lot or a joint owner of the Lot acting with the permission of the other co-owners, or if the Sellers is not the owner of or a joint owner of the Lot, has the permission of the owner to sell the Lot, or the right to do so in law, and; (b) Had the right to transfer ownership of the Lot to the Buyer without any restrictions or claims by anyone else. If either other above warranties are incorrect, the Seller shall not have to pay more than the Purchase Price (as defined in the glossary) paid by You to us. The Seller will not be responsible to You for any reason for loss of profits or business, expected savings, loss of opportunity or interest, costs, damages, other damages or expense. The Seller gives no warranty in relation to any Lot other than as set out above and, as far as the Seller is allowed by law, all warranties from the Seller to You, and all obligations upon the Seller which may be added to this agreement by law, are excluded.

2.

AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEE

We guarantee that the authorship, period, or origin (collectively, “Authorship”) of each Lot in this Catalogue is as stated in the BOLD or CAPITALISED type heading in the Catalogue description of the Lot, as amended by oral or written saleroom notes or announcements. We make no warranties whatsoever, whether

express or implied, with respect to any material in the Catalogue other than that appearing in the Bold or Capitalised heading and subject to the exclusions below.

In the event we, in our reasonable opinion, deem that the conditions of the authenticity guarantee have been satisfied, it shall refund to the original purchaser of the Lot the Hammer Price and applicable Buyer’s Premium paid for the Lot by the original purchaser.

This Guarantee does not apply if:

(a) The Catalogue description was in accordance with the opinion(s) of generally accepted scholar(s) and expert(s) at the date of the sale, or the Catalogue description indicated that there was a conflict of such opinions; or

(b) the only method of establishing that the Authorship was not as described in the Bold or Capitalised heading at the date of the sale would have been by means or processes not then generally available or accepted; unreasonably expensive or impractical to use; or likely (in our reasonable opinion) to have caused damage to the Lot or likely to have caused loss of value to the Lot; or

(c) There has been no material loss in value of the Lot from its value had it been in accordance with its description in the Bold or Capitalised type heading.

This Guarantee is provided for a period of one year from the date of the relevant auction, is solely for the benefit of the original purchaser of the Lot at the auction and may not be transferred to any third party. To be able to claim under this Authenticity Guarantee, the original purchaser of the Lot must:

(a) notify us in writing within one month of receiving any information that causes the original purchaser of record to dispute the accuracy of the Bold or Capitalised type heading, specifying the Lot number, date of the auction at which it was purchased and the reasons for such dispute; and

(b) return the Lot to our registered office in the same condition as at the date of sale to the original purchaser of record and be able to transfer good title to the Lot, free from any third party claims arising after the date of such sale.

We have discretion to waive any of the above requirements. We may require the original purchaser of the Lot to obtain, at the original purchaser of Lot’s cost, the reports of two independent and recognised experts in the field. The reports must be mutually acceptable to us and the original purchaser of the Lot. We shall not be bound by any reports produced by the original purchaser of the Lot, and Reserves the right to seek additional expert advice at its own expense. It is specifically understood and agreed that the rescission of a sale and the

refund of the original Purchase Price paid (the successful Hammer Price, plus the Buyer’s Premium) is exclusive and in lieu of any other remedy which might otherwise be available as a matter of law. Lyon & Turnbull and the Seller shall not be liable for any incidental or consequential damages incurred or claimed, including without limitation, loss of profits or interest.

3. YOUR WARRANTIES

(a) You warrant that the funds used for settlement are not connected with any criminal activities, including tax evasion and You are neither; under investigation, have been charged with or convicted of money laundering, terrorist activities or other crimes.

(b) Where You are bidding on behalf of another person You warrant that:

(i) You have conducted appropriate customer due diligence on the ultimate Buyer(s) of the Lot(s) in accordance with all relevant antimoney laundering legislation, consent to us relying on this due diligence, and You will retain for a period of not less than five years the documentation evidencing the due diligence. You will make such documentation promptly available for immediate inspection by a third party auditor upon our written request to do so;

(ii) The arrangements between You and the ultimate Buyer(s) in relation to the Lot or otherwise do not, in whole or in part, facilitate tax crimes, and;

(iii) You do not know, and have no reason to suspect that the funds used for settlement are connected with the proceeds of any criminal activity, including tax evasion, or that the ultimate Buyer(s) are under investigation or have been charged with or convicted of moneylaundering, terrorist activities, or other crimes.

F. PAYMENT

1. MAKING PAYMENT

(a) Within 7 days of a Lot being sold You will pay to us the Total Amount Due in cash or by such other method as is agreed by us. We accept cash, bank transfer (details on request), debit cards and Visa or MasterCard credit cards. Please note that we do not accept cash payments over £5,000 per Buyer per year.

(b) Any payments by You to us can be applied by us towards any sums owing by You to us howsoever incurred and without agreement by You or Your agent, whether express or implied.

(c) We will only accept payment from the registered Bidder. Once issued, we cannot change the Buyer’s name on an invoice or re-issue the invoice in a different name.

(d) The ownership of any Lots purchased shall not pass to You until You have made payment in full to us of the Total Amount Due. The risk in and the responsibility for the Lot will transfer to You from whichever is the earlier of the following:

(i) When You collect the Lot; or (ii) At the end of the 30th day following the date of the auction, or, if earlier, the date the Lot is taken into care by a third party unless we have agreed otherwise with You in writing.

(e) You shall at Your own risk and expense take away any Lots that You have purchased and paid for not later than 7 working days following the day of the auction or upon the clearance of any payment whichever is later. Please note we do not accept cheques. We can provide You with a list of shippers. However, we will not be responsible for the acts or omissions of carriers or packers whether or not recommended by us.

(f) No purchase can be claimed or removed until it has been paid for.

(g) It is the Buyer’s responsibility to ascertain collection procedures, particularly if the sale is not being held at our main sale room and the potential storage charges for Lots not collected by the appropriate time.

2. IN THE EVENT OF NONPAYMENT

If any Lot is not paid for in full and taken away in accordance with these Conditions or if there is any other breach of these Conditions, we, as agent for the Sellers and on their behalf, shall at our absolute discretion and without prejudice to any other rights we may have, be entitled to exercise one or more of the following rights and remedies:

(a) To proceed against You for damages for breach of contract;

(b) To rescind the contract for sale of that Lot and/or any other Lots sold by us to You;

(c) To resell the Lot(s) (by auction or private treaty) in which case You shall be responsible for any resulting deficiency in the Total Amount Due (after crediting any part payment and adding any resale costs).

(d) To remove, store and insure the Lot in the case of storage, either at our premises or elsewhere and to recover from You all costs incurred in respect thereof;

(e) To charge interest at a rate of 5% a year above the Bank of Scotland base rate from time to time on all sums outstanding for more than 7 working days after the sale;

(f) To retain that or any other Lot sold to You until You pay the Total Amount Due;

(g) To reject or ignore bids from You or Your agent at future auctions or to impose conditions before any such bids shall be accepted;

(h) To apply any proceeds of sale of other Lots due or which become due to You towards the settlement of the Total Amount Due by You and to exercise a lien over any of Your property in our possession for any purpose until the debt due is satisfied. You will be deemed to have granted such security to us and we may retain

such property as collateral security for Your obligations to us; we may decide to sell Your property in any way we think appropriate. We will use the proceeds of the sale against any amounts You owe us and we will pay any amount left from that sale to You. If there is a shortfall, You must pay us the balance; and

(i) Take any other action we see necessary or appropriate.

G. COLLECTION & STORAGE

(1) It is the Buyer’s responsibility to ascertain collection procedures, particularly if the sale is not being held at our main sale room and the potential storage charges for Lots not collected by the appropriate time. Information on collection is set out in the Catalogue and our Website

(2) Unless agreed otherwise, You must collect purchased Lots within seven days from the auction. Please note the Lots will only be released upon full payment being received.

(3) If You do not collect any Lot within seven days following the auction we can, at our discretion;

(i) Charge You storage costs at the rates set out on our Website.

(ii) Move the Lot to another location or an affiliate or third party and charge You transport and administration costs for doing so and You will be subject to the third party storage terms and pay for their fees and costs.

(iii) Sell the Lot in any way we think reasonable.

H. TRANSPORT & SHIPPING

1. TRANSPORT AND SHIPPING

We will include transport and shipping information with each invoice sent to You as well as displayed on our Website. You must make all transport and shipping arrangements.

2. EXPORT OF GOODS

Buyers intending to export goods should ascertain;

(a) Whether an export licence is required; and

(b) Whether there is any specific prohibition on importing goods of that character, e.g. items that may contain prohibited materials such as ivory or rhino horn. It is the Buyer’s sole responsibility to obtain any relevant export or import licence. The denial of any licence or any delay in obtaining licences shall neither justify the recession of any sale not any delay in making full payment for the Lot.

3. CITES: ENDANGERED PLANTS AND ANIMALS LEGISLATION

Please be aware that all Lots marked with the symbol Y may be subject to CITES regulations when exporting these items outside the EU. These regulations may be found at http:// www.defra.gov.uk/ahvla-en/importsexports/cites

We accept no liability for any Lots which may be subject to CITES but have not be identified as such.

I. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU

(a) We give no warranty in relation to any statement made, or information give, by us, our representatives or employees about any Lot other than as set out in the authenticity warranty and as far as we are allowed by law, all warranties and other terms which may be added to this agreement by law are exclude. The Seller’s warranties contained in paragraph E.1 are their own and we do not have a liability in relation to those warranties.

(b) (i) We are not responsible to You for any reason whether for breaking this agreement or any other matter relating to Your purchase of, or bid for, any Lot other than in the event of fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation by us other than as expressly set out in these conditions of sale; or

(ii) We do not give any representation, warranty or guarantee or assume any liability for a kind in respect of any Lot with regard to merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, description, size, quality, condition, attribution, authenticity, rarity, importance, medium, provenance, exhibition history, literature or historical relevance, except as required by local law, any warranty of any kind is excluded by this paragraph.

(c) in particular, please be aware that our written and telephone bidding services, Lyon & Turnbull Live, Condition Reports, currency converter and saleroom video screens are free services and we are not responsible for any error (human or otherwise) omission or breakdown in these services.

(d) We have no responsibility to any person other than a Buyer in connection with the purchase of any Lot

(e) If in spite of the terms of this paragraph we are found to be liable to You for any reason, we shall not have to pay more than the Purchase Price paid by You to us. We will not be responsible for any reason for loss of profits, business, loss of opportunity or value, expected savings or interest, costs damages or expenses.

J. OTHER TERMS

1. OUR ABILITY TO CANCEL

In addition to the other rights of cancellation contained in this agreement, we can cancel the sale of a Lot if;

(i) Any of our warranties are not correct, as set out in paragraph E3, (ii) We reasonably believe that completing the transaction is or may be unlawful; or

(iii) We reasonably believe that the sale places us or the Seller under any liability to anyone else or may damage our reputation.

2. RECORDINGS

We may videotape and record proceedings at any auction. We will keep any personal information confidential, except to the extent disclosure is required by law if You do not wish to be videotaped, You may make arrangements to bit by telephone or a written bid or bid on Lyon & Turnbull Live instead. Unless we agree otherwise in writing, You may not videotape or record proceedings at any auction.

3. COPYRIGHT

We own the copyright in respect of all images, illustrations and written material produced by or for us relating to a Lot. (Including Catalogue entries unless otherwise noted in the Catalogue) You cannot use them without our prior written permission. We do not offer any guarantee that You will gain any copyright or other reproductions to the Lot.

4. ENFORCING THIS AGREEMENT

If a court finds that any part of this agreement is not valid or is illegal or impossible to enforce, that part of the agreement will be treated as deleted and the rest of this agreement will remain in force.

5. TRANSFERRING YOUR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

You may not grant a security over or transfer Your rights of responsibilities under these terms on the contract of sale with the Buyer unless we have given our written permission. This agreement will be binding on Your successors or estate and anyone who takes over Your rights and responsibilities.

6. REPORTING ON WWW.LYONANDTURNBULL.COM

Details of all Lots sold by us, including Catalogue disruptions and prices, may be reported on www.lyonandturnbull. com. Sales totals are Hammer Price plus Buyer’s Premium and do not reflect any additional fees that may have been incurred. We regret we cannot agree to requests to remove these details from our Website.

7. SALE BY PRIVATE TREATY

(a) The same Conditions of Sale (Buyers) shall apply to sales by private treaty.

(b) Private treaty sales made under these Conditions are deemed to be sales by auction and subject to our agreed charges for Sellers and Buyers.

(c) We undertake to inform the Seller of any offers it receives in relation to an item prior to any Proposed Sale, excluding the normal method of commission bids.

(d) For the purposes of a private treaty sale, if a Lot is sold in any other currency than Sterling, the exchange rate is to be taken on the date of sale.

8. THIRD PARTY LIABILITY

All members of the public on our premises are there at their own risk and must note the lay-out of the premises, safety and security

arrangements. Accordingly, neither the Auctioneer nor our employees or agents shall incur liability for death or personal injury or similarly for the safety of the property of persons visiting prior to, during or after a sale.

9. DATA PROTECTION

Where we obtain any personal information about You, we shall use it in accordance with the terms of our Privacy Policy (subject to any additional specific consent(s) You may have given at the time Your information was disclosed). A copy of our Privacy Policy can be found on our Website www.lyonandturnbull.com or requested from Client Services, 33 Broughton Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3RR or by email from data enquiries@ lyonandturnbull.com.

10. FORCE MAJEURE

We shall be under no liability if they shall be unable to carry out any provision of the Contract of Sale for any reason beyond their control including (without limiting the foregoing) an act of God, legislation, war, fire, flood, drought, failure of power supply, lock-out, strike or other action taken by employees in contemplation or furtherance of a dispute or owing to any inability to procure materials required for the performance of the contract.

11.

LAW AND JURISDICTION

(a) Governing Law: These Conditions of Sale and all aspects of all matters, transactions or disputes to which they relate or apply shall be governed by, and interpreted in accordance with, Scots law

(b) Jurisdiction: The Buyer agrees that the Courts of Scotland are to have exclusive jurisdiction to settle all disputes arising in connection with all aspects of all matters or transactions to which these Conditions of Sale relate or apply.

K. DEFINITIONS & GLOSSARY

The following words and phrases used have (unless the context otherwise requires) the meaning to given to them below. The go Glossary is to assist You to understand words and phrases which have a specific legal meaning which You may not be familiar with.

1. DEFINITIONS

“Auctioneer” Lyon & Turnbull Ltd (Registered in Scotland No: 191166 | Registered address: 33 Broughton Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3RR) or it’s authorised representative conducting the sale, as appropriate;

“Bidder” a person who has completed a Bidding Form

“Bidding Form” our Bidding Registration Form our Absentee Bidding Form or our Telephone Bidding Form.

“Buyer” the person to whom a Lot is knocked down by the Auctioneer. The Buyer is also referred to by the words “You” and “Your”

“Buyer’s Premium” the sum calculated on the Hammer Price at the rates

stated in Catalogue.

“Catalogue” the Catalogue relating to the relevant Sale, including any representation on our Website

“Condition Report” the report on the physical condition of a Lot provided to a Bidder or potential Bidder by us on behalf of the Seller.

“Estimate” a statement of our opinion of the range within the hammer is likely to fall.

“Hammer Price” the level of bidding reached (at or above any Reserve) when the Auctioneer brings down the hammer;

“High Cumulative Value of Lot” several Lots with a total lower Estimate value of £30,000 or above;

“High Value Lot” a Lot with a lower Estimate of £30,000 or above;

“Lot” each Item offered for sale by Lyon & Turnbull;

“Purchase Price” is the aggregate of Hammer Price and any applicable Buyer’s Premium, VAT on the Hammer Price (where applicable), VAT on the Buyer’s Premium and any other applicable expenses;

“Reserve” the lowest price below which an item cannot be sold whether at auction or by private treaty;

“Sale” the auction sale at which a Lot is to be offered for sale by us.

“Seller” the person who offers the Lot for Sale. We act as agent for the Seller.

“Total Amount Due” the Hammer Price in respect of the Lot sold together with any premium, Value Added Tax or other taxes chargeable and any additional charges payable by a defaulting Buyer under these Conditions;

“VAT” value added tax at the prevailing rate at the date of the sale in the United Kingdom.

“Website” Lyon & Turnbull’s Website at www.lyonandturnbull.com

2. GLOSSARY

The following have specific legal meaning which You may not be familiar with. The following glossary is intended to give You an understanding of those expressions but is not intended to restrict their legal meanings:

“Artist’s Resale Right” the right of the creator of a work of art to receive a payment on Sales of that work subsequent to “Knocked Down” when a Lot is sold to a Bidder, indicated by the fall of the hammer at the Sale.

“Lien” a right for the person who has possession of the Lot to retain possession of it.

“Risk” the possibility that a Lot may be lost, damaged, destroyed, stolen, or deteriorate in condition or value.

“Title” the legal and equitable right to the ownership of a Lot.

GUIDE TO BIDDING & PAYMENT

REGISTRATION

All potential buyers must register prior to placing a bid. Registration information may be submitted in person at our registration desk, by email, or on our website. Please note that first-time bidders, and those returning after an extended period, will be asked to supply the following documents in order to facilitate registration:

1 – Government issued photo ID (Passport/Driving licence)

2 – Proof of address (utility bill/bank statement).

We may, at our option, also ask you to provide a bank reference and/or deposit. By registering for the sale, the buyer acknowledges that he or she has read, understood and accepted our Conditions of Sale.

BIDDING IN THE SALEROOM

At the Sale Registered bidders will be assigned a bidder number and given a paddle for use at the sale. Once the first bid has been placed, the auctioneer asks for higher bids in increments determined by the auctioneer. To place your bid, simply raise your paddle until the auctioneer acknowledges you. Please ensure that the auctioneer repeats your bidder number correctly when confirming the sale. If there is any doubt at this stage as to the hammer price or buyer it must be brought to the auctioneer’s attention immediately. All lots will be invoiced to the name and address given on your registration form, which is nontransferable.

BIDDING OUTSIDE THE SALEROOM

BY PHONE

A limited number of telephone lines are available for bidding by phone through a Lyon & Turnbull representative. Phone lines must be reserved in advance. All bid requests must be received an hour before the sale. All telephone bids must be confirmed in writing, listing the relevant lots and appropriate number to be called. We recommend that a covering bid is also left in the event that we are unable to make the call. We cannot guarantee that lines will be available, or that we will be able to call you on the day, but will endeavour to undertake such bids to the best of our abilities. This service is available entirely at our discretion and at the bidder’s risk.

IN WRITING

Bid forms are available at the sale and/or the back of the catalogue. These should be submitted in person, by post, or by fax as soon as possible prior to the sale and we will bid on your behalf up to the limit indicated. In the event of receiving two identical bids the first one received will take precedence All bids must be received an hour before the sale. This service is provided entirely at the bidder’s risk.

ON THE INTERNET

- ABSENTEE BIDDING

Leave a bid online through our website, call us on 0131 557 8844 or email info@lyonandturnbull.com

- BID LIVE ONLINE

Bid live online, for free, with Lyon & Turnbull Live. Just click the button from the auction calendar, sale page or any lot page online to register.

PAYMENT

Our accounts teams will continue to be available to process payments and answer queries. We will be able to accept online payments through our website and bank transfer. On-site payment facilities are available by appointment.

Payment is due within seven (7) days of the sale. Lots purchased will not be released until full payment has been received. Payment may be made by the following methods:

BANK TRANSFER

Account details are included on any invoices we issue or upon request from our accounts department.

ONLINE CREDIT OR DEBIT CARD PAYMENTS

We no longer accept card payments by phone. Please use our online payment service (provided by Stripe).

You will find a link to this service in any email invoice issued or you can visit the payments section of our website.

CASH

No cash payments will be accepted for this auction.

COLLECTION OF PURCHASED LOTS

Please refer to page 6 of this catalogue.