DIGGES, LEONARD. C.1515-1559.
A geometrical practical treatize named Pantometria, divided into three bookes....
London: Abell Jeffes, 1591.Small folio (268 x 178 mm). Engraved vignette on title page, 2 large woodcut coats-of-arms, numerous woodcut initials, illustrations, head- and tail-pieces in text, errata leaf at end. Modern quarter calf antique and marbled boards, edges gilt, large bookplate and blue morocco blind-stamped coats-of-arms cut from earlier binding and laid down to front endpapers. Marginal paper repairs to some edges and corners, lacking initial blank, dampstaining from leaf D1 to end, old ink ownership inscriptions to title, ink marginalia, minor soiling and staining.
Provenance: : Sir William Stirling-Maxwell [1818-1878] (bookplate).
Second edition, but considered superior to the first, as it was greatly expanded by the author's son, Thomas Digges (c.1546-1595). This work on practical applied geometry contains the first description of the theodolite, one of Leonard Digges's inventions, and the earliest description of what we would come to call the telescope. In this addition, Leonard Digges has added sections on navigation, ballistics, and pyrotechnics. Cockle 16; ESTC S107357; Tomash & Williams D54.
(via Bonhams)
