Author: Wells, Edward
Title: The Young Gentleman's Trigonometry, Mechanicks, and Opticks; Together with the Young Gentleman's Course of Mathematicks
Description: London, James Knapton, 1713 and 1714. 1st edition. Leather Bound. pp. 171, 83. 8vo. The book is bound in what appears to be the original binding, done in the 'Cambridge' style, in full period leather. With errata slip and 25 of 31 copper engravings. The 'stubs' of several of the absent engravings are still present. A previous owner had taped the boards: a conservator has removed the tape and reinforced the front joint with japanese paper, tinted to match the leather, the rear board has since come loose.The contents show some foxing and wear and chipping to the edges, but are intact and perfectly readable. A good copy. Wells (1667-1727) was a mathematician, geographer, and divine. He was educated at Westminster School and graduated from Oxford in 1693 with an M.A. and a D.D. in 1704. He published, among other works, treatises on geography, mathematics ('Elementia Arithmeticae', 1698) and this title, of which our copy is a first edition (DNB). It is in three parts with an extra, all-encompassing title page. The first part is a treatise on trigonometry, mechanics, and optics, which is in itself divided into two parts: part one being on 'Mechanicks' (containing seven of nine copper engravings), and part two being on 'Opticks' (containing eleven of fourteen copper engravings). Both parts were published by Knapton in 1713. The second treatise was published by Knapton in 1714 and is on 'Mathematicks' containing 'the more Useful and Easy Elements of Arithmetick, Geometry, Trigonometry, Mechanicks, Opticks, Astronomy, Chronology, Dialling'. It is in three parts: the text, with seven (of eight) folding copper engravings, 'A Table of Logarithm's, from One to ten Thousand', and 'A Table of Artificial Sines and Tangents to Every Degree and Minute of the Quadrant'.

Keywords: Optics; Mathematics;


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