A Booke Named Tectonicon, Brieflie Shewing the Exact Measuring, and Speedie Reckoning All Manner of Land, Squares, Timber, Stone, Steeples, Pillers, Globes, &c.

London, 1605, 12mo[ 182 x 128mm], Contemp. calf, 2], 26 leaves. Two folding tables. Numerous woodcut illustrations in text.

A rare edition of an important practical work on mensuration by Leonard Digges, an expert mathematician whose chief interest was in the application of that science to astronomy, surveying, military engineering, architecture, and scientific instruments.

Digges was part of the scientific circle of John Dee. It Is difficult to establish Digges’SScientific Productions precisely because it was mostly published by his son, Thomas Digges, with his own work mixed in. However, Tectonicon, 1556, a surveying manual emphasizing practical mathematics, was all his.

Leonard Digges participated in Wyatt’s rebellion against Mary. The rebellion was as much against Spanish interference as against Catholicism. He was attainted for treason as a result ofWyatt’s rebellion, lost his estate, and in the last years of his life apparently tried to support himself partly through publication.

In Pantometria, Thomas Digges described his father’s skill in optics.

Digges’ Prognostication, first published in 1553, apparently to earn money after he lost his estate, and then reprinted frequently until 1605, was an almanac with, among other things, astronomical information, for example on how to determine the hour at night from the stars, and information about instruments for observation.

Provenance: Harrison Horblit