Beschreibung:

BERTHOUD, Ferdinand (1727-1807). Traité des Horloges Marines . Paris: J.B.G. Musier fils, 1773. The first edition of this famous work describing Berthoud’s marine timekeepers . The Streeter copy. Berthoud and Pierre Le Roy vied to perfect the marine chronometer in the late 1760s, with Berthoud eventually judged to have the better design. No. 6 was one of the first timekeepers to be housed in the type of box that became the standard for all marine chronometers. The development of such clocks was an essential step in establishing the length of a degree of longitude. Le Roy, upset that Berthoud makes no mention of him, answered with his own treatise on the subject, Précis des recherches . See Catherine Cardinal, “Ferdinand Berthoud and Pierre Le Roy: Judgment in the Twentieth Century of a Quarrel Dating from the Eighteenth Century” in: The Quest for Longitude , ed. William J.H. Andrews, Cambridge, Mass., 1996, pp.282-292. Quarto (254 x 185mm). Half-title, title with engraved vignette. 27 engraved folding plates at rear by P. P. Choffard after Goussier (some browning and light creasing at edges, some spotting). 19th-century half calf, marbled boards (spine separating along rear joint, some staining and wear to extremities, front hinge cracked). Provenance : Frank S. Streeter (bookplate, his sale, Christie’s New York, 16-17 April 2007, lot 35) – The Helmut N. Friedlaender Collection.