Beschreibung:

BERTHOUD, Ferdinand. Traité des Horloges Marines, contenant la théorie, la construction, le main-d'oeuvre de ces machines, et la maniere de les éprouver . Paris: L. F. Delatour for J. B. G. Musier fils, 1773.
BERTHOUD, Ferdinand. Traité des Horloges Marines, contenant la théorie, la construction, le main-d'oeuvre de ces machines, et la maniere de les éprouver . Paris: L. F. Delatour for J. B. G. Musier fils, 1773. 4 o (254 x 185 mm). Half-title, title with engraved vignette, dedication with engraved head-piece after C. N. Cochin, 27 folding engraved plates by P. P. Choffard after Goussier (some browning and light creasing at edges). (Some spotting.) 19th-century half calf, marbled boards (some staining and wear to extremities, front joint cracked). FIRST EDITION OF THIS FAMOUS WORK, "WHICH METICULOUSLY DESCRIBED HIS MARINE TIMEKEEPERS" (Cardinal). Berthoud and Pierre Le Roy were each vying to perfect the marine chronometer in the late 1760s. Berthoud eventually won the lion's share of the rewards, having been 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. Le Roy was very upset he was not mentioned in this book and answered with his own treatise on the subject, Précis des recherches . See Catherine Cardinal, "Ferdinand Berthoud and Pierre Le Roy: Judgement 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. (See lots 127 and 190.)