OUGHTRED, William (1575-1660). The Key of the Mathematicks new forged and filed: together with a treatise of the resolution of all kinds of affected aequations in numbers. With the rule of compound usury ... And a most easie art of delineating all manner of plaine sun-dyalls . London: T. Harper for R. Whitaker, 1647.
OUGHTRED, William (1575-1660). The Key of the Mathematicks new forged and filed: together with a treatise of the resolution of all kinds of affected aequations in numbers. With the rule of compound usury ... And a most easie art of delineating all manner of plaine sun-dyalls . London: T. Harper for R. Whitaker, 1647. 8° (145 x 88mm). 9 engraved plates, 4 folding, one with annotated manuscript drawing by Oughtred on verso, another with volvelle, small engraved diagram on overslip pasted onto N6r. Extra-illustrated with an engraved portrait of the author by William Faithorne (Occasional very light spotting and browning.) Near contemporary calf, single gilt fillet, spine gilt with red morocco lettering-piece (extremities lightly rubbed). Provenance : THE AUTHOR'S OWN COPY WITH HIS EXTENSIVE MANUSCRIPT ANNOTATIONS -- Earls of Macclesfield (engraved armorial 'South Library' bookplate dated 1860, together with blindstamps to portrait, title and dedication; sold at Sotheby's 14 April 2005, lot 1559). THE FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF OUGHTRED'S CLAVIS MATHEMATICAE , CORRECTED, REVISED AND ANNOTATED THROUGHOUT IN THE AUTHOR'S HAND. William Oughtred was educated at Eton, where his father, Benjamin Oughtred (d. 1618) was a writing-master and 'registrar'. He graduated BA from Cambridge in 1596 and later MA in 1600, a period when he began to study mathematics intensively. Around 1628, he was introduced to Thomas Howard second earl of Arundel (1586-1646). In return for the earl's patronage Oughtred taught his second surviving son, William (later Viscount Stafford), and it was for this pupil that he wrote the Clavis mathematicae of 1631. This slim volume was no mere textbook for it contained 'algebraic methods ... in a concise form through the intensive use of symbols, some of which [including the 'x' for multiplication] were invented by himself' (ODNB). His work was to be admired by both Boyle and Newton, and have 'considerable influence in England and on the the Continent' (DSB). The present translation by Dr Robert Wood contains a preface in which Oughtred thanks Thomas Wharton Jonas Moore, and others for helping to see the volume through the press. The extensive manuscript notes, clarifications and emendations in his own copy are mainly in English and seem designed for a second edition of Wood's translation. Hundreds of manuscript alterations and reworkings extend from the front fly-leaves throughout the textblock, with some crossings out, a small slip inserted at p.13 (in which he reverts to Latin), and some detailed notes on weights and measures on the end fly-leaves. However, the quest for a definitive text does not seem to have filtered through to subsequent editions, or to Edmond Halley's 1694 translation. Aubrey records that Oughtred burned most of his papers before his death, so it seems likely that this volume passed to the mathematician John Collins (1625-1683) before he died. Collins was a protégé of Oughtred's great friend Seth Ward; Collins' papers in turn were acquired by William Jones (c.1675-1749) in 1708. Jones became tutor to George Parker son of Thomas Parker, later the first earl of Macclesfield, and through this connection some of Oughtred's books entered the library at Shirburn Castle. Wing O-582
OUGHTRED, William (1575-1660). The Key of the Mathematicks new forged and filed: together with a treatise of the resolution of all kinds of affected aequations in numbers. With the rule of compound usury ... And a most easie art of delineating all manner of plaine sun-dyalls . London: T. Harper for R. Whitaker, 1647.
OUGHTRED, William (1575-1660). The Key of the Mathematicks new forged and filed: together with a treatise of the resolution of all kinds of affected aequations in numbers. With the rule of compound usury ... And a most easie art of delineating all manner of plaine sun-dyalls . London: T. Harper for R. Whitaker, 1647. 8° (145 x 88mm). 9 engraved plates, 4 folding, one with annotated manuscript drawing by Oughtred on verso, another with volvelle, small engraved diagram on overslip pasted onto N6r. Extra-illustrated with an engraved portrait of the author by William Faithorne (Occasional very light spotting and browning.) Near contemporary calf, single gilt fillet, spine gilt with red morocco lettering-piece (extremities lightly rubbed). Provenance : THE AUTHOR'S OWN COPY WITH HIS EXTENSIVE MANUSCRIPT ANNOTATIONS -- Earls of Macclesfield (engraved armorial 'South Library' bookplate dated 1860, together with blindstamps to portrait, title and dedication; sold at Sotheby's 14 April 2005, lot 1559). THE FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF OUGHTRED'S CLAVIS MATHEMATICAE , CORRECTED, REVISED AND ANNOTATED THROUGHOUT IN THE AUTHOR'S HAND. William Oughtred was educated at Eton, where his father, Benjamin Oughtred (d. 1618) was a writing-master and 'registrar'. He graduated BA from Cambridge in 1596 and later MA in 1600, a period when he began to study mathematics intensively. Around 1628, he was introduced to Thomas Howard second earl of Arundel (1586-1646). In return for the earl's patronage Oughtred taught his second surviving son, William (later Viscount Stafford), and it was for this pupil that he wrote the Clavis mathematicae of 1631. This slim volume was no mere textbook for it contained 'algebraic methods ... in a concise form through the intensive use of symbols, some of which [including the 'x' for multiplication] were invented by himself' (ODNB). His work was to be admired by both Boyle and Newton, and have 'considerable influence in England and on the the Continent' (DSB). The present translation by Dr Robert Wood contains a preface in which Oughtred thanks Thomas Wharton Jonas Moore, and others for helping to see the volume through the press. The extensive manuscript notes, clarifications and emendations in his own copy are mainly in English and seem designed for a second edition of Wood's translation. Hundreds of manuscript alterations and reworkings extend from the front fly-leaves throughout the textblock, with some crossings out, a small slip inserted at p.13 (in which he reverts to Latin), and some detailed notes on weights and measures on the end fly-leaves. However, the quest for a definitive text does not seem to have filtered through to subsequent editions, or to Edmond Halley's 1694 translation. Aubrey records that Oughtred burned most of his papers before his death, so it seems likely that this volume passed to the mathematician John Collins (1625-1683) before he died. Collins was a protégé of Oughtred's great friend Seth Ward; Collins' papers in turn were acquired by William Jones (c.1675-1749) in 1708. Jones became tutor to George Parker son of Thomas Parker, later the first earl of Macclesfield, and through this connection some of Oughtred's books entered the library at Shirburn Castle. Wing O-582
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
