Rabdologiae seu numerationis per virgulas libni duo

by John Napier

$50,000 · Offered by Sophia Rare Books

First edition

Edinburgh: Andrew Hart, 1617. First edition, very rare, of one of the earliest mechanical calculating devices, using little rods of wood or ivory now known as ‘Napier’s bones’. Napier is best known today for his invention of logarithms, published in 1614 as Mirifici logarithmorum canonis decsriptio, the most important aid to calculation before the advent of mechanical and electronic

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