Rabdologiae seu numerationis per virgulas libri duo

by John Napier

$75,000 · Offered by Sophia Rare Books

First edition

Edinburgh: Andrew Hart, 1617. First edition, very rare, of the first mechanical calculating device after the abacus, 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 descriptio, the most important aid to calculation before the advent of mechanical and electronic

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