DANFRIE (Philippe).

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DANFRIE (Philippe).
Declaration of the use of the Graphometer, by the practice of which one can measure all distances of the things of remark which will be able to be seen & discerned from the place where it will be posed [...]. Paris, Chez ledict Danfrie [sic], 1597. In-8, havana morocco, filleted frame, gilt edges (Modern binding in the old taste). Brown, p. 165. - Mortimer, n°163. First edition. Very beautiful scientific book, printed in civilized type and illustrated by an instrument maker. Copy of the first edition. Philippe Danfrie (c. 1534-1606), general tailor of the coins of France and excellent engraver, was one of the principal manufacturers of scientific instruments of his time. He is considered the inventor of the graphometer, an angular measuring instrument used in geodesy and topography, which he describes here for the first time: Danfrie cannot be credited with describing it for the first time and giving it the name by which it will now be known; perhaps his merit is even more important than we say here, for we know of no similar instrument before 1597, and it does not appear that the graphometer was described under any other name before or after that time (Daumas, Les Instruments scientifiques, p. 24). The book is printed in small, civilized characters, engraved by the author himself, and is illustrated in the text with 14 figures on copper and 4 others engraved on wood, representing instruments and their use in animated landscapes. Washed copy, a few stains, worm work and a small tear in the margin of a few leaves (repaired).
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