HÉBERT (Jean).

Lot 237
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1000 - 1500 EUR
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Result : 1 191EUR
HÉBERT (Jean).
Traité des longitudes, or La navigation dans son jour, where is shown how to know the Longitudes, both on Sea and on Land, in a new & easy to practice method. Paris, Jacques-Henry Pralard, 1718. In-12, speckled calf, spine decorated, edges speckled with red, title in ink on the lower edge (contemporary binding). First edition of this rare scientific treatise on longitudes. The author, described as a privileged Dieppe Bourgeois, announces that he has discovered the secret of one of the great scientific problems in the history of science: Charity obliges me to communicate to everyone, [...] one might add that an artisan found the Longitudes (pp. 4-5). Here he describes his method for calculating longitude, based on astronomical observation and with the help of four instruments: a sundial, a clock like the one I made, which goes fairly accurately over the sea without stopping by the rolling of the ship, an instrument for taking height to the stars, and an ordinary compass. Note the publication date of the book, which comes a few years after the promulgation of the Longitude Act (1714), a British law that offered a reward of £20,000 to the person who discovered the method for determining longitude at sea with the greatest accuracy. Was the author perhaps claiming to be the lucky winner of this competition? As a reminder, the solution was not discovered until some ten years later by John Harrison, a British watchmaker. Gaudenzio Prina ex-libris label. Slight marginal wetness, halo in the lower part of the last few sheets. One-bit slit along the length of a box, small missing tail.
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