Beschreibung
First edition. Quarto, 10-3/8 x 8-3/8 in. (26.3 x 21.2 cm) overall, the pages 10-1/8 x 7-5/8 in. (25.7 x 19.5 cm). Contemporary brown cat's-paw calf, spine in six gilt-paneled compartments with raised bands, green morocco gilt-lettered title-piece lettered second compartment, the others gilt-tooled with flower and scrolling motifs, covers bordered with triple gilt rules, cover edges gilt-ruled, dentelles with gilt roll with vases, leaves and shells, marbled endpapers in red, yellow, blue and green curl pattern, all edges cut and marbled in red and blue stone pattern, red silk marker ribbon. Printed on fine laid paper watermarked D&FH, with woodcut title device, wood-engraved headpieces and tailpieces, text tables and printed scientific notation and specimen fonts throughout. Collates [2 ll.], 1 l. (half-title), 1 l. (title with woodcut device, Biblical quotations verso), pp. [v]-vi (Paucton's dedication to L'Abbé Garnier), vii-[xvi] (plan and table), [1]-955, [956] (errata), 6 pp. (judgment in action between Paucton and La Dame Veuve Desaint), [2 ll.]. Bottom of covers and lower corners abraded and worn through, other edges lightly worn, joints with some cracking and wear but strong, covers with minor scratching and scuffing; overall very good, the binding well preserved, the text block square, strong and well printed on crisp and bright paper almost entirely unblemished. Goldsmiths'-Kress Library of Economic Literature no. 11963; John Ramsay McCulloch, The Literature of Political Economy: A Classified Catalogue, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1845, p. 137. As McCulloch appreciates, "At the æra of its publication this very learned work was universally admitted to be the most complete and important that had appeared on the subjects of which it treats; and though materially affected by the changes which have taken place in the interval, especially the introduction of the metrical system into France, it continues to be held in high estimation. Exclusive of the subjects which properly belong to a treatise on Metrology, it embraces a great variety of curious and profound discussions upon collateral topics, which, though they have added considerably to its bulk, have greatly increased its interest and value." A sample of citations to Paucton's Métrologie across the years demonstrates the merit of this observation, whether the application is direct or collateral. Example: John Quincy Adams's Diary (1874 ed.), entries for March 19 and 25, 1812: "Paucton and the Métrologie primitive still engross all my leisure. I have been for years uncertain of the exact comparison between the length of the French and English foot; which is yet essential to ascertain that of all the new French weights, measures, and coins. [--] He is much addicted to digression, and sometimes turns to subjects the connection of which with that of his work is not easily traced. He has, for instance, a chapter to prove that the American continent was known to the ancients. What concern has this with weights and measures? I have not yet found sufficient proof of what he affirms as his fundamental position, that the geometric foot of the ancients was the standard of all their weights, measures, and coins, and that it was originally one four-hundred-thousandth part of a degree of the meridian." Cf. John Taylor, Battle of the Standards, 1864: "Paucton states, that this prototype or natural standard was the measure of the earth, and that the pyramids were built to record the dimensions of the earth, and also to furnish an imperishable standard of linear measure. His conclusions were based upon the measurements of the pyramids and Nilometer, by John Greaves, Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford, who left London in 1637, taking with him a 10-foot rule 'accurately divided into 10,000 parts, besides some other instruments for the fuller discovery of the truth.'". Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers ABE-1505516991356
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