Title within architectural woodcut border & many woodcuts in the text (many highlighted in red). Printed in black letter. [208] pp. Small 4to, modern calf (title with a few minor stains). London: “Prynted in Southwarke in Saynt Thomas Hospitall, by me James Nicolson,” [1537].

First edition of the first English work on surveying in the modern sense: the measuring and plotting of land. In the 16th century, “surveying” could also mean giving instructions to land stewards and overseers of the manor; John Fitzherbert wrote the first book on that subject in 1523. Our book is very rare and is a fine copy.

Benese (d. 1547), Augustinian canon and surveyor to Henry VIII, noted that sellers tended to overestimate the size of the land they were selling and buyers underestimated. He set out to devise geometric rules for the accurate measuring of land to be sold. More about This boke sheweth the maner of measurynge of all maner of lande, as well of woodlande, as of...

Woodcut vignette on title, two folding printed tables, & many woodcuts in the text. 2 p.l., 26 leaves. Small 4to, later vellum (title & final leaf somewhat soiled). London: F. Kyngston, 1634.

A late edition (1st ed.: 1556) of one of the four great English books on land surveying of the 16th century. Digges’s Tectonicon was by far the most successful and long-lived; there were at least twenty editions, the last published in 1692.

Digges (ca. 1515-59?), who attended University College, Oxford, wrote this work for “surveyors, ‘landmeters,’ joiners, carpenters, and masons. It taught the measurement of land, the calculation of quantities, and the use... More about A Booke named Tectonicon, Briefly shewing the exact measuring, and speedie reckoning all manner...

One folding engraved plate. Title within ornamental type border. 2 p.l., 12 pp. Small 4to, attractive antique calf (minor worming at head), spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Nuremberg: P. Fürsten, n.d. [but about 1660].

First published in 1597, this is a description of the author’s newly invented quadrant — depicted on the plate — which could be used by engineers for surveying. It was an extremely successful text with at least five later editions. Ritter (1579-died after 1640), a native of Nuremberg, was an astronomer and innovative cartographer, famous for his “sundial” world map. He had studied... More about Instructio Instrumentalis Quadrantis Novi. Das ist: Beschreibung und Unterricht, eines neuen...