B chapter.indd - Charles Babbage Institute - University of Minnesota

the latter, relating to certain astronomical problems,
which suggests possible avenues of inquiry relating
to provenance. Sanuto was the dedicatee of Pacioli’s
Summa de arithmetica.
There is a purchase inscription on the last leaf dated 1474
that reads I bought these tables in 1474 (see illustration).
Various watermarks—“R” similar to Briquet 897-0-71,
scissors-Briquet 3668, crossed arrows-Briquet 6269, four
flowers similar to Briquet 6689 & 6690—all indicate
Italy mid-fifteenth century.
A fifteenth-century coat of arms with a rampant lion
watercolor flanked by the initials B and L on the first
page of the introduction is similar to the lion found
in Rietstap’s Armorial General Illustre, vol. 4, for
the Loredano family of Venice (see illustration). The
Loredano family provided Venice with several Doges,
beginning with Leonardo Loredano (1438–1521);
however, we have not been able to attach the initials
B.L. to any of the descendants. The inner front cover
of the binding bears the large bookplate of the sixteenth
century collector Ferdinand Hoffman (1540–1607)
(see illustration). This copy was dispersed along with
other books from Hoffman’s library in the Gilhofer &
Ranschburg sale of the Bibliothek Alexander Fürst
Dietrichstein, November, 1933.
According to C. U. Faye and W.H. Bond, Supplement to
the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in
the United States and Canada, 1962, only one manuscript
copy of the Tabulae was recorded in the United States,
that being the Honeyman copy, which was subsequently
sold when the library was dispersed in 1979.
The above material was adapted from that supplied by
New York City bookseller Richard Lan of Martayan
Lan.
The manuscript shows a late transition phase between
the Arabic forms of the numerals and the European forms
after they were frozen at the invention of printing—note,
in particular, the form of the figure “5.”
142
Illustrations available:
Book plate of Ferdinand Hoffman
Purchase inscription of 1474
First page of introduction with crest (color)
First page of tables (color)
Second last page of tables (color)
Table of days of the year (color)
Erwin Tomash Library
Bianchini, Giovanni Biler, Johann Matthes
Purchase inscription 1474, B 150
B 151
Biermann, L.
Die Gottinger entwicklungen elektronischer
Rechenautomaten In Probleme der Entwicklung
programmgesteuerter Rechengerate und
Integrieranlagen.
b/w: Cremer, Hubert (editor); Probleme der
Entwicklung programmgesteuerter Rechengerate
und Integrieranlagen, 1953
Year: 1953
Place: Aachen
Publisher: Rhein-Westf. Technische Hochschule
Edition: 1st
Language: German
Binding: cloth boards original paper wrappers bound in
Pagination: pp. [2], XIV, 75, [1], 10
Size: 207x145 mm
See entry for Cremer; Probleme der Entwicklung
programmgesteuerter Rechengerate, 1953, where more
information and illustrations may be found.
Illustrations available:
None
B 152
Biler, Johann Matthes
Hoffman bookplate, B 150
(Gebrauch) Zweyer Neuen Mathematischen
Instrumenten. Dass Erste von Herrn Ozanam, Math:
Profs. zu Paris 1688. Und das Andere von Hn. Joh:
Matth. Bilern J.V.D. und Käyszl. Post-Meistern in