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

Erwin Tomash Library
Bion, Nicholas Bion, Nicholas
the Construction of Solar Eclipses, in which he details
the path, across Europe, of the Moon’s shadow for the
eclipse of May 11, 1724—the year after the publication
of this translation.
This work is translated from the second (1716) edition of
Bion and includes the additional chapters on fortification
and the pendulum clock from that edition. It appeared at
the same time as Bion’s third French edition.
Illustrations available:
Title page (color)
Plate of artillery instruments
Translator’s preface (pages v, vi, vii)
B 159
Artillery instruments, B 159
B 160
Bion, Nicholas (ca.1652–1733) [Edmund Stone (1700–
1768), translator]
The construction and principal uses of mathematical
instruments. Translated from the French of M. Bion,
chief instrument-maker to the French King. To
which are added, the construction and uses of such
instruments as are omitted by M. Bion; particularly of
those invented or improved by the English…
Year: 1758
Place: London
Publisher: Printed for J. Richardson
Edition: 2nd (English)
Language: English
Figures: 30 engraved plates
Binding: contemporary leather; rebacked
Pagination: pp. viii, 264; [4] 265–326
Collation: π 2 A–4N 2 O 3
Size: 349x225 mm
Reference: DSB II. p. 133; Hambly, DI, p. 37
Stone, as he indicates in the advertisement to the
supplement to this addition, was prevailed upon by
the publishers to produce a second printing of the
1723 edition, enlarged by the addition of material on a
number of new and improved instruments. While this is
undoubtedly true, by this date Stone had lost his patron
and being forced to live on his own resources must have
contributed to his decision to produce the supplementary
material. Hence the allusion to several motives in his
explanation.
The text is identical to the first edition, and the
supplement, while it may have increased sales, contains
little that adds to the work (see Taylor, E. G. R.;
Mathematical practitioners of Hanoverian England, pp.
25–30, for a detailed list of the contents and other relevant
information). The supplement contains information
on both reflecting and refracting telescopes and on the
camera obscura. Most of the improvements noted in the
supplement come from the Philosophical Transactions
of the Royal Society, which are referenced frequently.
Illustrations available:
Title page
B 161
Bion, Nicholas (ca.1652–1733) [Johann Gabriel
Doppelmayr (1671–1750), translator]
Neu eröffnete Mathematische Werkschule, oder
Gründliche Anweisung, wie die Mathematische
Instrumenten
Year: 1712
Place: Frankfurt and Leipzig
Publisher: Hofmannischen Buchladen
149