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

Erwin Tomash Library
Bion, Nicholas Bion, Nicholas
Pagination: pp. [8], 48
Collation: π 4 A–F 4
Size: 214x158 mm
This short work is bound with the 1712 German
translation of Bion. Despite the display of Bion’s name on
the title page, it is written by the translator Doppelmayr
and illustrates a number of instruments, which, although
claiming to be from Bion’s workshop, do not appear in
any of Bion’s French editions. The most inventive are
optical—binocular and reflecting telescopes (some with
multiple internal reflections in order to reduce the length
of the tube), a camera obscura and a lantern projector.
The copper engraved plates are similar in style to those
used in Bion’s works.
Illustrations available:
Title page
Telescopes and binoculars
Camera obscura
Lantern projector
B 163
Bion, Nicholas (ca.1652–1733)
Telescopes and Binoculars, B 162
L’ usage des astrolabes, tant universels que particuliers.
Accompagné d’un traité, qui en explique la construction
par des manieres simples & faciles, avec les figures
necessaires pour l’intelligence de ce traité.
Year: 1702
Place: Paris
Publisher: Chez Laurent d’Houry & Jean Boudot
B 163
Edition: 1st
Language: French
Binding: contemporary leather; spine gilt decorated
Collation: a 5 A–K 12 L 2
Size: 162x95 mm
Reference: Bud IOS, p. 32–36
Nicholas Bion was famous for books on mathematical
and astronomical instruments. This comprehensive text
on astrolabes is not as well known as his later, more
ambitious work on the construction and use of all types
of instruments. This is the last book entirely about
astrolabes to be published in the French language.
The planispheric astrolabe was a relatively welldocumented
device when Bion wrote this treatise. It is
essentially a map of the heavens superimposed on a map
of the earth (or at least significant features of the earth
such as the observer’s horizon, zenith, tropics, equator,
etc.) with a movable rete representing the position of the
stars and sun. Its major shortcoming is that it is limited
to use at only one latitude. To overcome this handicap,
larger astrolabes often were fitted with exchangeable
plates for different latitudes.
By the time Bion composed this work, a large number of
variations and modifications had been made, resulting in
a so-called universal astrolabe. See the Appendix essay
on the astrolabe for more information.
The first chapter covers the commonly found planispheric
astrolabe and describes the improvements due to Gemma
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