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Lot 35
RARE FOLLOW UP TO PLAYFAIR'S COMMERCIAL ATLAS. PLAYFAIR, WILLIAM. 1759-1823. Lineal Arithmetic; applied to shew the Progress of the Commerce and Revenue of England during the present century. London: for the author, sold by A. Paris, 1798.
31 March – 8 April 2025, 12:00 EDT
Online, New YorkSold for US$6,144 inc. premium
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RARE FOLLOW UP TO PLAYFAIR'S COMMERCIAL ATLAS.
PLAYFAIR, WILLIAM. 1759-1823. Lineal Arithmetic; applied to shew the Progress of the Commerce and Revenue of England during the present century. London: for the author, sold by A. Paris, 1798.
8vo (210 x 130 mm). 33 engraved charts, 1 folding, 24 hand-colored in outline; all bound at end and not in numerical order. Modern morocco over marbled paper boards, by Zaehnsdorf, wear to joints (repaired).
Provenance: John Cole Nicholl (bookplate from Merthyr Mawr); Property from a New England Collector.
FIRST EDITION OF PLAYFAIR'S FOLLOW UP TO HIS COMMERCIAL ATLAS, VERY RARE. In the introduction, Playfair acknowledges that he was the first to create visual charts from tables of data. He continues, "The advantage proposed by those Charts, is not that of giving a more accurate statement than by figures, but it is to give a more simple and permanent idea of the gradual progress and comparative amounts, at different periods, by presenting to the eye a figure, the proportions of which correspond with the amount of the sums intended to be expressed" (p. 6). By this method "as much information may be obtained in five minutes as would require whole days to imprint on the memory in a lasting manner by a table of figures" (p. 8). This edition contains expanded information on America, "with curious colored charts showing the progress of the United States" (Sabin 63375). Goldsmiths 17240.
8vo (210 x 130 mm). 33 engraved charts, 1 folding, 24 hand-colored in outline; all bound at end and not in numerical order. Modern morocco over marbled paper boards, by Zaehnsdorf, wear to joints (repaired).
Provenance: John Cole Nicholl (bookplate from Merthyr Mawr); Property from a New England Collector.
FIRST EDITION OF PLAYFAIR'S FOLLOW UP TO HIS COMMERCIAL ATLAS, VERY RARE. In the introduction, Playfair acknowledges that he was the first to create visual charts from tables of data. He continues, "The advantage proposed by those Charts, is not that of giving a more accurate statement than by figures, but it is to give a more simple and permanent idea of the gradual progress and comparative amounts, at different periods, by presenting to the eye a figure, the proportions of which correspond with the amount of the sums intended to be expressed" (p. 6). By this method "as much information may be obtained in five minutes as would require whole days to imprint on the memory in a lasting manner by a table of figures" (p. 8). This edition contains expanded information on America, "with curious colored charts showing the progress of the United States" (Sabin 63375). Goldsmiths 17240.