The Theory of Perspective.
by Cowley, John Lodge
- Used
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
New York, New York, United States
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About This Item
1766. COWLEY, John Lodge. The Theory of Perspective Demonstrated; in a Method Entirely New. By which the Several Planes, Lines, and Points, used in this Art, are shewn by Moveable Schemes, in the True Positions in which they are to be Considered. [8], xi, [1], 117, [1] pp., with 11 full-page geometric engravings printed on heavy paper, of which 10 are cut-out to demonstrate solid forms. 4to, 250 x 200 mm., bound in contemporary calf, rebacked. London: printed for T. Payne, 1766. First Edition, second issue, of this rare scientific cutout book. Cowley's Theory was designed as a geometrical primer with engraved diagrams that could be removed from the book to form solids, thus demonstrating the doctrines of the 11th, 12th, and 15th books of Euclid. The present work amends his Appendix to the Elements to Euclid (1758), and forms a new and more comprehensive attempt to explain the doctrines of planes as applicable to perspective; it is among the most elaborate and most unusual of all eighteenth-century works on geometry and perspective. Included are the eleven engraved plates, of which ten are cut-out to form regular and irregular solids, prisms, pyramids, cones, etc., each accompanied by Cowley's analytic text. Plate IX incorporates strands of coloured cotton thread to illustrate the various projected lines from a single vanishing point. Cowley's mathematical textbooks were extremely popular in their day, widely disseminated and well used, and are rarely found intact. As early as 1806 this work was recorded as "scarce" by Adam Clarke in The Bibliographical Miscellany (cf. Sotheran). Two issues of this first edition were published, one by Bennett in 1765, and the present one by T. Payne. A fine copy. PROVENANCE: Thomas Vroom, with his bookplate on the front paste-down. ESTC T178295. Vagnetti EIVb47. Lowndes II, 540. Not in Norman, Sotheran Bibliotheca Chemico-Mathematica, Honeyman Collection, Wheeler Gift, or Cajori.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Ursus Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 168576
- Title
- The Theory of Perspective.
- Author
- Cowley, John Lodge
- Book Condition
- Used
- Date Published
- 1766
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About the Seller
Ursus Books
Biblio member since 2007
New York, New York
About Ursus Books
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Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Calf
- Calf or calf hide is a common form of leather binding. Calf binding is naturally a light brown but there are ways to treat the...
- Plate
- Full page illustration or photograph. Plates are printed separately from the text of the book, and bound in at production. I.e.,...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Bookplate
- Highly sought after by some collectors, a book plate is an inscribed or decorative device that identifies the owner, or former...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Rebacked
- having had the material covering the spine replaced. ...
- Paste-down
- The paste-down is the portion of the endpaper that is glued to the inner boards of a hardback book. The paste-down forms an...