Derham, William
The Artificial Clock-Maker. A Treatise of Watch and Clock-Work: Shewing to the meanest Capacities The Art of Calculating Numbers to all Sorts of Movements....

Seller ID: 1121

London: J. Knapton, 1759. Fourth edition, corrected (xvi, 160). Duodecimo, in full leather, five raised bands; neatly re-backed. Absent any plates. Treats of 'the way to alter Clock-Work; to make Chimes, and set them to Musical Notes; and to calculate and correct the Motion of Pendulums. Also Numbers for divers Movements: with the Antient and Modern History of Clock-Work; And many Instruments, Tables, and Other Matters, never before published in any book'. William Durham (1657- 1735) was a Church of England clergyman and 'an amateur scientist interested in nature, mathematics, and philosophy. In 1696 he published The Artificial Clockmaker: a Treatise of Watch and Clock-Work, which included a short history of horology. Derham knew many of the leading scientists of his time, among them Isaac Newton and the astronomer Edmond Halley, and was himself elected to the Royal Society.... An example of Derham's practical scientific work can still be seen in the sundial, for which he did the calculations, attached to the Lincoln chapel of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle....' Derham first accurately calculated the speed of sound by observing the times at which gun-flashes from various points were heard and published his findings in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 'In 1711 and 1712 Derham delivered the Boyle lectures at St Mary-le-Bow, London, in the spirit of Boyle's intention to refute anti-Christian philosophies by using natural history to promote and prove a natural theology. The lectures were subsequently published as Physico-Theology, or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God from his Works of Creation (1713)' ODNB. See our Book 456. A clean, solid copy with the usual wear to the extremities. Somewhat scarce.

Price: $600.00

For more information or to place your order, you can email us at info@trilliumbooks.ca, telephone us at 705-749-0461,
or write us at
Trillium Antiquarian Books,
1285 Albertus Avenue,
Peterborough, ON K9J 6A4,
Canada.