Ramsbottom Richard (4 results)

FIRST EDITION, duodecimo, brown leather heavy boards, raised bands & gilt lettering to spine (top third missing), red flecks to page edges, vi + 138pp, VG- (heavy scuffing & surface loss to board edges/extrems, top third of spine missing, heavy chafing & surface loss with some staining to boards & remainder of spine, moderate tanning to page edges & eps, heavy cracking to front gutter- board shaky, prev. owner's name in ink to front pastedown- modern, age appropriate foxing throughout).

12mo in sixes, pp. vi, [ii], 138, [2] advertisements; title page remargined, but complete; solidly bound in contemporary half calf, spine lettered in gilt. Sole edition of this very rare book of arithmetic, and the only book by this author. Richard Ramsbottom, who was presumably originally from Lancashire, describes himself on the title page as 'an Officer in the Excise', and he was keen to make his treatise useful to other officers. Much of the text is to do with decimal arithmetic, but there is an explanation of duodecimals (useful for a currency based on twelve pennies to the shilling, and a measuring system based on twelve inches to the foot) on pp. 93-107. ESTC locates five copies in the UK (BL, Jesus Cambridge, ICA in London, and two in Oxford), and just three in the USA (Columbia, Clark and Buffalo & Erie county PL).

First Edition. also, rules to young officers of excise, for the examination of their own books, and rectifying errors.Sm. Slim 8vo. vi, [1] 138pp [1 adverts] half nineteenth century leather over marbled boards. marbled end-papers, Baronial Book-Plate. This appears to be the only edition printed. ESTC records 8 copies only. Fine Copy Rare Title.

First edition of this guide to calculating sums involving fractions, intended for the use of young excise officers. The author seems to have left little trace, and they published no other known books. Uncommon, with ESTC locating eight copies in British and American institutional holdings. ESTC N18541. Duodecimo (165 x 96 mm). Twentieth-century marbled boards. Refurbished with front joint and head of spine repaired; loose leaves re-inserted. A very good copy.