Calculations, with the principles and data On which they are instituted: Relative to a late Act of Parliament, intituled, An Act for raising and establishing a Fund for a Provision for the Widows and Children of the Minister of the Church, and of the Heads, Principals, and Masters of the Universities of Scotland. Shewing The Rise and Progress of the fund. Published by Order of the Trustees nominated in the said Act of Parliament

[10], 5-45pp, [1]. With half-title. Later library buckram, lettered in gilt to spine; with the bookplate, ink- and associated withdrawal-stamps of the Institute of Actuaries to front endpapers. A little rubbed and marked. Large vertical tear to the first leaf of introduction neatly (and expertly) repaired; inked addition to title, some pagination to blanks also added in manuscript. A generously-margined copy of the detailed calculations for, and defence of, the pioneering actuarial scheme for the Widows and Children of Ministers of the Church of Scotland established by Alexander Webster (1707-1784), Scottish writer and Minister, which was not only the first formal widow's pension fund, but also the basis of longevity calculations for life insurance purposes until the late nineteenth-century. It was a testament to the mathematical bases of the scheme - from work by the demographer Robert Wallace (1697-1771), and the mathematician Colin Maclaurin (1698-1746) - which had been set up by private act of Parliament in 1743, that the fund lasted until 1983, during which time it had been extended to university professors in Scotland. Based on annual contributions (original subscriber's paid 5 guineas, but later entrants were able to modify contributions positively or negatively), the fund provided annuities of £20 to widow claimants. Rare; outside of the UK, ESTC locates just four copies (APS, Harvard, Michigan and UCLA). Size: Folio.…