Memoirs of the Life of David Rittenhouse, Lld. F.R.S.: Late President of the American Philosophical Society, &c. Interspersed With Various Notices of?.

8vo. A gorgeous 1813 1st Edition devoted to this important 18th-century American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman, and public official. Bound in a fine binding of half Hewit calf over green marbled boards. Burgundy spine label with titling in gilt. 614pp. Square tight binding. Clean interior, save for previous owner bookplate to front pastedown, a tipped in typed sheet from the same owner, dated 1985, with bibliographic information about the book as well as its restoration, and contemporary inscription to top of title page. Hand-made paper with rough-hewn edges. Rittenhouse, a member of the of the American Philosophical Society, was the first director of the U.S. Mint. "David Rittenhouse made a number of breakthroughs of importance to the United States. During the first part of his career he was a surveyor for Great Britain, and later served in the Pennsylvania government. His 1763?1764 survey of the Delaware?Pennsylvania border was a 12-mile circle about the Court House in New Castle, Delaware, to define the northern border of Delaware. Rittenhouse's work was so precise and well-documented that it was incorporated without modification into Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon's survey of the Pennsylvania?Maryland border. "Later Rittenhouse helped establish the boundaries of several other states and commonwealths both before and after the Independence, including the boundaries between New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. In 1763 Mason and Dixon began a survey of the Pennsylvania?Maryland border, but this work was interrupted in 1767. In 1784 Rittenhouse and Andrew Ellicott completed this survey of the Mason?Dixon line to the southwest corner of Pennsylvania. When Rittenhouse's work as a surveyor ended, he resumed his scientific interests. "In 1768, the same year that he became a member of the American Philosophical Society, Rittenhouse announced plans to observe a pending transit of Venus across the Sun from several locations. The American Philosophical Society persuaded the legislature to grant ?100 towards the purchase of new telescopes, and members volunteered to staff half of the 22 telescope stations when the event arrived. "The transit of Venus occurred on June 3, 1769. Rittenhouse's great excitement at observing the infrequently occurring transit of Venus (for which he had prepared for a year) resulted in his fainting during the observation. In addition to the work involved in the preparations, he had also been ill the week before the transit. Lying on his back beneath the telescope, trained at the afternoon sun, he regained consciousness after a few minutes and continued his observations. His account of the transit, published in the American Philosophical Society's Transactions, does not mention his fainting, though it is otherwise meticulous in its record and documented. "Rittenhouse used the observations to calculate the distance from Earth to the Sun to be 93 million miles.(This is the approximate average distance between Earth and the Sun.) The published report of the transit was hailed by European scientists, and Rittenhouse would correspond with famous contemporary astronomers, such as J?r?me Lalande and Franz Xaver von Zach." - wiki Rittenhouse was also the first person to sight Uranus. The paper for this volume was made by Thomas Willcox at his mill outside Philadelphia (McCulloch). Willcox established the Ivy Mills paper mill in Concord Township around 1729, which became a major supplier of paper for colonial and Continental currency. The mill also supplied paper to Benjamin Franklin for his printing shop and produced currency for other governments, including some in South America. The mill's ownership eventually passed down through the Willcox family, and the ruins and associated buildings are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. An exceptional copy of this important early American biography.…