Arpentage

Arpentage — marelibri

réf. 2805Manuscript 4to. 23.5 x 17.5 cm 2 ff. pencil sketch of arms Marlborough and blank 196 ff. and with 27 drawn folding plates many of which are colored. Bound in contemporary French calf spine gilt in six decorative compartments with title on letterpiece. Excellent with all plates drawn and many some colored in a very professional hand. Very attractive early 18th-century French illustrated manuscript of practical geometry in seven books including individual sections on longimetry planimetry and stereometry—the fundamentals of precision surveying and draftsmanship. The manuscript closely follows but is not identical to Jacques Ozanam's Géométrie Pratique du sr Boulenger Paris 1684 which itself was a revision of La Géométrie pratique Paris 1640 by the mathematician Jean Boulenger. Though the work was reprinted well into the 18th C the present volume seems to follow Ozanam's 1693 edition most closely. Ozanam's book however lacks the drawn and colored figures of the present volume many of which are quite elaborate. The facade of Notre Dame is shown in an exercise for calculating the height of a wall and a segment on proportion features detailed miniature maps of the Brittany coastline identifying towns such as St. Malo and Mont St. Michel. The manuscript exemplifies the early 18th C approach to applied trigonometry—a field that by the mid-17th C was starting to resemble an exact science. Book II defines the common functions sine cosine secant etc.; Book V treats longimetric puzzles such as determining the height of a mountain or a spire or measuring the length of bodies of water; the final two books treat planimetry and stereometry including applied trigonometry—calculating the volumes of real bodies i.e. barrels pipes etc. Those sections of the manuscript that do not appear in Géométrie Pratique—mainly a tract on logarithms and a discussion of surveying instruments—also fall within Ozanam's oeuvre as he published a monograph on compasses in 1673 and a book of logarithmic tables and trigonometric functions in 1685. Jacques Ozanam 1640-1717 was best known for his Récréations mathematiques Paris 1694 which "may be regarded as the forerunner of modern books on mathematical recreations." In addition to Boulenger's work he also revised that of Adriaan Vlacq 1600-1667 and the Jesuit mathematician Claude-François Milliet Dechalles. DSB.10 pp.263-265. [France, early 18th century]. books

[Unidentified German Army "Motorized Surveying and Map Detachment" / Vermessungs- und Karten-Abteilung Motorisiert]Biblio.com

UKRAINE - Two Unrecorded Nazi Wehrmacht Field Printings of Kyiv. "Blick v.d. Lissa Gora auf die Stadt Kijew" Together with: "Blick v.d. Zitadelle Lawra nach Osten und Nordosten

1941réf. 3877Kyiv 1941. Very good. Together 2 views 205 x 325 mm; 8" x 13" printed on cheap thin paper Ad 1: long closed tear through image without loss light staining creasing edges a little frayed; Ad 2: short closed tears along edges two small holes in blank area at lower left light staining. Overall in very condition suitable for exhibition and study. Tragically topical apparently unrecorded views of Kyiv being rude field printings on cheap paper likely created by Nazis during the so-called "First Battle" of Kiev Aug. 23 - Sept. 26 1941 or shortly thereafter. We are mindful that the present views are historically "toxic" but given the context of the current Russian war-crimes against the people of the Ukraine we believe that there is an urgent need for them to be preserved. The first print is a view of Kyiv looking at the city center from the south specifically from the wooded hill of Lysa Hora which had a complex fortification system. During the German occupation the fort became a military plant and tank base. Here Kyiv rises above the Dnipro river on the right. The key below identifies 22 sites mostly of military significance such as buildings bridges power plants hospitals factories churches and cloisters. To each site is assigned a code consisting of a letter or letters and a numeral or numerals: these are certainly map references i.e. K10 L10 F-G7 etc. We have been unable to locate this exact map but large bird's-eye maps of Kyiv taken by the Vermessungs- und Karten-Abteilung survive in the Kiev Polytechnic Museum and also the David Rumsey Collection. That a need for vantage-point views such as ours to accompany such a map seems self-evident. The second is a view of Kyiv taken from the Great Lavra Bell Tower in the Pechersk Lavra monastery strategically positioned in the city center looking towards the Dnieper Valley in the northeast. The key identifies 13 sites likewise militarily important but with the notable inclusion of the "Podol Judenstadt" no. 6 a Jewish neighborhood to the north of the city. Our prints may date before Nov. 3 1941 because on this day just two months into the German occupation of Kyiv a huge explosion brought down the Uspensky Sobor cathedral in the Pechersk Lavra monastery across the courtyard from the Bell Tower from which the present view was drawn. The "Motorized Surveying and Map Detachment" was an integral part of the German military and accompanied the army throughout the European and North African theater. These surveyors photographers and printers traveled with equipment to the front lines sometimes on special trains. The detachments were self-contained and had the capability to print onsite even in the most hostile conditions. Ephemeral views such as the present pair were printed in small numbers for the sole use of German occupying troops. The present prints were purchased by a Munich bookseller from a private collector in Germany along with other documents from the period. NOTA BENE: These prints were both purchased at an auction in Germany in early January 2021 i.e. BEFORE the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 2022. unknown