[Rarebooks] fs: Three on Scales and Weights

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

3 Fair and Balanced books on scales and weights...
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RAPPORT FAIT A LA SOCIETE DES INVENTIONS ET DECOUVERTES, Le 7 Germinal an
treize; Sur une Romaine a queue oscillante, inventee et execute par M.
Fourche, Balancier, Rue de la Ferronnerie, a Paris. Paris; Chez Pichard:
1805.

A report on a new balancing scale invented by M. Fourche, whose shop was
on the Rue de la Ferronnerie (Road of Ironworkers) in Paris. Includes a
nice engraved folding plate of the balance. Period blue wrappers.
5.25"x8.5", 24 pages, illustrated with 2 tables, plus a folding plate;
sewn, untrimmed. some soil and wear, light spotting; plate with several
stains, light spotting, and a 6" tear along one fold that affects the text
sub-head slightly. [05605] $275.00

Illustration-
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K(ingdon), J(ohn) A(bernathy).  THE STRIFE OF THE SCALES. An attempt to
explain how the King's weigh-house and beams within the city of London
came into the charge of the Worshipful Company of Grocers, by a
past-Master of the Company, Session 1883-4.

London; Rixon & Arnold: 1905. The story of how, in days of Olde, the
"lever" method of weighing gave way to the balance and scale, under
supervision of the Grocer's Company.  Kingdon has first published this
book himself the year before. Both editions are reasonably scarce -OCLC
locates five copies of each.  Hardcover. 6.5"x9.5", 78 pages, several b/w
illustrations; red cloth with gilt pictorial stamping; some cover soil,
one "ding" to the edge of the front board; slight internal soil and
toning. [02745] $150.00

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<http://www.joslinhall.com/images/th-02745.jpg>

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Dent, Herbert C. OLD ENGLISH BRONZE WOOL-WEIGHTS. Norwich; H.W. Hunt:
1927. Edition limited to 200 numbered and signed copies. Given the
importance of the wool trade in England, and the penchant that the English
have always had for preciseness, is it any wonder that sometime around the
reign of Henry VII they came up with special weights for weighing wool ?
These weights were almost always in either stone (14 lb.) or half-stone (7
lb.) measures, and although other types of weights rarely have Royal Arms
impressed on them, almost all wool weights did.

Such weights were presumably carried by the Tronator, a Royal official
whose duty it was to travel the countryside, weighing wool and collecting
the King's custom charge. Most weights have a hole at the top, through
which a leather strap was probably passed and the weights slung across his
horse (Dent pictures such a strap from his own collection). The fact that
almost all such weights are of the 7 lb. variety instead of 14 lbs. seems
to add credence to the theory that they were used in pairs and carried
around, the half-stone weights obviously being easier on a horse.

The subject was (and remains) not very well documented and details remain
a bit obscure, but Dent has come up with a surprising amount of
information and quite a few examples. Included here is a rather rare
example with Cromwell's arms, as well as examples with the arms of Henry
VII, Elizabeth, Charles I, James II, Queen Anne, William III, William &
Mary, George I, and George III. An interesting, if somewhat offbeat, foray
into a little-known branch of weights and measures. Hardcover. 5.5"x8.5",
32 pages plus 29 b/w plates; a little light wear, but a very nice copy.
[05443] $275.00

Illustration-
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