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Abu Dhabi Art 2024
A striking map of Arabia from the 1482
Ulm Ptolemy
PTOLEMAEUS, Claudius
[translated by ANGELUS, Jacobus, edited by GERMANUS, Nicolaus] [Arabia] Sexta Asie Tabula.
Publication
Ulm, Lienhart Holle, 16 July 1482.
Description Woodcut map, fine original hand-colour, old repair to bottom of gutter, minor losses to top gutter skilfully repaired.
Dimensions 430 by 590mm (17 by 23.25 inches).
References Campbell, T., ‘Earliest Printed Maps’, p. 179-210; Schreiber 5032; Skelton, R.A., Bibliographical note prefixed to the facsimile of the 1482 Ulm Ptolemy.
$195,000.00
The map was published in the first atlas printed outside Italy and the first atlas illustrated with woodcut maps.
In 1482 Lienhart Holle in Ulm published a revised edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia with the reworking of the Ptolemaic corpus by the cartographer Nicolaus Germanus Donis. The atlas included five additional “modern” maps: Italy, Spain, France, Scandinavia, and the Holy Land. The atlas would be the first book printed by Lienhart Holle, however, it would appear that the venture proved ruinously expensive and his business would go bankrupt shortly after publication. The remaining sheets, the woodblocks and the types passed to Johann Reger in Ulm, who reissued the work in 1486.
As well as the modern maps the atlas bears some other notable first. It was the first time that maps were signed by the artist responsible for the woodcutting; in this case Johannes of Armsheim, who signed the world map, and incorporated a backwards N into the woodcut text on each map. It is also the first to print the accompanying text on the verso of the map to which it refers. Another important feature of the Ulm editions is the introduction of the publisher’s colouring upon the maps. Maps from 1482 usually have a rich blue colour in the sea which was replaced with a soft brown colour in 1486.
GASTALDI, Giacomo & LAFRERI, Antonio La descrittione della prima parte dell’Asia. [and] Il disegno della seconda parte dell’Asia.
Publication [Rome and Venice respectively, 1561].
Description
Pair of engraved maps, each on two sheets joined, watermark of ladder in shield under six-pointed star (Woodward 253), to all four sheets.
Dimensions
495 by 795mm (19.5 by 31.25 inches) 450 by 780mm (17.75 by 30.75 inches)
References
Bifolco 68 state 1, and 71 state 1; Nordenskjöld, pp. 396-406, The Geographical Journal vol. 13, April 1899; Schilder p.7, The Map Collector 17, December 1981; Suárez, The early mapping of Southeast Asia, pp.130-157, 1999; Tooley pp.20, 21; Witcombe 234, 2008.
$162,500.00
The most important maps of the Middle East and Arabia published in the sixteenth century
Fine examples of the most influential sixteenth century maps of Central Asia and the Middle East, by Giacomo Gastaldi, the greatest cartographer of his era. Not only are these works the most accurate depiction of the area to date, but would go on to dominate the European view of the area for the rest of the sixteenth century.
Giacomo Gastaldi (c1500-1567), originally from Piedmont, established himself as a cartographer in Venice, where he was given the notable title of ‘Cosmographer to the Republic’. He was a prolific mapmaker, with a body of work numbering at least 109 pieces, including contributions to the 1548 Venice edition of Ptolemy’s ‘Geogra a’, and Ramusio’s ‘Navigationi et viaggi’. Gastaldi’s maps of Asia are considered amongst the most significant representations of the continent, as the first pieces of cartography to name, and even show, many of the areas depicted. They were also responsible for numerous features which would later become standardised, such as the ovalized Caspian Sea. Originating from Venice, the maps are also a reflection of the Republic’s dominance of early exploration, particularly in Asia. The city’s crucial position allowed for Western contact with the East, although this relationship was becoming progressively threatened by the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.
The first part of Asia, here in its first state by Lafreri, is based on Gastaldi’s map of 1559. Although Lafreri had permission to print and sell Gastaldi’s original maps, this map was made from a re-engraving by Jacopo Bos, perhaps because of damage to the original plates. Bos’ work is very similar to that of Gastaldi’s own engraver, Fabio Licinio, with stylistic differences in the waters and ships revealing the new engraver’s hand. It has been suggested that Bos engraved this edition for the Roman publisher Michele Tramezzino, and that only later did Lafreri acquire the publishing rights (Witcombe). The second part is here in its first state and was engraved by Licinio. The upper part repeats some areas of the previous map, however the two were intended to form one, as shown by the identical scale bars and projection.
Together the two parts extend from southern Siberia to the Indian Ocean, encompassing huge swathes of the continent. They cover Turkey, the Middle East, the Black and Caspian Seas, the Eastern Mediterranean with Cyprus, the stream of the Nile and the whole of the Arabian Peninsula, with part of Western India and the Maldives. The coastal and island names, as noted by Nordenskjöld, are taken from portolans and from voyages of Spanish and Portuguese exploration. Some interior names are taken directly from Marco Polo and almost identical in orthography to those used by Ramusio. The abundance of toponyms suggests further sources,
which Gastaldi may have accessed in the large library of the Fugger family. Markus Fugger, a prominent businessman and politician, was among the cartographer’s acquaintances, and the second part of Asia is dedicated solely to him. Importantly, Gastaldi’s maps of Asia provided the basis for those later published by Ortelius, De Jode and Mercator. Bifolco records 33 examples of the first map held in institutions, and 42 of the second, but both are rare on the market. We have been able to trace only four examples of the first, and seven of the second, appearing at auction in the last 50 years.
CHESNEY, [Francis Rawdon] and W[illiam] H[enry] PLATE
A Map of Arabia & Syria. Laid down chiefly from Original Surveys Under the Superintendence of Lieut. Colonel Chesney, R.A. F.R.S. And drawn by W.H. Plate, L.L.D. Hon. Forn. Secretary of the Syro-Egyptian Society of London, M. Geograph. Soc. of Paris, Corresponding Member of the Oriental Society of Germany &c.
Publication London, Published by Longman, Brown & Co. Paternoster Row, 1849.
Description Engraved map, with hand-colour in part, left and right margin trimmed to neatline, fold-out section on right edge showing Ras al Hadd.
Dimensions
700 by 650mm (27.5 by 25.5 inches).
$52,000.00
Chesney’s and Plate’s map of Arabia and Syria
Beautifully engraved map of Arabia and Syria.
The present map was published in 1849, a revised edition of a map first published in 1847, under the title “Arabia”, of which only one institutional example is known, held at the British Library.
Cartographically, it is a compilation of various sources. As the note underneath the title explains: “Mesopotamia and its rivers are laid down from Surveys made during the Euphrates Expedition. The Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Southern Coast of Arabia, are from those made by the Officers of the Indian Navy. The interior of the peninsula is from various sources, particularly Materials furnished for the accompanying work by Aloys Sprenger M.D. and from documents obtained by Dr Plate”.
General Francis Rawdon Chesney (1789-1872) was a British soldier and explorer. Known for his proposal to build the Suez Canal, a proposal which would form the basis of Ferdinand de Lesseps’s undertaking, he also oversaw an 1836 survey of the River Euphrates (likely the “Euphrates Expedition” mentioned in the note on the present map), in an attempt to open a faster route between England and India for the East India Company.
The Indian Navy was the naval arm of the English East India Company, which systematically charted the Arabian Coast between 1820 and 1839. In 1820, Captain George Barnes Brucks began to chart the Arabian Gulf; in 1829, Captains Elwon, Moresby, and Careless began to chart the Red Sea; and in 1837, Captain Haines would begin to chart Aden and the southern Arabian coast. So accurate were these surveys, designed to aid shipping, encourage trade, and suppress piracy, that they would become the standard works for much of the coast until well into the twentieth century, as the present map attests.
We have been unable to trace much information about William Henry Plate. He is named as the author of the 1847 “Arabia” map, also a collaboration with Chesney, and of a map of Asia Minor, published by Edward Stanford in around 1849.
Rarity
We have located only five institutional examples of this map: the National Library of Scotland, the University of Glasgow, Harvard University, the British Library, and Qatar National Library.
[EFENDI, Hüseyin Hüsnü] )...مملك
The Kingdom of Asia’s Imperial Palace).
Publication [Istanbul, 1871].
Description
Lithographed map with hand-colour in outline, in six sheets joined, backed on Japan paper, some creasing and minor tears skilfully repaired
Dimensions
1000 by 980mm (39.25 by 38.5 inches).
$130,000.00
The earliest Islamic wall map of Arabia
The earliest known large-scale Islamic wall map of Arabia.
Extending from the Mediterranean and Egypt to Iran, focusing on the Arabian Peninsula. Cities, towns, roads, and geographic features such as waterways and mountains are labelled in Arabic script throughout.
The map includes particularly detailed hachures and terrain markings, including in the hithero poorly-mapped interior of Arabia. Major fortified cities including Jersualem, Damascus, Baghdad, and even cities beyond Ottoman control, such as Shiraz, are shaded red and displayed with fortifications.
The map was produced during major administrative and cartographic developments, when the Ottoman Empire was securing its fragile control of Mecca, Medina, and Yemen against both internal and external pressure.
Outside of Palestine and Iraq, most of the territory shown in the present example was beyond direct Ottoman control at the time. For instance, the Suez Canal, completed only two years before the map’s publication, is clearly demarcated, as is Najd, the large central region of Arabia and the homeland of the Wahhabi Movement and its affiliated Saudi State. The British-administered free port of Aden is also illustrated with a hand-drawn border. As these areas posed threats to the Ottomans, including them in military maps was of the utmost strategic importance.
In the preceding decades, the Ottomans embarked upon a range of modernizing reforms collectively known as the Tanzimat (’Reorganisation’). These included the most significant administrative reorganisation in centuries, replacing most eyalets (provinces or pashaliks) with more centrally-controlled vilayets. Such reforms were incomplete at the time of this map’s publication. For instance, Basra remains part of the Baghdad Eyalet on this map, but was made its own vilayet in 1875.
The primary aim of these reforms was to cement the empire’s territory, which had drastically reduced in Egypt and the Balkans. The fringes of the empire, historically ruled loosely through local intermediaries, were susceptible to European powers and nationalist movements. Amongst other concerns, the Ottomans were eager to remain overseers of Mecca and Medina, which operated largely autonomously under Ottoman protection. Aside from religious prestige, this ‘custodianship’ brought trade and business from visiting pilgrims.
The First Saudi State (Emirate of Diriyah) had briefly expelled the Ottomans from both cities in the early nineteenth century, but they were re-conquered by the Ottoman Commander of Egypt, Muhammed Ali Pasha. Although the Saudi State was crushed, it regrouped as the Emirate of Nedj (Second Saudi State) and posed a continuous threat on the frontier. Although Muhammad Ali Pasha had launched successful military campaigns, he was forced to relinquish control over Yemen due to outside diplomatic pressure, especially from Great Britain. His
successors left Egypt to fall under increasingly forceful influence from Britain and France, although they still remained problematic for the Ottomans. To the east, the Ottomans feuded with the Persian Qajar over their mutual borderlands.
Captain Hüseyin Hüsnü Efendi (1849-1911) was a military offer attached to the Tophane-i-Amire (Imperial Armory) in Istanbul. After rising from Lieutenant to Undersecretariat for Court Inspection, he shifted careers to becoming a law teacher and, later in Yemen, was appointed sheik al-Islam.
Rare: we have been unable to trace any other examples, either in institutions or on the market.
HUNTER, F[rederick] F[raser]
Map of Arabia and the Persian Gulf.
Publication Calcutta, the Survey of India Offices, 1908.
Description
Heliozincograph map, in twenty four sheets joined, print and hand-colour in part, mounted on linen, university library stamp on verso
Dimensions 1335 by 1825mm (52.5 by 71.75 inches).
$156,000.00
Extremely rare first edition of Hunter’s map of Arabia, compiled from secret sources
First independently issued large-scale wall map of Arabia and the Persian Gulf, instantly recognised as superior in detail to its contemporaries.
Displaying a huge range of important features, including roads, routes, rivers, telegraph lines, and railways, both completed and under construction. Relief is shown by hachures and the names of numerous towns, cities and other settlements are to be found across the map, mostly congregated around the peripheries of the huge peninsula. In the bottom right corner, an extensive index gives toponyms in both English and Arabic, providing a key to the symbols, abbreviations, and even typeface used across the map.
Drawn meticulously from details supplied by both travellers, earlier official surveys, and local political agent enquiries - most of these sources were considered secret at the time. This information, collected over three years, led to an unprecedented degree of accuracy in depicting the interiors of Arabia, especially on such a grand scale.
Seeking to strengthen its links with India at the beginning of the twentieth century, Britain took measures to better understand and explore the Persian Gulf. In 1903, Lord Curzon visiting the region in 1903 and the same year, British authorities commissioned John Gordon Later to compile a handbook for British agents there. Lorimer, who had previously served as a member of the Indian Civil Service, was given six month to complete the project, which was supposed to produce a portable and easily accessible manual.
Twelve years later, his ‘Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman, and Central Arabia’, a five-thousand page document divided into two volumes. The first detailed the region’s history, while the second contained an extensive description of its geography. This second volume had actually been completed first, and was available from 1908. It contained information uncovered by Lorimer’s own research missions, 56 images of the region, and two maps. One of these showed the distribution of the peninsula’s pearling sites; the other was a depiction of the whole region.
Lieutenant Frederick Fraser Hunter (1876-1959) served as a liberal politician in Ontario, Canada. Hunter went on to become a major figure in British India’s Intelligence Service. Upon joining the Army in 1905, he was ordered to produce an up-to-date map of Arabia, which was growing in strategic significance. This mission involved twice traversing the interior of Arabia, disguised as an Arab. Although completed in 1905, disagreements over transliteration allowed Hunter to redraw and improve the map for a further three years.
When first published in 1908, Lorimer’s ‘Gazetteer’ was classified ‘for official use only’; there were under one hundred copies in circulation until its declassification in 1955, upon which its detailed historical and geographical description of the peninsula was met with great praise. Hunter’s map was instantly acknowledged as superior to any previous work of the kind and recognised as a valuable research tool. The Times Literary Supplement declared the ‘Gazetteer’’s geographical section as “without modern substitute” in 1971.
Rare: we have traced this map in two auction sales, but only for the 1914 edition (Christie’s in 2012; Sothebys in 2013). Not in Al-Qassimi.
6
[Anonymous]
[Universal Astrolabe].
Publication [c1250].
Description
Brass astrolabe, in western kufic script, throne decorated with geometric shapes in different mediums, engraved on recto, but embossed on the verso, a plain shackle with a ring on top is attached to the plate by a pin, the chamfered alidade attached by a central pin.
Dimensions
Diameter: 185 mm
$942,500.00
The Saphea - a wonder of Islamic science
A rare and early Islamic universal astrolabe, produced in Al Andalus (Moorish Spain), during the Islamic Golden Age.
The Astrolabe
The astrolabe, sometimes called the slide rule of the heavens, can trace its history back to Hellenistic times. The smart phone of its day, it could perform numerous functions: calculate the time of day or night; determine your position; show the movement and identify of heavenly bodies; cast horoscopes; help you navigate the oceans, and survey all the land you can see.
Among numerous other advances in the sciences, and mathematics, the early Islamic scholars were responsible for a spectacular leap forward in astrolabe design - the invention of the ‘universal’ astrolabe - also known as the ‘Saphea’ or catholic astrolabe.
Whereas the classical astrolabe required a specific plate - a disc that would sit in the body of the astrolabe or ‘mater’ - for each latitude, its universal cousin could be used at any given latitude. While the idea of the Saphea originated in Baghdad during the ninth century CE, actual instruments would not be produced until the eleventh century CE in Toledo, Spain.
Spain under Islamic rule was, for the time, a beacon of religious tolerance in Europe, with Muslims, Christians, and Jews, living relatively harmonious, multicultural lives. It was within this culture that one of the greatest mathematicians and instrument makers of their (or any other) generation was born: Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Yahya a-Naqqash al-Tujibi al-Zarqali, better known as Al-Zarqali or al-Zarqalluh (c420-480 H / c1029-1087 CE), which literally translates as ‘engraver’, as he was so proficient at the craft. In the west his name would become Latinized as Azarquiel.
Azarquiel devised a new stereographic projection in which he cast both the equatorial and ecliptic coordinate systems on to a vertical plane that cut the celestial sphere at the solstices. Adding a selection of important stars to this grid system produced a universal projection that was valid for every latitude without sacrificing any of the functionality of a standard projection.
Although the new instrument was a significant step forward, it did require the user to have a much better understanding of mathematics in order to use it effectively, and thus the classical astrolabe would continue to be the more popular instrument. This is reflected in the number of surviving examples from this period. The universal astrolabe would not catch on, in Western Europe, until some 500 years after the first example was made by Azarquiel.
Dating
Although this Saphea is not dated, an approximate date can be ascertained by the Zodiac scale and Julian calendar - to the verso - and the placement of the stars on the projection on the recto.
The scale and calendar show that 0-degree Aries corresponds with approximately 13.8 March. This puts the possible date of construction between 1150 and 1250. The position of the stars corroborates this, with the closest match being from the thirteenth century.
A further comparison was made with two universal astrolabes dating from the thirteenth century: one from 1218/19 by Muammad ibn Fattū al-Khamāi’rī - housed in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (inv. cote Ge A 408)- and another from 1270/71 made by Ibrāhīm al-Dimashqī - which is in the British Museum (inv. 1890,0315.3). The present astrolabe has a very close match with the star placements on both astrolabes. However, the few misaligned stars indicate a later date when compared to the Khamāi’rī astrolabe and earlier when compared to the Dimashqī example. This suggests that the present instrument sits somewhere in between the two i.e. from 1219 to 1270. Therefor a date of around 1250 is not unreasonable.
Attribution
The thirteenth century was a lively period for astrolabe making in the Islamic West i.e. Maghrib and al-Andalus. Khamāi’rī was arguably the most prominent of the instrument makers of his time. At least fourteen astrolabes by his hand survive, albeit most of them are planispheric. However, as he tends to sign his works it would seem unlikely that the present instrument is by him.
Rarity
We are only able to trace six institutional examples of early, i.e. pre-1300, universal astrolabes: Louvre Abu Dhabi; The Observatory Rome; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris;; Institutio Historico de Marina, Madrid; The Victoria and Albert Museum; and The British Museum. A seventh formerly in The Time Museum, Rockford, Illinois, is now in private hands.
Full description of the Astrolabe
Recto
Engraved along the circumference of the recto is four sets of 90-degree scales arranged in four quadrants. Each scale is divided into 5-degrees and labelled with alphanumeric notation (i.e., abjad) and further subdivided into 1-degree. Inside the scales is a double universal astrolabe projection of the same style which was first designed by the 11th-century Andalusian astronomer al‐Zarqālī known as saphea azarchelis. The first projection
represents the celestial coordinates. The second is superimposed at an angle of approximately 23.5 degrees and represents the ecliptic coordinates.
The equatorial longitudes are labelled in abjad for every 5-degrees from 5- to 180-degree and in reverse 185- to 360-degree along the equator. The equatorial latitudes are also labelled for 5-degrees from the equator to the poles in the order of 5-10-5-20-5-30-… instead of 5-10-15-20-25-…
The poles are inscribed:
The southern celestial pole - Quṭb mu‘addil al-nahār janūbī
The northern celestial pole - Quṭb mu‘addil al-nahār shimālī
On the ecliptic projection the ecliptic and longitude arcs for every 30-degrees are marked with arrow-shaped patterns. The poles are inscribed:
The southern ecliptic pole - Quṭb falak al-burūj janūbī
The northern ecliptic pole - Quṭb falak al-burūj shimālī
The names of the signs of the zodiac are engraved between 35- and 40-degree ecliptic latitude curves on both northern and southern sides.
Sagittarius - Scorpio - Libra - Virgo - Leo - Cancer
There are seventeen stars that are labelled and marked by a small dot inside a circle. These are:
(Starting at northern ecliptic pole towards the ecliptic)
α Lyrae - wāqi‘
α Cygni - ridf
α Bootis - rāmiḥ
β Pegasi - mankib faras
α Aquilae - ṭā’ir
β Persei - ghūl
α Aurigae - ‘ayyūq
? - munīr al-?
(Starting at southern ecliptic pole towards the ecliptic)
α Carinae - Suhayl
α Canis Maioris - ‘abūr
β Sagittarii - ‘urqūb al-rāmī
β Leonis - ṣarfa
α Sagittarii - rukbat rāmī
β Canis Minoris - ghumayṣā
α Tauri - dabarān
α Scorpionis - qalb
α Virginis - a‘zal
Alidade
Attached by a central pin on the recto is a chamfered alidade. On the chamfer is a ruler with 5-unit divisions and 1-unit subdivisions. Each 5-unit is labelled in abjad. Divisions are engraved neatly and correspond well with the engravings on the universal astrolabe projection on the recto. Style of inscription and near-perfect match of the divisions indicate that the alidade is highly likely to be the original.
Verso
On the upper half of the circumference is a double 90-degree altitude scale, divided into 5-degree and labelled in abjad, and further subdivided into 1-degree. Lower half of the circumference carries non-linear shadow scales or cotangent scales for 12-base on the right and 7-base on the left. The scale for 12-base is divided and labelled for 3, 6, 9, 12, 17, 22, 27, 39, and 48 units. The scale for 7-base is divided and labelled for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30 units.
Inside these are two nested circular scales, one for the zodiac calendar and the other for the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar is also divided into 5-day intervals and labelled, and further subdivided into 1-day intervals.
The inscription for the Julian calendar reads: August - July - June - May - April - March February - January - December - November - October - September
At the centre of the verso is an orthographic projection on three quadrants while the lower right quadrant carries a sine graph (mujayyab) with 59 parallel lines for the sexagesimal (60-base) system. The divisions of the projection are labelled for each 5-degree.
[?MARKE, John]
[Brass Astrolabe and Slide Rule].
Publication [1678].
Description
Brass astrolabe, the front of the plate engraved for a universal astrolabe with De Rojas projection, graduated regula and cursor, below the throne a table of 24 stars and a perpetual calendar for Leap Years and Epact, dated 1678; the reverse of the plate with scales for a circular slide rule with scales for tangents, sines and numbers, two rotating index arms.
Dimensions 713 by 659mm (28 by 26 inches).
$650,000.00
The “Panchronologia”
One of the largest and grandest computational devices made in the seventeenth century.
The so styled “Panchronologia” combines one of the most ancient of scientific instruments, the astrolabe, with one of its most modern (for the time) the slide rule. At 26 inches (66 cm) in diameter and weighing 23 lbs (10.4kg) it is not only one of the largest astrolabes ever produced but arguably the largest computational device to have survived from the seventeenth century, and thus a hugely important work in the history of computing.
The Astrolabe
The astrolabe some times called the slide rule of the heavens, can trace its history back to Hellenistic times. The smart phone of it’s day it could perform numerous functions including calculating the time day or night, determine your position, show the movement and identify heavenly bodies, cast horoscopes, help you navigate the oceans, and survey your land.
The astrolabe is on a De Rojas or orthographic projection. The De Rojas is a form of universal projection, i.e. one that can be used at any northern latitude, unlike their traditional cousins which were bound to a particular latitude. Such universal astrolabes had been pioneered by Islamic instrument makers in the Twelfth century, but were made popular in the Europe in the Sixteenth century when De Rojas published his ‘Commentariorum in astrolabium’, in Paris, in 1551.
To the upper part below the throne is a list of 24 stars marked a-z:
a - Aliot;
b -Cin: Andr
c - Spica [Virgo]
d - Cap [Aries]
e - Arctu
f - Os: Ceti
g - Corona
h - Cor [Scorpio]
i - Ocul. [Taurus]
k - Hircus
l - Pes: Ori S.
m - Cin Orio.
n - Auriga
o - Lyra
p - Can. ma:
q - Can: mi: Aquila
r - Aquila
s - Corn: VS.
t - Cignus
u - Cor: hy:
w - Cor: [Leo]
x - Fomaha
y - Caud [Leo]
z - Ala peg.
Below this a perpetual calendar for Leap Years, and Epact (age of the moon at the beginning of the year), dated 1678.
The instrument is bisected by a graduated regula and cursor.
The
Slide Rule
A Brief History
The slide rule was central to the practice of mathematics, from its invention at the beginning of the seventeenth century, to its hasty demise at the hands of the pocket calculator some 340 years later. It’s invention by William Oughtred (1574-1660), in 1632, would revolutionises the area of computing, allowing the user to perform quickly complex computations; its use was not only mathematical but practical, with rules designed for engineers, brewers, printers, customs officers, shipwrights, and astronomers among many others. They were even used during the cold war to calculate radiation exposure over time, and Buzz Aldrin is said to have used one for last minute calculations before landing on the moon. Though suggestions, that his failed attempts to put it back in his pocket was the reason he was second out of the lander have not been verified.
In its purest form, two logarithmic scales are placed next to each other on two rules, enabling calculations to be made when sliding the rules past each other, hence slide rule. The earliest extant example of such an instrument (though not the instrument itself - which is now lost) is housed the in Macclesfield collection at the University of Cambridge Library, where a counter proof print of Elias Allen’s (1588-1653) instrument is attached to a letter from Oughtred to Allen, dated 1638. Oughtred laments to Allen that he is yet to have one made.
However, the very first slide rules were circular, as here. The earliest extant example of such an instrument was produced by Elias Allen - him again - and although not dated, is believed to have been produced in around 1634. It currently resides in the History of Science Museum, Oxford (HSM 40847). The earliest dated circular slide rule, marked 1635 (though lacking the rule) and signed by the Oxford instrument maker Johannes Hulett, is in the British Museum (BM 2002,0708.1).
Slide Rules on Astrolabes
It would seem from our research that it took a while before slide rules were added to astrolabes (though further study is required). The earliest example we were able to trace is housed in the National Maritime Museum (NMM AST0567). The astrolabe was originally made for Edward VI around 1552 by the instrument maker Thomas Gemini. Over one hundred years later, Henry Sutton (c1635-65), the pre-eminent instrument maker of his day (and John Marke’s master) engraved inside the mater - which was originally blank - a circular slide rule, signed and dated 1655. A rather stylish Seventeenth century retrofit.
The circular slide rule on the present instrument is clearly the largest ever produced in the seventeenth century, and certainly the largest ever on an astrolabe. The two rotating index arms are marked for tangents, sines, and numbers i.e. in order to perform complex trigonometrical calculations. One assumes this was in order to calculate the accurate positioning of celestial bodies where triangulation was essential. Its sheer size allowed for an unprecedented number of gradations, making the most accurate slide rule of the time, and allowing the user of the instrument unmatched precision.
Attribution, Association, and Date
One of the most curious aspects of the instrument is that it’s neither signed nor dated. However, documents in the Archer-Houlbon Archive at Welford Park, do shed some light on to both aspects.
They reveal that the object was sent on a four year loan to Professor Karl Pearson F.R.S. (1857-1936) at University College London, alongside a now lost manuscript which bore the title ‘Panchronologia’ and was dated 1672/3. The letters confirm that the ‘Panchronologia’ was first cleaned in December 1900 and that Pearson appears to have been more interested in the face with the slide rule than the astrolabe: when he exhibits it at the Royal Society it was described as the former.
Furthermore, he writes that he compared the handwriting of the manuscript to that of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1726) but that there was no match to indicate his involvement – his investigation stems from the familial tradition that asserted the manuscript and astrolabe were passed down the generations from Newton himself, to whom they were related.
A similar, but smaller, 17 inch (43 cm) universal astrolabe at the History of Science Museum in Oxford (HSM 51786) is signed and dated 1659 by Henry Sutton (c1635-65). Indeed, it is tempting to speculate that Sir John Houblon (1632-1712) may have even known Sutton since he lived on Threadneedle Street, where Sutton had his workshop, although no known documentation exists to confirm the acquaintance. What is more concrete however is that the current astrolabe is clearly related to that in Oxford. Although dated thirteen years after Sutton’s death, the
table of stars on the 1678 astrolabe includes and expands upon those on the earlier instrument. Further a copying error on the perpetual calendar attest to this relationship: a ‘78’ on the Oxford astrolabe is punched incorrectly with the ‘8’ on its side resembling ‘00’; this is copied onto the larger astrolabe’s perpetual calendar as ‘700’. The maker of the instrument in 1678 either had access to the Sutton astrolabe or the counter proof, also preserved in Oxford (HSM 56420).
The most likely candidate to have had that access to the master maker’s instruments are amongst one of Sutton’s five recorded apprentices: specifically John Marke (fl 1664-79) who caught the attention of John Collins (1625-83) when he wrote that “We hope he may prove as good a Workeman as his deceased Master”. From his surviving instruments, the visible similarity in the style of engraving mixed with the use of smaller punched numbers is striking. He is also known in 1673 to have engraved a new plate for the then century old “Great Astrolabe” (University of St. Andrews ID PH201) by Humphrey Cole (d 1591), which is the only other extant English astrolabe on this scale, having a diameter of 24 inches (61 cm).
Conclusion
Although astrolabes had a variety of functions the sheer size of the present instrument, its grand title ‘Panchronolgia’ (All Time Calculator), the perpetual calendar, together with its use of the universal projection would suggest its primary function was the precise calculation of the position of the heavenly bodies over the previous and coming years i.e. as the most accurate calendar of its day. A function greatly reinforced by the addition of the huge circular slide rule on the reverse.
This would be the last great flowering of the astrolabe in the western world, with the instrument superseded by the scientific advances of the coming century. The slide rule on the other hand would last for a another 300 years, until 1972 when Hewlett-Packard produced the first pocket calculator.
Provenance:
Sir John Houblon (1632-1712), thence by descent. Exhibited: London: Royal Society Soirée, 14 May 1902.
