COSTRUZIONE ED USO DEL COMPASSO DI PROPORZIONE

NAPLES: IGNAZIO RUSSO, 1753. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in contemporary vellum over boards. Foxing. Complete with the 15 engraved plates. Little is known of the author other than that he wrote another book on navigation in 1750. This work on the sector was translated into Spanish in 1758.

By the time this book was published, the design of the European sector had become standardized. Compare this design, for example, with that in the fourth edition of the works of Ozanam seventeen years earlier (L’usage du compas de proportion, 1736). The physical design of Pagnini’s instrument is better (with pegs and decorative tenons to hold the two legs in alignment), but the scales are essentially identical. The work is well illustrated with engravings showing exactly how a pair of dividers should be used to take the various lateral and transverse measurements.

Pagnini provides eight tables that detail the exact markings for each scale. He also provides other material for reference use, e.g., he includes not only a table for the construction of the line of metals, but also one of their relative weights and their alchemical symbols, etc.