MASTER, SURVEYORS PERAMBULATOR, LONDON, 1661

FIRST EDITION, 12mo (133 x 68mm.), 12mo, (44) ff. signed A8 B-D12, double-page engraved frontispiece with, left, portrait of the author age 53, holding comapsses, signed R. Gaywood fecit 1660, and, right, an illustration of his measuring wheel (lettered Walke sircumspectio), woodcut headpiece and initial, folding table with engraved diagram, contemporary manuscript additions to errata on p.[16] and errata in text corrected, eighteenth-century mottled calf gilt, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco lettering-piece, frontispiece shaved at edges, binding very slightly rubbed

Earls of Macclesfield, bookplate, sale in these rooms, 14 April 2005, lot 1328, £6,500, Erwin Tomash

Tomash & Williams Add 31; not in ESTC

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Not in ESTC and possibly the sole surviving copy. Master’s “perambulator” is a pedometer or distance measurement instrument, designed to be held with both arms, so that the line measured is more accurate. Above the large wheel (99 inches in circumference) was a compass and five counters for recording distance (up to 125 miles). The author states that the wooden frame and wheel were made by John Brown (“in the Minores”) and the recording device by the clockmaker Thomas Loomes (“at the sign of the mermaid in Lothbury”); the instrument maker Anthony Thomson is mentioned, however his contribution is not specified. Nothing more seems to be known of the author than is stated in the legend on the portrait: Vera Effigies Dom: Martini Master Philom: Cantuariensis AEtat suae 53. An. Nat 1607 (Catalogue of engraved British portraits preserved in the [British Museum], London 1910, II, p.205).

A complete impression of the frontispiece (portrait and illustration of the wheel) and a fragment of it (portrait alone) are in the British Museum. According to annotations on those prints, the frontispiece had been cut from of a copy of the book which had passed from the James Bindley collection (sold by Evans, 1818-1819) into the collection of Robert Grave (Sotheby’s, 4-5 May 1826, lot 229); the fragment came from the collection of Elizabeth, Marchioness of Bath (1734-1825). Another fragment of frontispiece (the right half, depicting the instrument) is in the Wellcome Library (no. 46693i). A copy of the book had been offered in Thomas Osborne’s sale catalogue of Robert Harley’s library (Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae, London, 1744, IV, no. 16256).