Lot 72
Stirling, James (1692-1770)
Collection of manuscript notebooks on weights and measures
The Library of James Stirling, Mathematician
Auction: 23 October 2025 from 13:00 GMT
Description
comprising:
1) [Treatise on weights and measures] ‘A Dissertation on Measures and Length’, 31 pages, with an additional 42 pages of notes and calculations, quarter calf;
2) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising chapter 1 and other notes, alongside mathematical calculations, without defined chapters, 264 pages, quarter calf;
3) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising chapters 8 - 10, 135 pages in James Stirling, the Venetian's hand, with 12 further pages of legal notes in a later hand, quarter calf;
4) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising chapters 20-30 and a few additional mathematical workings, 156 pages, half vellum;
5) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising part of chapter 19 - chapter 25, with a few additional notes and calculations, 171 manuscript pages, half vellum;
6) [Treatise on weights and measures] ‘Of the Attic and Roman Measures of Length’, and other subjects, 170 pages of notes and mathematical calculations, quarter vellum;
7) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising part of chapter 10 - chapter 13, 80 pages, with a further 93 pages (flipped) comprising historical and mathematical notes, half calf;
8) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising part of chapter 14 - chapter 16, with a collection of other notes, 116 manuscript pages in Stirling's hand and 23 pages of legal notes in a later hand, quarter calf;
9) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising chapters 1 - an unspecified later chapter, 76 manuscript pages, half vellum, the first leaf with calculations torn with loss;
10) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising part of chapter 19 - chapter 24, with a few additional mathematical notes, 116 manuscript pages, half vellum;
11) [Treatise on weights and measures] a disbound collection of draft pages and other notes, 136 manuscript pages, loosely inserted in half vellum covers;
12) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising a draft of chapters 1-5 of Stirling's Treatise, with some additional mathematical notations and workings, 85 manuscript pages, contemporary half vellum;
13) [Treatise on weights and measures] comprising part of chapter 18 then chapter 19, with a large number of additional notes and calculations, the notes largely relating to the works of Herodotus, Pliny &co., 167 manuscript pages, contemporary half calf;
14) [Treatise on weights and measures] beginning with Chapter 1: ‘Of the English Troy pound, the Paris pound, and the modern Roman pound’, comprising 10 manuscript pages, followed by 'Theory of Agriculture', comprising 170 manuscript pages, quarter vellum;
15) [Treatise on weights and measures] beginning with Chapter 1: ‘Of the English and Paris weights and the modern pound of Rome’, comprising 77 numbered manuscript pages followed by 92 pages of mainly mathematical workings, quarter vellum;
16) [Treatise on weights and measures] Untitled but the same text as above, comprising 26 pages, with the remainder of the book completed in a later relative's hand being a journal addressed to an unnamed person, possibly written abroad, with many references to Alexander Pope and Lord Bolingbroke, quarter vellum;
17) ‘Arabian Measures and Length’, comprising 85 leaves (the majority written on one side only with calculations or supplementary notes overleaf, all in Stirling's hand providing a history of measurement, the final leaf or leaves apparently lacking, contemporary quarter calf;
18) 'Of Weights and Measures', collected by S. Robert Stuart late regent in the college of Edinburgh, comprising 80 manuscript pages possibly in another hand, with page of manuscript in the hand of James Stirling, contemporary quarter calf;
each of these volumes c.20 x 25.5cm;
19) Manuscript treatise ‘Concerning some of the modern Measures of Length’ and discussing measurements of the Earth, 54 numbered leaves with additional mathematical calculations and diagrams, followed by “Of Almamous Measure of a Degree”, comprising c.130 pages of text and mathematical calculations / diagrams, full vellum with 'Coppy Book' to upper cover, 21.5 x 32.5cm;
20) An untitled composite album of bound maps and prints, mainly referring to the Holy Land and Middle East, including ‘A Map of Paradise, Mount Ararat and the City of Babel’, a print of Noah's Ark, ‘A Plan of the Temple of Jerusalem’, etc., possibly collected by James Stirling and referring to the areas covered in his treatise (20)
Footnote
A more complete version of Stirling's Treatise on Weights and Measures can be found in lot 73. The work was not published in full, however short extract was published posthumously as ‘An account of the money, coins, and weights, used in England, during the reigns of the Saxon princes’ in the Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, I, 1792. The notebooks included in this lot appear to be James Stirling's drafts of his treatise, with much additional information and a large collection of notes. The final item contains studies and thoughts of modern measurement, including the dimensions of the Earth, a topic which greatly interested James Stirling.