Lot 146
Mathematics
Surveyor's manuscript handbook, 1815
Auction: 16 June 2026 from 10:00 BST
Description
Folio ledger book (37.6 x 24.5cm), vellum-bound, royal arms gilt to covers, front cover annotated ‘Representation Book, Edinburgh, 20th April 1759’, [2] 122 pp., paper ruled in red, diagrams, tables and mathematical workings throughout, first leaf with ownership inscriptions of one Joseph Purdie, Clifton School, 1815, headings include ‘Rule of the Parabola’, ‘Resolution of Force’, ‘Geometrical Problems', ‘Mensuration’, ‘Of Logarithms', and ‘Plain Trigonometry’, with passages including discussions of waterwheels and windmills (the waterwheel at Blair Drummond, Stirling, mentioned at p. 55), covers soiled and sprung, occasional damp-staining to contents, with later pencilled annotations to the front pastedown and first leaf suggesting a link to the lead-mining community of Clifton, near Tyndrum, Perthshire
Provenance
From the collection of the late Professor Roland Paxton MBE FICE FRSE (1932-2025), 'Britain's foremost historian of civil engineering' (Telegraph, obituary, 12th November 2025); Professor Paxton was also a leading conservationist of Britain's engineering heritage, and led successful campaigns to restore two of the world's most important railway structures, the Laigh Milton Viaduct in Ayrshire, the world's oldest surviving railway bridge, and the Union Chain Bridge, the world's oldest suspension bridge still carrying road traffic.