Tables of logarithms of all numbers ... With a preface and precepts for the explanation and use of the same, by Nevil Maskelyne

[Col. Colin MACKENZIE (1754-1821) and the Deccan / Mysore Surveys] – Michael TAYLOR and Nevil MASKELYNE.

Tables of logarithms of all numbers, from 1 to 101000; and of the sines and tangents to every second of the quadrant...With a preface and precepts for the explanation and use of the same, by Nevil Maskelyne, F.R.S. Astronomer Royal.

London: printed by Christopher Buckton, sold by Francis Wingrave, 1792.

Large 4to (13 x 10 1/2in; 325 x 285mm). Pp. [i-xvi;] 1-64 [1-68; 1-378]. Includes 6pp. of subscribers names.

Condition of contents: General toning. Occasional marginal notes or scribbles. Leaves E1-G1 of the first set of tables, and 3T2 and 3U1 from the second set of tables torn without loss from the lower blank margin into the text. Occasional light worming.

Rebound to style in half calf over marbled paper-covered boards, black morocco spine label.

Provenance: Early inscription to title page “Camp No 2 / 10th or 1st Deccan Party”, possibly in the hand of Colin Mackenzie.

First edition of this important work, with an evocative provenance: it appears that this copy was intended for used in the field by a survey team led by Col. Colin Mackenzie – a Scot born in the Outer Hebrides who went on to become the Surveyor General of India. For the purposes of comparison, I have included an image of a sample page of Col. Mackenzie’s handwriting (the original is not included in the lot!), but I have not been able to confirm the supposition about the provenance.

OED: computer = a person who makes calculations (nb the movie ‘Hidden Figures’). Taylor was both a ‘computer’ for the Nautical Almanac, and a successful freelance computer, earning over £4000 from his table computations. Nevil Maskelyne had spotted Taylor's talent, and completed and published the present work on logarithms, sines and tangents after his death in 1789.

The inscription in the present work highlights two linked strains of Colin Mackenzie’s career: when he arrived in Madras in 1783, he was engaged on a project to write a biography John Napier and his work on logarithms. This work remained unfinished, but Mackenzie did go on to head up surveys of Nizam of Hyderbad’s dominions. After Tipu Sultan’s defeat in 1799, Mackenzie was asked to survey his Mysore territories as well as the ceded districts which the Nizam of Hyderabad had handed over to the British in 1800.

See David M. Blake, ‘Colin Mackenzie: Collector Extraordinary’, The British Library Journal, vol. 17, No. 2, Autumn 1991, pp.128-150 (available online).