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‘The Admonitions of a Good-​Natured Reader’: marks of use in Georgian mathematical textbooks

Abstract:
Mathematical books were printed in Georgian Britain in large numbers, and they survive in large numbers. Many of the surviving copies bear evidence for the ways in which the books were used during the eighteenth century: for some, early owners can be identified; for some, detailed patterns of reading or other types of engagement can be reconstructed. This chapter mines the evidence for what it can tell about the readers or readership of mathematical books in the period. Elementary books on arithmetic, geometry, and mathematics generally are the most heavily marked. Those books intended for use in schools – the three arithmetic primers, Fisher and Ward, and Whiston’s Euclid – have together a mean rate of marking distinctly higher than the average. Practical books teaching practical mathematical techniques – measuring, surveying, fortification, navigation, and accounting – were often similar in size, price, and the quality of print and paper to the longer primers like those of Walkingame or Fisher.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.4324/9781003102557

Authors


More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
HUMS
Department:
History Faculty
Oxford college:
All Souls College
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-3383-7574

Contributors

Role:
Editor
Role:
Editor
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
HUMS
Department:
History Faculty
Role:
Editor
ORCID:
0000-0002-3383-7574


Publisher:
Routledge
Host title:
Reading Mathematics in the Early Modern World
Series:
Material Readings in Early Modern Culture
Publication date:
2020-10-21
Edition:
1st
DOI:
EISBN:
9781003102557


Language:
English
Keywords:
Subtype:
Chapter
Pubs id:
1160154
Local pid:
pubs:1160154
Deposit date:
2021-02-06

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