Traité des horloges marines, contenant la théorie, la construction, la main-d'oeuvre de ces machines, et la manière de les éprouver, pour parvenir, par leur moyen, à la rectification des cartes marines, et à la détermination des longitudes en mer : avec figures en taille-douce.

4to: xl-590 pp.; 27 pl.

Contemp. half sheep, gilt orn. spine with 5 raised bands, sp. edges (corners rubbed and bumped, joints starting to split, def. at head and tail, spine restored). Inside good copy.

First edition of this famous work by the Swiss watchmaker Berthoud (1727-1807) describing marine timekeepers. Ill. with an engr. vign. on title by Choffard, an engr. headpiece by Choffard after Cochin and 27 fold. engr. pl. by Choffard after Goussier representing the mechanisms of instruments described or built by Berthoud. From 1762 Berthoud specialized in the manufacture of marine chronometers and, from 1773, he became mechanical clockmaker to the Navy and, in 1786, clockmaker pensioner to the king and Inspector General of Machines for the Navy. The development of such clocks was an essential step in establishing the length of a degree of longitude. Berthoud and Pierre Le Roy competed to perfect the marine chronometer in the late 1760s, with Berthoud eventually judged to have the better design.
Ref. Houzeau & Lancaster &10489. - Poggendorff I:168. - Bailli (Clocks & watches), p. 290. - Bailli (Watchmakers & Clockmakers), p. 24. - BnF. - Tardy 31.