NOTES AND DOCUMENTS. The First North American Mathematical Book audits Metalcut Illustrations: Jacob TaylorsTenebrae, 1697

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1 NOTES AND DOCUMENTS The First North American Mathematical Book audits Metalcut Illustrations: Jacob TaylorsTenebrae, 1697 From 1699 until his death in 1746, the ingenious American astronomer, mathematician, surveyor, and poet, Jacob Taylor, wrote almanacs that were published in Philadelphia over his own imprint and those of Reinier Jansen, Tiberius Johnson, Andrew Bradford, and William Bradford III. His first known work, however, was not an almanac, but a guide to solar and lunar eclipses for the years It was published not in Philadelphia but in New York, where Philadelphia's first printer, William Bradford I, had moved in 1693 (leaving Philadelphia printerless for several years). For half a century Taylor's Tenebra in [...] or, The Eclip[ses] of the Sun & [Moon] Calculated for Twen[ty Years...] was known only from exiguous scraps of twelve pages identified by Wilberforce Eames after A.S.W. Rosenbach had "recovered [them] from the Bradford binding of the New York Laws, " 1 (Rosenbach subsequently gave all the fragments discovered in the binding to the New York Public Library in 1938.) 2 In 1986 the collector of early American imprints Michael Zinman acquired a copy of the work 1 Dictionary Catalog of the Research Libraries of the New York Public Library, (800 vols, New York, 1979), 214:80 2 New York Public Library call number *KD 1692 (Bradford). Within the red morocco box with this call number, the fragments of Taylor's Tenebra are item no. 4. This incomplete exemplar consists of a large fragment of a perfected sheet A (comprising the top inner quadrant of Al, the inner half of A2, A3 whole, and the top of A4, all conjoined at heads and gutters) and a large fragment of a marked proof of outer E (comprising the inner half of El, the top inner quadrant of E2, the top of E3, and E4 whole, all conjoined at heads and gutters), with inner E (i.e. Elv, E2r, E3v, E4r) unpnnted. THE PENNSYLVANIA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY Vol. CXXIII, Nos. 1/2 Qanuary/April 1999)

2 88 KEITH ARBOUR January/April lacking only its title leaf. 3 Taylor's Tenebra was discovered to include a preface dated September 23, 1697, a nineteen-page "Compendium of Mensuration" (fig. 1), and three in-text illustrations (figs. 2-4). The "Compendium" qualifies Taylor's Tenebra as the first North American mathematical publication, antedating Benjamin Green and John Allen's 1703 Boston printing of The Young Secretary's Guide by six years. 4 The illustrations are the earliest yet known to have been printed in North America from engraved metal plates and the second illustrations of any sort known to have been printed in any of the colonies outside of Massachusetts. (The first was an imported royal coat of arms used by William Bradford in New York starting in 1694.) 5 Two of the illustrations are also the earliest mathematical illustrations printed anywhere on the continent. 6 The New York Public Library's Tenebra fragments were discovered too late for the title's inclusion in the proper chronological place in the first volume of Charles Evans's American Bibliography (Chicago, 1903). In 1970 Roger Bristol included Eames's cataloguing of Taylor's work (with the imprint and pagination Eames had posited: "New York, William Bradford, 3 Samuel T Freeman and Company, Philadelphia, Pa, auction, Oct 30,1986, lot 522 (p 79 of the mimeographed catalogue) David Bloom (head of the book department at Freeman's) catalogued the book after consulting James N Green (then curator of printed books at the Library Company of Philadelphia), who used the manuscript attribution on p 56 (l e 58) to identify it using Clifford K Shipton and James E Mooney, National Index of American Imprints through 1800 (2 vols, Worcester, 1969) Louis C Karpinski, Bibliography of Mathematical Works Printed in America through 1850 (Ann Arbor, 1940), 35 Cf the North American Imprints Program record for The Young Secretary's Guide, which adds additional information about the Guides authorship 5 Bradford's royal coat of arms was not a wood cut, but appears rather to have been a metal casting from one, nailed to a block to bring it up to type height The smudge of ink next to the unicorn's tail in the reproduction of it in Elizabeth Carroll Reilly's Dictionary of Colonial American Printers' Ornaments and Illustrations (Worcester, 1975), 191, is, in fact, an impression from a nailhead and metal surrounding it In some impressions of these arms, another nailhead is printed to the left of the lion's tail See, e g, Evans 1417, An Act for the Currency of Bills of Credit for Five Thousand Pounds (New York, 1709) 6 Benito Fernandez de Belo's Breve Anthmetica (Mexico City, 1675) includes a technical illustration See Karpinski, Mathematical Works, 33-34

3 1999 JACOB TAYLOR'S TENEB&E 89 Fig. 1. Page 56 [i.e. 58] from Jacob Taylor, Tenebra, 1697, with incorrectly set caption title for his "Compendium of Mensuration" and an early reader's manuscript annotations. (Photographs courtesy of Michael Zinman.)

4 90 KEITH ARBOUR January/April 1698 [48] p.") in his Supplement to Evans's Bibliography? and Clifford Shipton and James Mooney reproduced the Eames-Bristol entry in their National Index to American Imprints through s The discovery of the Zinman copy of Taylor's Tenebra in 1986 enabled the North American Imprints Program (NAIP) cataloguers to emend Eames's pagination estimate to "74 [i.e. 76]" (page numbers 39 and 40 being mistakenly repeated on two consecutive leaves) and to supply the collation statement "12mo: A- 1^ K.2." NAIP, however, did not describe the Zinman copy's illustrations, which consequently have not entered the literature on early American book illustration until now; nor did NAIP use the contents of the Zinman copy to refine Eames's suggested date of publication. September 23,1697, the date Taylor signed the prefatory address "To the Reader," provides a terminus a quo for the book's printing. The first table of eclipses (p. 9), which begins with the eleventh and twelfth months of 1697 (January and February of the year we now consider 1698) provides a somewhat less certain terminus ad quern. That is, it is unlikely, though possible, that Tenebrae was printed during or after the first month discussed in its text. The book is more likely to have been published before the beginning of that month, during which its first purchasers would have found its text useful. Certainly this was the custom with almanacs during this period. Almanacs for 1698, for instance, begin with calendar pages for months eleven and twelve (i.e. January and February) of 1697 (now considered 1698), and follow them with pages for months one through ten (i.e. March through December) of 1698 (still considered 1698). These almanacs were generally published in October-November For these reasons, we can be nearly certain that Taylor's Tenebra was published between September 23 and December 31,1697. Its title page, however, may have been postdated by one year, as was customary with almanacs. Postdating insured that the work would not appear outdated too soon into the year following its actual publication date. Colonial American almanac makers and their publishers loom large in the history of early American book illustration because they frequently illustrated 7 Bristol, Supplement to Charles Evans American Bibliography (Charlottesville, 1970), 13, no B178 8 Shipton and Mooney, National Index of American Imprints, (microprint no 39332)

5 1999 JACOB TAYLOR'S TENEB&E 91 Fig. 2. Page 43 [i.e. 45], from Tenebra y with lunar eclipse engraved on a metal sheet measuring approximately 6.9 x 6.9 cm.; tacked at the top left and bottom right.

6 92 KEITH ARBOUR January/April their work with astronomical and astrological diagrams, including the "man of signs" (a depiction of a man with his body parts symbolically connected to the twelve constellations thought to govern them). 9 Elizabeth Carroll Reilly has catalogued three astronomical diagrams and two men of signs used in American almanacs before 1698: 10 a solar system chart (Reilly, 1842) and eclipse diagram (Reilly, 1856) used in John Foster's Almanack ofcoelestial motions for the Year of the Christian JEra 1675 (Cambridge: printed by Samuel Green, 1675); a partially eclipsed sun (Reilly, 1884) used in John Tulley's Almanack for the Year of Our Lord, MDCXCIIII (Boston: printed by Benjamin Harris, 1694); a man of signs (Reilly, 1782) known only from its appearance in John Foster's Almanack ofcoelestial motions for the Year of the Christian Epocha 1678 (Boston: printed by J. Foster, 1678); and a man of signs (Reilly, 1784) that was often reused after its appearance in John Tulley s Almanackfor the Year of Our Lord, MDCXCIII (Boston: printed by Benjamin Harris, 1693). These are the only American astronomical and astrological illustrations known to antedate Taylor's Tenebrce\ all appear to be woodcuts. Eleven other North American book illustrations antedate Tenebra. Five are royal coats of arms almost certainly manufactured in England. 11 The other six were almost certainly cut in Massachusetts: three versions of the Massachusetts seal (Reilly, 929, 930, and 931), "A Map of New-England, Being the first that ever was here cut" (Reilly, 1766), a rough depiction of King David playing his harp (Reilly, 987), and a string of "Indian symbols" (Reilly, 1975). 12 The seals were first printed in the following works: Reilly, 929, in The General Laws and Liberties of the Massachusets [sic] Colony (Cambridge: printed by Samuel Green, 1672); Reilly, 930, in SeveralLawes 9 See Georgia B Bumgardner, "American Almanac Illustration in the Eighteenth Century," in Joan D Dolmetsch, ed, Eighteenth-Century Prints in Colonial America (Charlottesville, Va, 1979), Reilly, Printers' Ornaments 11 Reilly, American Printers' Ornaments, nos 849, 850, 852, 866, and 871 Of these, only 866 appeared in books printed outside of Massachusetts before Taylor's Tenebra was printed See note think it highly unlikely that Reilly no 19 was cut by John Foster, pace James T Flexner, Sinclair Hamilton, and Richard B Holman Cf Reilly, American Printers Ornaments, xxn

7 1999 JACOB TAYLOR'S TENEBRM 93 and Ordinances of War Past and Made the 26th October 1675 ([Boston: printed by John Foster, 1675]); and Reilly, 931, in A Proclamation by the President and Council of His Majestiys [sic] Territory & Dominion of New-England in America (Boston: printed by Richard Pierce, [1686]). The New England map (Reilly, 1766) appears in William Hubbard's Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians (Boston: printed by John Foster, 1676). The rough depiction of David (Reilly, 987) is known only from its appearance in Noadiah Russell's Cambridge Ephemeris...for the Year of the Christian aera y 1684 (Cambridge: printed by Samuel Green, 1684); and "Indian symbols" (Reilly, 1975) appears only in Cotton Mather's Wonderful Works of God Commemorated (Boston: printed by Samuel Green, 1690). These six illustrations, like the almanac illustrations listed above, are woodcuts; all of them were used exclusively in Massachusetts. Jacob Taylor's Tenebra (New York: printed by William Bradford, 1697) incorporates three technical diagrams in its text. One, on page 43 (i.e. 45), (fig. 2), illustrates Taylor's discussion of lunar eclipses (pp [i.e. 57]); two, on pages 65 and 70 (i.e. 67 and 72), (figs. 3, 4) illustrate his "Compendium of Mensuration" 13 (pp [i.e ]). All three of these illustrations are white line relief prints. They were printed from small sheets of engraved metal (probably copper) that were tacked or nailed to pieces of wood to bring them up to type height. 14 This allowed the compositor to lock up the metalcuts in forms with the type pages of Taylor's prose and print them together in a single pass through the press. When the tacks used to secure each plate to its wood backing were driven flush with the surface of the plate, small areas of the metal encircling the tack heads were depressed below type height. After the forms were inked, the tack heads therefore printed black, while the depressions encircling them printed white, as did the wide lines deliberately cut into the plate's surface. The number "40" engraved at the center top of the illustration used on 13 Taylor's printer mistakenly omitted the E from the first word of this title when he set it as the caption title on p. 56 (i.e. 58). An early reader of the Zinman exemplar supplied this deficiency and the author's name in his own hand ( fig. 1). 14 Had these plates been inked and wiped so as to leave ink only in the incised lines (rather than on the surface of the plate and then been rolled through a copper-plate press (rather than printed as reliefs in a regular printing press), the illustrations would be engravings rather than white line metalcuts.

8 94 KEITH ARBOUR January/April Fig. 3. Page 65 [i.e. 67] from Tenebra, with parenthetical number "40" at top. Polygons engraved on a metal sheet measuring approximately 10.5 x 6.9 cm.; tacked at the top left and two bottom corners.

9 1999 JACOB TAYLOR'S TENEBR& Fig. 4. Page 70 [i.e. 72], from Tenebrte, with diagram illustrating an explanation of how "To Measure the Frustum of a Circle" (p. 69 [i.e. 71]) engraved on a metal sheet measuring approximately 6.5 x 6.9 cm.; tacked at the top right and bottom center. 95

10 96 KEITH ARBOUR January/April page 65 [i.e. 67] part of Taylor's "Compendium of Mensuration" is an interesting anomaly (fig. 3). Its enclosure within parentheses matches the printer's house style for typeset page numbers. The difference between 40 and 65 seems too great to be accounted for by a printer's error in casting off copy (that is, estimating the number of printed pages the manuscript in his hands would cover). This appears to suggest that the plate may have been cut for use as page 40 of another work on the same subject written by Taylor and printed as a duodecimo before Tenebra. In this connection, it is tempting to speculate that the phrase "Doctrine of Mensuration" in the "Compendium's" second introductory paragraph (fig. 1) echoes the title or subtitle of such a work which Taylor "contracted" on pages of Tenebra so that "the Tyro may easily commit it to his Memory." But evidence preserved in the New York Public Library's fragmentary Tenebra casts this interpretation of the anomalous "(40)" into doubt. Four of the leaf fragments identified by Eames constitute part of an unperfected proofsheet of outer E (that is, pages 33, 36, 37, and 40, with blank versos). On this sheet, the proofreader altered all the page numbers (correcting the numbers on Elr, E2v, E3r, and E4v from 27, 26, 31, and 30, respectively, to 33, 36, 37, and 40). This suggests that the anomalous "(40)" may indeed be connected to confusion about page numbers during production of Tenebra, and may reflect the illustration's first projected position in this work, rather than in a previous book. Then again, the difference between 40 and 65 is two-and-a-half times larger than the worst pagination error in the extant proofsheet. Whether or not a mathematical publication by Taylor antedating his Tenebra and "Compendium of Mensuration" is ever discovered, the existence and content of these texts suggest that Jacob Taylor's role in the history of early American science and mathematics warrants further study. Tenebra demonstrates his skill as an astronomer able to adapt European calculations to his "Province of Pennsilvania"The "Compendium" evinces his familiarity with the work of William Leybourn, John Kersey, and the obscure Ludolph van Culen. 15 Yet Taylor, unlike several of his almanac-making contemporaries, has not been accorded a sketch in any of the standard 15 Taylor, Tenebra, 3-4, 68, and 72.

11 1999 JACOB TAYLOR'S TENEB&E 97 biographical reference works. 16 Modern historians' relative silence regarding Jacob Taylor's work as an astronomer, mathematician, and almanac maker 17 is particularly notable given its intersection with the career of one of Taylor's younger contemporaries, Benjamin Franklin. In 1744 Taylor praised "Poor Richard" as an able and poetic almanac maker. 18 After Taylor died in 1746 Franklin returned the compliment by eulogizing him as "the late deceased Ornament and Head of our Profession" and "an ingenious Mathematician, as well as an expert and skilful Astronomer; and moreover, no mean Philosopher, but what is more than all... a PIOUS and an HONEST Man." 19 The following year Franklin explained to his readers that in order to produce the first "Improved" edition of Poor Richard he had "taken the Liberty to imitate [Jacob Taylor's] well-known Method, and give two Pages for each Month." 20 From that year until 1757, when he wrote his final almanac, Franklin incorporated Taylor's method in his own almanacs. Taylor's Tenebra, his "Compendium of Mensuration," nineteen editions 16 But see Hubertis M Cummings, "Surveyors General of Pennsylvania [no 5] Jacob Taylor," in Commonweath of Pennsylvania Internal Affairs Monthly Bulletin 29 (1961), 24-26, 29 Cf J Barry Love, "The Colonial Surveyor in Pennsylvania," Ph D diss, University of Pennsylvania, 1970,192-99, and David Shields, "The Wits and Poets of Pennsylvania New Light on the Rise of Belles Lettres in Provincial Pennsylvania, ," in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 109 (1985), , esp 100,102, , ,131,and An exception is William H Kenney III, "Jacob Taylor and his Almanacs," in Pennsylvania Folklife 14 (1965), See also Henry Phillips Jr, "Certain Almanacs Published in Philadelphia Between 1705 and 1744," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 19 ( ), Taylor, Pennsylvania, 1745 An Almanack, andephemerts, of the Motions of the Sun and Moon for the Year 1745 (Philadelphia, [1744]) See also, Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed Labaree et al, Poor Richard, 1747 (Philadelphia B Franklin, [1746]), sig [A2r] For a facsimile reprint see The Complete Poor Richard Almanacks Published by Benjamin Frankhn (2 vols, Barre, Mass, 1970), See also, Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard Improved For 1748 (Philadelphia B Franklin, [1747]) For a facsimile reprint see The Complete Poor Richard Almanacks, 2 2 See also, Papers of Benjamin Franklin,

12 98 KEITH ARBOUR January/April of his almanacs, 21 "the largest body of poetry of any Pennsylvanian pre-1750" (to which David Shields has provided the best introduction to date), 22 and some 3,600 manuscript items in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's collection of Jacob and Isaac Taylor Papers are available to historians of colonial American science and letters interested in reconstructing Taylor's career and analyzing his place in the Philadelphia scientific and literary community during the half century preceding the establishment of the American Philosophical Society. The illustrations in his Tenebra are, at this writing, the earliest book illustrations known to have been printed from engraved metal plates in North America. Further analysis of Taylor's career, his Tenebra, and its illustrations may enable us to determine whether the "ingenious" Pennsylvanian was the engraver who cut, as well as the author who designed, these illustrations. The Haydn Foundation KEITH ARBOUR 21 I have excluded Shipton-Mooney from this count because I do not agree that it is a fragment of Taylor's almanac for It appears to be, rather, the fragment of an almanac by another almanac maker, who drew on Taylor's work (perhaps Tenebra) for eclipse calculations. 22 See note 16.