Ullage Cask Gauger Comprised Series by Boydell James (2 results)

Cloth. Condition: Good Only. None (illustrator). A interesting work designed to aid with the calculating void spaces in casks. A very scarce work being a mathematical aid. A new edition, revised. Undated. The first edition of this work was published in 1784, with this copy being a later revised edition, hence the circa date. This particular work that offers a series of charts that can be used to calculate the 'ullage' contents of any cask, that being the remaining vacant space. This space can be important when transporting certain goods to account for expansion. This very scarce work offers a useful exercise that can be used to in relation to any cask, however large. The publishers information to the title page appears to have been printed back-to-front with a corrected slip pasted on top. In a full cloth binding. Externally rubbed to the extremities, with dampstaining to the front and rear boards. The odd mark to the front and rear boards. Rubbing to the spine label. Offsetting and spotting to the front and rear pastedowns and endpapers. Internally firmly bound. Pages are age toned. Dampstaining to the tail of pages, heavier towards the front of the volume. The odd spot and handling mark throughout the volume. Ink inscription to the head of page 3, and the odd pencil mark throughout. Good Only. book.

First edition. Boydell's tables allowed dealers in beer, wine and spirits to accurately assess the true contents of part-used casks through measurement of ullage (the empty portion of any barrel) - an essential calculation in tax and excise assessments. Several new editions were advertised in the nineteenth-century but all editions are rare.The author was probably the same Boydell who described himself as 'ships-husband' on the title of his The Merchant Freighter's and Captains of Ships Assistant - Being Tables Calculated with the Greatest Accuracy ('London: printed for the author. and to be had at Lloyd's, the New York, the New England, the Jamaica, and the Pensylvania coffee-houses; and of any bookseller in Great Britain, 1764). 8vo (225 × 140 mm), pp. xiii, [3], 143, [1], including the inserted 'To the Public' leaf after prelims, author's signature on verso of p. xiii. Contemporary sprinkled sheep with red morocco title label to upper cover (partly defective). Worn, with loss to leather at upper forecorner of lower cover, joints cracked but cords secure. An unsophisticated copy. [ESTC: Leeds, NLS, Glasgow, St Andrews, U Kentucky, UVA, Saint Olaf (MN) and State Library of Tasmania.].