Ï.OGARITMETIQVE
9
Therefore it seems likely that Vlacq and De Decker must have "agreed" to suppress
publication of the Nieuwe Tel-Konst, Part II, not only because it violated their
contract but also because Vlacq must have shown that an "academic" version (in
the style of Briggs' Arithmetica Logarithmica') would sell better than De Decker's
competing "merchant-oriented" version. This proved right after all because
logarithmic tables have never really taken off in the commercial world during the
succeeding 300 years. A few copies (at least the one found in 1920) of De Decker's
Nieuwe Tei-Konst, Part II, must have been printed, probably for sentimental reasons
of De Decker, but the full set of tables printed by De Decker were bound into Vlacq's
1628 issue of Arithmetica Logarithmica, Part II (the print image of Vlacq's "Great
Table" is exactly equal to the one in De Decker's publication).
were indeed printed, but moved to
England later, where the table
pages were used in other books,
like an English version of [6],
published by George Miller in
London, 1631.
Title-page of the French edition of A.
Vlacq's Arithmetica Logarithmica M
Arithmétique Logaritmétique), Gouda,
chez Pierre Rammasein, 1628. (Gouda,
SAMH, Librije-coH. 508 G 4)
attempted breach of contract, that
he does not mention the contri
bution by De Decker at all (while
De Decker has always gracefully
acknowledged Vlacq in his own L'
books). Actually it suited Vlacq V""X^^sdè*t™^«NC
well to pose as the only author, pubrvnitójufqucsi
next to Napier and Briggs. The
original intention was to publish
the "Great Work" in three lan
guages, but only Latin and French
copies have survived. There are
indications [11] that Dutch copies
Fact 8
The full title of Vlacq's 1628 publication was Arithmetica Logarithmica, Editio 2,
aucta per A. Vlacq, where "aucta" stood for the extension of the tables between
20,000 and 90,000. He included an abridged version of the extensive introduction
by Briggs, carefully omitting his directions for calculation of logarithmic tables by
the method of differences in the original Chapters XII and XIII. He also added a
very useful table of trigonometric logarithms. Vlacq gives in his introduction due
credit to Napier and Briggs, but he must have been so annoyed by De Decker's
A CONSTRVCTION ET
VSAGE dVNE TABLE CON TEN ANT
hmbres de-
DVNE AVTRE TABLE EN
UoDclk font comprins les Logarithm® des Sinus,
S-,?A'ABT
U SB
CF.S
covnr
Chez Pierre Rammnfcin.
M.VC.XXVJII.
f ARITHMETIQVE
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S PRFMltREMENT
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