22
[6a] Letter from H. Briggs to J. Pell on Oct. 26, 1629:
"My desire was to have those ChiHades that are wantinge betwixt 20 and
90 calculated and printed, and I had done them all almost by myselfe, and
by some trends whom my rules had suffcient/y informed, and by agreement
the busines was conveniently parted amongst us; but I am eased of that
charge and care by one Adrian Vlacque, an Hollander, who hath done all
the whole hundred ChiHades and printed them in Latin, Dutche and
Frenche, 1000 books in these 3 languages, and ha the sou Id them almost
all. But he hathe cutt off 4 of my figures throughout; and ha the left out my
dedication, and to the reader, and two chapters the 12 and 13, in the rest
he hath not varied from me at all.
[6b] Decker, E. de, Nieuwe Rabat-tafe/s, waer door sonderHngh Hcht ende perfect
gevonden wort het gereet gelt van eenige somme die te betalen is over eenige
Maenden, het Rabat afghetrocken zijnde teg hens 8, 9, 10, 11 ofte 12 ten hondert
in 't laer mitsg. van Interest op Interest noch is daer by gevoeght de
Thiende van Sym. StevinP. Rammaseyn, Gouda, 1630.
[6c] Decker, E. de, Practyck van de groote zee-vaert, P. Rammaseyn, Gouda,
1631.
[6d] Vlacq, A., Ephemerides motuum coelestium ad annos vulgares aerea 1633,
1634, 1635, et 1636 in luminarium motibus etzyzygiis ex Tabulis Lansbergianis ab
Adr. Vlacco, in reliquis p/anetis ex Tabulis Rudolphinis a Joa. Kep/ero supputata;
cum Instructione super earum usu, P. Rammaseyn, Gouda, 1632.
[7] Briggs, H., Gellibrand,H., Trigonometria Britannica, P. Rammaseyn, Gouda,
1633.
[8] Vlacq, A., Trigonometria Artificial!, P. Rammaseyn, Gouda, 1633.
[9] Hutton, C., Mathematical Tables, 1785 (4th Ed. in 1804). In his preface,
Hutton gives a very interesting introduction with history, construction and usage
of logarithms. In the history part, p. 38, he cites Richard Norwood's introduction
to his Trigonometrie of 1631, condemning Vlacq's 1628 publication (however
without mentioning him by name):
And here I have just occasion to blame the ill dealing of these men
[Vlacq and Miller, just having published the 1631 English edition of
Arithmetica Logarithmica, Part II], both in the matter before mentioned,
and in printing a second edition of his [Briggs] Arithmetica Logarithmica in
Latin, whilst he lived, against his mind and liking; and brought them over to
sell, when the first were unsold; so frustrating those additions which Mr.
Briggs intended in his second edition, and moreover leaving out some
things that were in the first edition, of special moment: a practice of very ill
consequence, and tending to the great disparagement of such as take
pains in this kind".
[10] Glaisher, J.W.L., "Notice respecting some new facts in the early history of
logarithmic tables", and "Supplementary remarks on some early logarithmic
tables", The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of
Science, Vol. XLIV, 4th series, 1872, p. 291-303.
