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A Short Account of GEORGE BIDDER the Celebrated Calculator with a Variety of the Most Difficult Questions Proposed to Him At the Principal Towns in The Kingdom and His Surprising Rapid Answers ! With Extracts from various Newspapers on the Subject.
65973R. Bond & Co. Exeter. 1821. 12mo. pp. V i 36. Disbound from volume of pamphlets uncut and stitched with old stitch-marks on inner margin the first and last pages dusty and a small hole in the paper of the lower margin of the title not affecting text a few corners and the fore-margins of the first few leaves creased and dusty but mostly clean. FOR EXAMPLE : If one mouse can draw one ounce and a half how many mice can draw 50000 tons Answer in half a minute : 1194666666. COPAC/JISC gives copies at the BL and Bodleian for this imprint. It was also printed by Pollard in Exeter in the same year and in Bristol by Bryan in 1850. George Parker Bidder 1806-1878 was born in Moretonhampstead Devon became famous nationally as a boy prodigy at mental arithmetic was exhibited at fairgrounds and 'freak shows' by his father and rescued from that life by Sir John Herschel eventually sent to study mathematics at Edinburgh University and then entered the Civil Engineering profession just at the time when his skills were valuable in the enormous development of the railway system and the docks. He prospered and helped his Devon relatives to prosper bought property at Dartmouth and eventually retired there. He was an influential figure in the development of railway systems in Norway Denmark Belgium and India. A full account of his varied life in engineering was given in the biography "The Calculating Boy" by his great-great-grandson E.F. Clark MA MIMechE. R. Bond & Co. Exeter. [1821]. 12mo. unknown
PATRICK POLLAK RARE BOOKS · Royaume-Uni300,00 £GB≈ 342,54 €
