In this beautifully executed coffee-table style book, you will find
a wealth of stunning images of astronomical and navigational devices
held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Published in
2018, it showcases 138 items held in three departments of the
Bibliothèque: maps and plans; money, medals and antiques; and
military items (l’Arsenal). The volume starts with an
interesting overview of the history of physical items held in library
collections, and this collection in particular. In summary, prior to
science museums or scientific institutions or departments creating
their own collections, scientific and teaching devices were kept and
displayed in libraries. This was in part to due to the intimate link
between physical objects and the scientific texts they relate to. As
time moved on, many libraries divested themselves of space-consuming
physical artifacts, but the Bibliothèque Nationale de France
has maintained, and even increased, its collection of artifacts.
The volume’s organization mirrors the catalog of the
Bibliothèque: Astrolabes, Celestial spheres, Cosmographic
instruments, Celestial planispheres, Sundials & Nocturnals,
Compasses, Calendars, Varia, Balances, Clocks, concluding with Missing
Instruments (known to have been in the collection). The images are
artistically taken in clear and crisp high resolution. Even the font
style and page layouts are appealing. Each item or set of items is
accompanied by a minutely detailed description. For example, listing
27 in section III (Cosmographic Instruments) describes a set of
astronomical models for teaching. Twelve items are displayed,
including two images of what appears to be a sales flier or
brochure.
Section IX, Balances, caught my eye, in particular several Roman
iron or bronze balance arms and hooks. To the untrained eye these
items look like a cross between fishing equipment and medieval torture
items. A 17th century Dutch moneychanger balance set is
intriguing. The trays are not identical, one being a traditional pan
style, while the other is a flat triangular tray. The box includes a
set of 14 engraved weights (one missing). The engraved paper
directions are quintessential late medieval, with a skeleton
threatening the money changer with a spear to keep him honest.
Having worked with museum collections, I recognize the captions
provided for each item as no more than the basic accession information
attached to an item at the time it is added to a collection: the name
of the item, dimension, materials, and physical description, including
any unusual or damaged features, inventory number, etc. Few include
the provenance. It would have been helpful to include a discussion of
the history of the item and how it came into the collections of the
BNF. Though this is not always known, it is not unusual for it to be
known or tracked down. By not including how the items came to the
library, the book does not provide the “personal” story of
each. This is an important, sometimes the most important, information
about an artifact.
In addition, little to no description of the use and manufacture of
the instrument in the context of the region and time period is
provided. This makes this lovely volume be little more than an
expensively produced catalog. The images are wonderful to look at, but
there is nothing to read that will inform and intrigue the reader. In
fact, I was left with many questions. I will enjoy looking at the
items from time to time, but I find that that is about all you can do
with this volume. While I received the volume full of excitement about
what I would learn about these glorious and in some cases novel
artifacts, that expectation went mostly unfulfilled.
Amy Shell-Gellasch is a full time lecturer at Eastern Michigan
University. Her area of research is the History of Mathematics and its
uses in teaching. She co-founded and currently chairs the History of
Mathematics Special Interest Group of the MAA and is an associate
editor of Convergence online journal. She conducted research on
mathematical devices at the Smithsonian National Museum of American
History from 2012–2017, and continues to develop content and conduct
training workshops for the Smithsonian’s Digital Learning Lab, an
online educational platform. Her article The Spirograph and 19th
Century German Mathematical Models (Math Horizons, April,
2015) was included in Best Writing on
Mathematics 2016.