The only known surviving example of a four-pronged compass, according to Nicolas Ginet, circa 1775
POR
Circa
1775
Country of manufacture
France
Description
A wood and brass instrument, a pair of dividers, which seems to be the only known survivor of the four legged dividers after the model developped by Nicolas Ginet in 1775 and described in its book “GINET (Nicolas), L’usage d’un compas de proportion à quatre branches [in] Supplément au Manuel de l’arpenteur, Paris, Jombert, 1775.”
The Ginet’s dividers should be used like proportionnal compass, a classic pair of dividers, a three-legged dividers, a sector and a protractor. It was an universal mathematical and drawing instrument.
Two moveable legs are here lacking. But it seems to be the only know preserved and/or known and it was never described in the moder documentation and bibliography about the mathematical instruments.
Height folded : 26,5cm
Lenght unfolded : 50,5cm
Ask the Dealer
Dealer information
Le Zograscope
Established by Alexandre Piffault in 2014 and based in Paris at 5 rue de Condé, 75006, very close to Odéon, Le Zograscope specializes in antique and rare books in Science, Medicine and Technology, and rare antique instruments in the same fields. We have especially a strong interest in early and continental microscopy, early and special mathematical/drawing instruments, medical and surgical instrument, and rare technology.
Personnal website : https://www.lezograscope.com/
