St John's College O.63 (James 560)

William Drummond, Mathematical commonplace. Latin, French and English, 1683

William Drummond (fl. 1683): Commonplace, chiefly containing copies of mathematical treatises, dated 1683 on flyleaves. The contents are:

  1. 'Regulae lingua Gallica observanda', incomplete (fo. 3r).
  2. A treatise on the sphere, in French, incomplete (fo. 10r).
  3. 'John Dees Preface' to H. Billingsley's translation of Euclid, The elements of geometrie (1570; STC 10560) (fo. 26r). The hand seems older, but from the arrangement it appears that this was written after 2 and 4.
  4. 'Traité d'Arithmetique', incomplete, written from the end of the vol. (fo. 119v).
Manuscript extra information

143x95 mm. 120 fos (modern foliation, several blanks). Pen flourishes and Drummond's signature in Latin several times on flyleaves front and rear, once inside back cover. It may well be, however, that the book passed through several hands in composition. Purchased from Grant, 1926.

Three distinct hands, one or more perhaps autograph. A few copyist's errors, some of them corrected. Paper, quite severely cropped in binding, part of item 3 with ruled margin. Near contemporary vellum on card, repaired by David Yates of J. P. Gray & Son, July 1973 (pencilled inscription inside back cover).