Lot Details
Lot 121
[COMPUTERS] BEDOS DE CELLES, [FRANCOIS]. [Descriptions des Arts et Metiers]. LArt du Facteur DOrgues.
. [Paris: chez Desaint & Saillant, 1756-1779]. Four parts in one volume, contemporary calf, all edges red. 16 3/4 x 11 inches (46 x 30 cm); [iv], 142 pp, plates 1-52; [ii], 1-4, 147-476 pp.; 477-536 pp., plates 53-79; [2], xxxii, 537-676 pp., plates 80-137 (many of the plates folding). The pagination is somewhat erratic, but the text is continuous. Binding quite worn and scuffed, joints cracked but holding on cords, some minor toning to the paper, separations at the center of the large folding plate L.
A complete set of this classic work on the organ bound into a single volume. Plates 103-128 are devoted to mechanical organs controlled by music rolls, with many of these plates showing melodies with the corresponding "punched roll." Not only is this a complete set of this classic on the instrument (uncommon, because published over so many years), but the technology depicted for mechanical organs is a precursor to that used in Jacquard looms (which are a later development), and both uses anticipate the punched cards and tapes used for programming input in early modern computers.
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