Drawing Instruments 1580–1980 by Maya Hambly

Abstract

548 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE venuto Cellini; analyses of early furnaces and kilns on the basis of our present understanding of furnace combustion technology (several ar­ ticles); a comparison between the Neolithic ceramic-forming technol­ ogies used in Southwest Asia and those used in northern China, and the implications for understanding the nature of technological devel­ opment; consideration of the technologies used in the production of wrought iron and of steel during the past three millennia (several articles); analyses of temper materials in ceramics, their effects on material properties, and the interpretation of the results in terms of processes oftechnological experimentation as well as their implications for determination of exchange networks (several papers); and the detailed study oftool marks on drill holes in stone, and their usefulness in reconstructing ancient stoneworking technologies. For the most part, the journal is well edited and well produced. Good-quality paper is used throughout, which is highly desirable for articles that are concerned with the interpretation of microstructures as illustrated on reproduced photomicrographs. This by itself gives it an advantage over its principal competitor in the held of archaeometallurgy . And the subscription rate is reasonable. On the other hand, Archeomaterials does contain its share of typographical errors—a situation that, sadly, has come to be considered normal. Its cover is also a weak point—it could easily be made more attractive. Archeomaterials has become an essentialjournal for those involved in the interpretation of the material record of the past. I wish it a long and voluminous life. Michael L. Wayman Dr. Wayman, a professor of metallurgy at the University of Alberta, is actively involved in archaeometallurgical research in both hemispheres. Drawing Instruments 1580—1980. By Maya Hambly. London: Philip Wilson for Sotheby’s Publications, 1988. Pp. 206; illustrations, bib­ liography, index. £25.00+ £2.50 handling; $45.00. Available from Harper & Row, 10 East 53d Street, New York, New York 10022. Among the wide range of historic scientific instruments, the least considered, even by museum curators and collectors, have been the drafting instruments used by cartographers, shipmasters, architects, and engineers. Until now, there have been few comprehensive pub­ lished resources for historical identification. A basic work has been Nicolas Bion’s Traité de la construction et principaux usages des instruments de mathématiques (1709), with an English translation by Edmund Stone published in 1723 and revised in 1758 to include descriptions of English instruments; and “A Brief History of Draughtsmen’s Instru­ ments” by H. W. Dickinson, published in Transactions of the Newcomen Society (1949—50). TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 549 Maya Hambly is a practicing architect who developed a special interest in these tools of her trade as a consequence of her work with historical as well as modern architectural drawings in the collections of the Royal Institute of British Architects. She was led to investigate the history of the instruments used to make such drawings and in 1982 mounted a small exhibition displaying them according to their functions in relation to drawings in the RIBA collection. This volume is the result of her continuing research. During the course of her travels among European museums, Ham­ bly noted drafting instruments often displayed as works of art in exhibits ofthe Wunderkammern ofprinces and prelates and in relation to the instrumentation ofastronomy and horology. She discovered that what was missing in these displays was the relationship of these in­ struments to the trades for which they were made. Her subject matter is confined to those instruments used for geometrical drawing and is not concerned with the history of drawing per se. The examples il­ lustrated have been collected from a number of European museums and private collections as well as salesrooms and auction galleries. To begin, the work presents a history of drawing instruments and their makers and literary evidence to be found in early treatises, handbooks and patternbooks, trade cards, encyclopedias, and text­ books of the 19th and 20th centuries. Under types of instruments, eight forms are discussed, from styli and early ruling pens to perspective aids. The final section deals with cased drawing instruments. Supplements include a selected gazetteer of museum collections and a selected bibliography. Particularly useful to the museum curator...