Accession No

6620

Brief Description

book-form folding surveying outfit for forestry and timber measuring, by Max Pressler, German, 1882 (c)

Origin

Germany; Dresden

Maker

Pressler, Max

Class

surveying

Earliest Date

1875

Latest Date

1882

Inscription Date

(c)

Material

paper (card, paper); cotton; canvas(?); faux-leather(?); metal (brass, gold leaf)

Dimensions

124mm (width) x 20mm (depth) x 220mm (height)

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from Tesseract, Box 151, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York 10706, USA, 08/03/2016. Catalogue 102, Spring 2016, lot no. 26.

Inscription

PRESSLER
Holz-
wirtschaftliche
TAFELN
II.

Description Notes

Book-form folding surveying outfit for forestry and timber measuring, by Max Pressler, German, c. 1882.

Book-form surveying outfit, by Max Pressler. “Book”, bound in green fabric with gold stamping. Contains manuscript, folding surveying instrument and instructions, and three additional sheets of paper in the back.

Gilt-edged manuscript entitled “Holzwirtschaftliche Tafeln. Band II. Fur’s Stehende”. Third edition, second of two volumes. Presentation handwritten on the front page in ink (illegible except date and location, Tharand, April 1882). Another annotation (later?) in pencil above, also illegible. Two pockets on inside covers. Smaller back pocket contains three additional sheets: one, an advertisement, seems to be a part of the outfit and two others perhaps added by the owner. One which is related but folded, another solar declination table is dated 1875. Deeper front pocket contains folding cardboard surveying instrument “Pressler’s Ingenieur-Messknecht”, for measuring height of timber. Instrument has four segments with small brass ring where plum bob string was originally attached and has torn away. On the front of the pockets are diagrams for assembling and using the instrument.

Principally applied to forestry and timber measurements, messknecht measurements can be quite universally applied.

In good/fair condition. Tesseract notes ‘some supplemental accessories lacking’ (unclear what exactly). Instrument is in good condition, but plum-bob has come away. It is still contained within book in small pockets on inside cover. Paper is yellowing, with some tears.

References

Events