In the preface to this work, mathematician Augustus De Morgan (1806-71) claims that 'The most worthless book of a bygone day is a record worthy of preservation.' His purpose in writing this catalogue, published in 1847, was to provide an accurate record of the early history of publishing on arithmetic, but describing only those books which he had examined himself. He surveyed the library of the Royal Society, works in the British Museum, the wares of specialist booksellers, and the private collections of himself and his friends to compile a chronological list of books from 1491 to 1846 (the...