Isn't there somewhere where you can view it for free? That is a lot of money. Whose dollars is it priced in anyway?
Jerry ________________________________ From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 7:08:36 PM Subject: [USMA:44067] Bishop John Wilkins question Dear All, I received this question this morning and thought that those of you who are interested in the origins of the metric system might be interested in the question and my response. Pat, I was looking on the web for a copy of Wilkin's system. Your page was as close as I got. Is it available anywhere, to your knowledge? Thanks Dear ??, A facsimile edition is available, see http://www.amazon.com/towards-Character-Philosophical-Language-Thoemmes/dp/1855069415 for details of the three copies currently available from Amazon. I bought my copy from there about two years ago (but I paid only about a third of the current prices of around $500.00). Otherwise try your local and especially academic libraries. In the UK there is a copy of the original 'An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language' at the Royal Society Library, the British Library has a copy, and there are also copies at Wadham College, Oxford, and Trinity College, Cambridge. In the USA, there are copies from the initial print run at the Library of the University of Virginia and at the Library of Congress. I have physically seen all of these so they are not simply catalog card entries. You might be lucky at other libraries as, for a 1668 publication, it did get fairly wide distribution. However, be aware, that the original work was written in 17th century English so it can be a small problem to read from the characters of that time. I had so much trouble wading through it that I made translations for my own use and posted then them on my web site http://www.metricationmatters.com/ . There are three versions: http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/WilkinsTranslationLong.pdf has facsimiles of the original document interspersed with my translations but it is long, so it takes time to download. http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/WilkinsTranslationShort.pdf is much quicker to download as it does not have the original document pages. http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/CommentaryOnWilkinsOfMeasure.pdf contains the same material as the previous shorter web document but it also includes my comments on Wilkins work. You can find all three versions at http://www.metricationmatters.com/articles You might try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Essay_towards_a_Real_Character_and_a_Philosophical_Language but most of the links point to my web pages and the link entitled full text of the work wouldn't open for me. Cheers and good luck with your research, Pat Naughtin PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/ or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
