RARA ARITHMETICA by David Smith, 1st/1st 1908 INSCRIBED C.H. Thordarson Inventor

RARA ARITHMETICA: A Catalogue of the Arithmetics Written Before the Year MDCI, with a Description of Those in the Library of George Arthur Plimpton of New York — by David Eugene Smith of Teachers College Columbia University — 1st Edition / 1st Printing 1908 — Provenance: Chester H. Thordarson, Inventor University of Wisconsin Book Collection and Henry P. Kendall Philanthropist, Inscription

 Publisher: Ginn and Company Publishers, Boston and London (1908)

In very well preserved condition. The boards and binding are solid and tight save for some very light shelf-wear. The hand-cut pages are crisp and clean. 507 pages, and heavily illustrated. Inscription by Henry P. Kendall to C.H. Thordarson on the first blank page. Please see below for more on the provenance, and more information on Chester Thordarson. 

Provenance

Inscribed and Signed by Henry P. Kendall to Chester H. Thordarson, Boston 1933

CHESTER H. THORDARSON

Chester Hjortur Thordarson (May 12, 1867 – January 6, 1945) — born Hjörtur Ţórđarson — was an Icelandic-American inventor and manufacturer of electrical apparatus who eventually held nearly a hundred technology patents related to transformers, inductors, high voltage coils, and more.

BOOK COLLECTION

Thordarson bequeathed his book collection to the University of Wisconsin. The Thordarson collection was estimated to be worth one million dollars in 1945 and led to the establishment of the rare books room of the University of Wisconsin Memorial Library. Jen Christian Bay, a member of the Bibliographical Society of America, commented on the collection in 1929.

HENRY P. KENDALL

Henry Plimpton Kendall (1878–1959) was a New England entrepreneur, industrialist, and philanthropist from Walpole, Massachusetts.He eventually acquired and founded many textile factories and other companies through his company, the Kendall Company, which emphasized product research and scientific processes. His company produced products such as Curity Diapers and Curad finger bandages (those brands are now owned by Covidien). He first turned around the Lewis Manufacturing Company in Walpole and then purchased the manufacturing village of Slatersville, Rhode Island where the Kendall Dean School was named in his honor. Kendall Company produced textiles for the government and Red Cross during World War I and expanded throughout the twentieth century acquiring manufacturing facilities in the United States and Mexico.

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