The Young Analyst’s Exercise – An Easy Introduction to Algebra (1741, Second Edition) by Samuel Ashby

The Young Analyst’s Exercise; or an Easy Introduction to Algebra, being a choice collection of one hundred algebraical problems exhibiting all that is curious in simple and quadratic adfected equations, by Samuel Ashby, Teacher of the Mathematics.

This copy of The Young Analyst’s Exercise is the Second Edition, with large additions, printed in London for J. Wilcox at Virgil’s Head, opposite the New Church in the Strand, in 1741 (M.DCCXLI). It was printed by C. Jephson in Wine-Office Court, Fleet Street, and runs to 220 pages.

Ashby explains in his preface that he came across a set of algebra problems published without solutions by a Latin author well known for his skill in algebra, and set out to work out all their answers.

The result, The Young Analyst’s Exercise, is a schoolroom collection of one hundred problems, each solved by plain numbers, by geometry and by algebra, and written to suit young beginners.

The book is dedicated to Martin Clare, Fellow of the Royal Society and Master of the Academy in Soho Square, one of the best-known private schools in 18th-century London. The dedication describes it as a small treatise designed for the use of schools.

The text is decorated with woodcut head-pieces and a decorative initial.

This copy has a real history of use. An early owner has written his name across the title page, apparently “Jas. Smith” with “Biggar”.

A student has filled the endpapers and blank pages with worked problems in a fine 18th-century hand, including long division of algebraic expressions, a solved number puzzle and a wedding-day age riddle. Charmingly, on the final page the student has attempted Ashby’s last problem, the wine cask, and arrived at the wrong answer.

Original 18th-century copies of The Young Analyst’s Exercise are now scarce.

The Young Analyst’s Exercise will appeal to collectors of early mathematics and the history of science, collectors of 18th-century English printing and schoolbooks, and anyone interested in how mathematics was taught in Georgian England.

Condition – Good

This copy of The Young Analyst’s Exercise is bound in contemporary full leather with raised bands on the spine. The leather is rubbed and scuffed with wear to the edges and corners, and the front board is partially detached; otherwise the binding is sound.

An early owner’s name is written on the title page, and various ink notes and mathematical workings appear on the endpapers, blank pages and final page.

The pages show age-toning, spotting and some soiling, with chipping and loss to the front endpapers. Text complete to page 220 with the printer’s imprint. A well-used and honest 18th-century schoolbook.