Semmi Hertz
Stereometrie oder Sammlung der Netze Regulärer und Unregulärer Polyedern, (c. 1840)
Hamburg: H & P. Spiro
1804
$ 2,350.00
An unrecorded assemblage of 34 (of 36) cut-out and foldable figures, each one with lithographed text and lines orienting the user to the shape's structure and geometry. An exercise in...
An unrecorded assemblage of 34 (of 36) cut-out and foldable figures, each one with lithographed text and lines orienting the user to the shape's structure and geometry. An exercise in applied math, the kit was designed to teach draughtsmen principles of construction easily translatable to commercial design projects. The pieces are organized according to sides and styles: prisms of three, four, and five sides; pyramids of three to eight sides, and symmetrical polyhedrons. Each is quite durable, with the lithographed sheet nicely glazed and mounted to heavy stock. Semmi Hertz (1805-1862) was a small-products printer, here demonstrating his technical accuracy. The Spiro brothers would later meet greater renown as forgers of postage stamps (see Thomas Dalston, How to Detect Forged Stamps (1865)). All pieces fine, only a handful with stray bumps. Housed in box with instructions to underside of lid and label to top; box itself rather worn but structurally sound. Overall as near fine as can be expected.