Feb 28, 2006 - Sale 2068

Sale 2068 - Lot 154

Price Realized: $ 10,350
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000
BANNEKER, BENJAMIN. Bannaker's [sic] Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina Almanack and Ephemeris, for the Year of Our Lord 1796 . . . 34 (of 36) pages; lacking terminal leaf. 12mo, stitched self-wrappers; some discoloration, stains and toning to the paper; fore-edge untrimmed. Baltimore: Printed for Philip Edward, James Keddie and Thomas, Andrews & Butler, [1795]
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Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) mathematician, astronomer, clockmaker and surveyor was born in Baltimore County, Maryland the son of slaves. Taught to read from a Bible by his grandmother, the young Banneker showed a natural gift for learning and later, more specifically, mathematics. At the age of twenty, he constructed a successful striking clock without ever having seen one, undertaking the whole project as a challenge to see if he could correctly calculate the gear ratio. In 1771, the Quaker Ellicott brothers bought a large tract of land adjoining Banneker's tobacco farm. The Ellicott's youngest son George shared Banneker's interest in the sciences and as a result, they became good friends. In 1789, Ellicott lent him a few of his texts on astronomy and within a short time, Banneker was able to calculate the astronomical observations necessary for an ephemeris.