JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post

Here’s your chance to download a DIY cardboard reckoner. I think it would be much more satisfying to do the arithmetic by hand, or use your phone-device, or just call up The Internet and ask it to divide some number y by some number x, but that’s not the point. Making it would certainly be a pleasure of some sort because the Napier-like sticks/bones are such a lovely assemblage. And of course all hats off to the person who created the thing to begin with–and I assume that person to be the author of the little pamphlet in which the calco-sticks are found. Edward J. Nungesser published Rapid ‘Rithmetic/Calco Sticks (Arithmeic Made Simple and Quick for Those who are in a Hurry and for Those who Usually Evade Anything that Involves Numbers). It was published by Drawden Publications of 7 W 44th St NYC in 1936, and is a pocket-sized 5″ tall and 32pp thin. In any event, I really like this little guy, and I think Mr. Nungesser did a fine job. (I tried to find references to him but came up empty; for an instant I thought his name but be a pseudonym (“No Guesser”) but I’m pretty certain that this is not the case. Also there is no sign of it at all on WorldCat/OCLC.)

And the instructions:

And the wonderful cover: