John Alexander Henderson. J.A. Henderson’s Intellectual and Practical Lightning Calculator, A.L. Bancroft, San Francisco, 1872.  First edition.  Original wrappers. 7×5″, 79pp. Provenance: Library of Congress, with their surplus stamp on the back of the front wrapper, and their 6mm “LC” perforated stamp on the title page.  $125

The 1873 edition (below) has been identified as the “second edition” in WorldCat, and there is only this 1872 edition before it, making it (I am fairly well certain) the first edition.  There are only two copies located (NYPL and Bancroft) of this first edition.  

Examining this against an 1873 printing–also San Francisco–finds that the ink corrections in the first table have been repaired in type. Also, it seems that Henderson is printing the book himself, and is acting as the “general agent”. He evidently had troubles with people pirating his work.  Also, the main block of the text from beginning to end looks to be about the same, though the 1873 version is beefed up with another 30pp of notices, translations, advertisements, and generally not very supportive (to the text) material.  The work seems to have been popular, with Henderson later claiming ten editions, with the book expanding to over 200pp. 

Henderson was no doubt a lightning calculator and in this book offered some shortcuts, tricks, and general means for doing standard and involved calculations, written or mental. A curious work.  Henderson  evidently received a BS from Union College (Schenectady) in 1864 and a MS in 1867 (unsure of the school for this degree).