GUEST: I brought a family book
that we were always told was
very special and we were not
allowed to touch it.
APPRAISER: (laughs) Uh-huh.
GUEST: So probably 60 years
before I touched it.
And when I opened it, I couldn't
really make any heads or tails
of it.
But supposedly it was written
by an ancestor of ours.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: And my grandfather
collected it at some time in his
life.
And then he gave it to my father
for Christmas in the '60s, so...
APPRAISER: And what
makes it a family book?
GUEST: Our name is Digges, and
my grandfather was really big
into family genealogy, and
we tend to be architects,
builders, mathematicians.
(chuckling)
APPRAISER: Uh-huh.
GUEST: And I think this book was
written by a Digges that he has
in the genealogy book
as being part of the family.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: So that's what I know
about it, so.... (laughs)
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: It's...
APPRAISER: So what we're looking
at here is a book by Leonard and
Thomas Digges.
It was published in 1597.
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: And the
binding is parchment.
So parchment is a
treated animal skin.
GUEST: Oh, it is.
Okay.
APPRAISER: Yes.
So it's a 16th-century binding
on a 16th-century book.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And that makes
it very interesting.
Many times, books of
this age were rebound.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: If you look at the
title page, it's by Thomas
Digges, who took his father's
manuscript.
GUEST: The father,
Leonard Digges.
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And it first
was published in 1571.
And this is the second edition.
And the title is "A Geometrical
Practical Treatize Named
Pantometria."
And so it's a book on
geometry and surveying land.
You can see that in this nice
emblem down on the, on the title
page, there is sort of
a triangular geometrical
shape in the world map.
And there are a fair number of
really interesting illustrations
in here.
For instance, here, a device is
being used to measure the size
of a fortress.
And in this illustration here up
front, they're using the same
device to measure the height
of a tower.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Both Leonard and
Thomas Digges were into geometry
and surveying of the land.
But they also invented various
devices to, to measure land.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And in this case
here, on page 35, you see the
composition of the instrument
called theodelieus.
And this instrument is a,
is a fascinating device.
It's, it's illustrated
here, as well.
But to this day, that instrument
is used, for instance, in
rocketry.
GUEST: Hm!
APPRAISER: So an invention from
the 1590s is still being used
today.
And here is the
first illustration.
GUEST: Hm.
APPRAISER: And it is your
ancestors who, who invented that
device.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Have you had
it ever appraised?
GUEST: No.
No.
APPRAISER: Because the book is
in its first contemporary
binding, and it has wide
margins,
it's not been cut down, and the
nice condition it's in, I would
put a conservative estimate
at auction of $15,000
to $25,000 on it.
It's a real...
GUEST: For a book.
APPRAISER: Yes.
For this book.
Yeah.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: It's a
real, real treasure.
GUEST: Very nice.
APPRAISER: So I hope you keep
the book in a safe place.
GUEST: I do.
I keep it locked up.
(laughs)
APPRAISER: Yeah.
And an insurance value for the
book I would think is about
$40,000 all told.
GUEST: Wow.
Okay.