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.