ABEL FLINT A System of Geometry and Trigonometry: Together with a Treatise on Surveying; Teaching Various Ways of Taking the Survey of a Field: also to Protract the Same and find the Area, likewise Rectangular Surveying; or, an Accurate Method of Calculating the Area of any Field Arithmetically, without the Necessity of Plotting it.

(Hartford: Printed by Oliver D. Cooke by Lincoln & Gleason, 1804), 80 pages of text and appendix, and 88 pages of tables.

Flint’s Survey was one of the most popular American surveying text during the first part of the 19th century. Copies are not uncommon today, and it is often one’s first serious acquisition in the field of book collecting. It was a simplified work and no secret was made of the fact it was largely compiled from the works of other authors. Flint’s personal contribution was mostly about the determination of acreage by mathematical calculation. The book went through many editions and was published for at least a half century. Beginning with the 5th edition in 1825, it was revised and enlarged by George Gillet, Surveyor General of Connecticut. Originally the book contained 4 folding plates showing 69 figures. These were bound inside the back cover. Another change made by Gillet was to reduce the number of figures and individually place those retained at appropriate locations within the text.

The treatise was designed to be self-teaching with but little assistance from an instructor. It is about simple metes and bounds land surveying with the compass and chain. It does not include details about other types of land or engineering surveying. The 100 foot chain is not even mentioned. One of the purposes of the book was to help surveyors in Connecticut qualify under a new state law that required practitioners to become more familiar with surveying theory than was previously necessary.

Flint’s Survey is organized on the format devised by Aaron Rathborne in 1616 with the first part treating the necessary mathematics of surveying. Following that comes sections on measuring land, taking field notes and plotting, and the determination of area by the method of calculation. The latter section includes a discussion on determining the true area when the land is measured with a chain that is either too long or too short. An appendix is included that contains information on determining the magnetic variation of the compass needle, both present and past. The appendix also includes mathematical tables and instructions for their use.

For the field work, instructions are given in the use of the Gunter link chain of 2 or 4 poles length. Surveys can be performed with only the chain, or in combination with a compass or other instrument for that purpose. Examples are given for surveying tracts of land with limited access. These demonstrate how to complete surveys of even totally inaccessible land by the intersection of bearings measured from two known points. For this, Flint suggests using a compass constructed with two indexes, one moveable and one fixed. With such a instrument one can ascertain the angle between two lines without reference to the bearing of the sides. This meager description suggests an interesting instrument, and one not known to having been commercially manufactured as early as 1804.

Flint’s Survey does a good job of preparing an inexperienced person for simple property surveying work. It was not imposing like the much larger Gibson’s Surveying. Nonetheless it was totally sufficient for some people, and served as an entry treatise for others. Once Flint was mastered, the more complex works could be more readily understood.

While the original Flint text was successful in its own right, the additions by Gillet made it substantially better. Gillet included most of his writings in the Appendix rather than integrate them into the text. While his contributions were excellent and increased the value of the book, it would have been better to merge the additions into the general text. One of the sections added by Gillet serves to illustrate the simplistic format of the work. He thought something about leveling should be included but did not want to complicate the work with details about complex engineering work. He therefore describes an open-sighted plummet level that he suggests is adequate for land surveyors.

Flint’s Survey was an important work in American surveying history. It provided career instruction for many untrained individuals including young Abraham Lincoln. Copies are not uncommon today because of the acceptance it attained. For this reason it is popular with individuals entering the field of book collecting.

Reprinted from P.O.B., Vol. 21, No. 7, June 1996, by permission of Business News Publishing Company, Troy, Michigan.