eReference Library
1857 Gurley and 1890 K&E Catalogue Covers
Instrument Catalogues
Instrument maker catalogues are a FANTASTIC resource for collectors of post-1850 surveying instruments. Oftentimes, sellers of a special surveying instrument will give only the briefest of descriptions (e.g., "Offered here is a 1907 Extra Fine K&E Light Mountain Transit with a Sagemuller Solar Attachment and Gradienter"). To put it bluntly, absent a lengthy and accurate description by a very knowledgable seller - you need a circa 1907 K&E instrument catalogue to really understand what's being offered. This is true especially for casual collectors and those just starting to collect. These instrument catalogues typically show all the instruments the maker was selling, along with general specifications, accessories and prices.
When I decided to relaunch The Compleat Surveyor, I downloaded as many instrument catalogues as I could find on the internet. As luck would have it, most of the PDF catalogues are word searchable. So I can search all of the catalogues on my hard drive, for example, for the term "Gradienter" and pull up all the catalogues offering a Gradienter, along with what a Gradienter does.
To make it easy for those of you who don't have an extensive collection of instrument maker catalogues already, here is every single instrument catalogue that I found (and have on my hard drive):
Abbott in Chicago - Heavy drafting section. Looks to be resellers of instruments made by Gurley:
English George Adams Catalogue. The 1803 book is mostly words - not many instrument pics. The plates, which are only slightly more interesting, are contained in the 1803 plate book:
Ainsworth Instruments - Well Known Dealer based in Denver Colorado:
Impressive Catalogue by Aloe - with a lot of drafting items and numerous instruments:
French Dealer of Telescopes:
Bausch & Lomb Catalogues. Not many instruments, but fairly detailed explanations about a variety of things:
Beckmann - well known instrument maker based in Toledo Ohio:
Berger - One of the major instrument makers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Originally part of Buff & Berger.
1900 Berger
1902 Berger
1910 Berger
1913 Berger
1916 Berger
1918 Berger
1927 Berger
1947 Berger
A monumental early 18th century work originally published by Nicolaus Bion, and then translated into English by Edmund Stone in 1723:
Four Page brochure by Blattner & Adams - based in St. Louis Mo. Blattner and Adams was founded in 1871, so this catalogue is probably 1870s:
An 1881 instrument catalogue by Brandis, who made some nice instruments:
Buff & Berger instrument catalogues before Buff and Berger had a falling out:
After Buff and Berger had their falling out, Buff went his separate way as well:
1901 Buff & Buff
1905 Buff & Buff
1916 Buff & Buff
1938 Buff & Buff
Famous English maker Casella catalogues:
Clarke - English Catalogue, seems more scientific that surveying:
Famous English maker Cooke catalogues:
Dietzgen - A well known company starting in roughly 1900 to the mid1900s:
Elliot's catalogue has a lot of drafting items, and surveying instruments made by Gurley, Buff and perhaps others:
Fauth was maker based in Washington DC, and I recall reading somewhere that Fauth sold a lot of instruments to the federal government. This catalogues features some VERY cool looking instruments - this catalogue merits a look:
Frost & ADAMS - No real surveying instruments, but plenty of drafting sets, pens, brushes, etc that surveyors would have used:
Gurley - The Big Kahuna. Dominated the marketplace, especially for solar instruments:
Hastings Catalogue - o real surveying instruments, but plenty of drafting sets, pens, brushes, etc that surveyors would have used. Much like Frost & Adams, and only a few doors down in Boston. Looks to be Circa 1890 from my casual first glance:
Heller & Brightly - One of the big surveying instrument makers in the post civil war period:
1874 Heller & Brightly
1878 Heller Lymans Trigonometer
1886 Heller & Brightly
1888 Heller & Brightly
1889 Heller & Brightly
1901 Heller & Brightly
1920 Heller & Brightly
1925 Heller & Brightly
1930 Heller & Brightly
"The Sterling Way" - Iszard - Warren based in Philly:
King - Maker based in Baltimore Maryland:
F. C. Knight - located in Philly:
One page price list for Know & Shanin:
A lot of drafting supplies, but there are a fair number of instruments too, but they look rebranded:
Ledder - based in Boston, and was a reseller primarily of things made by Buff & Gurley:
Lietz - Big San Francisco based instrument maker, starting in the 1880s thru the early to mid 1900s:
1888 Lietz
1892 Lietz
1893 Lietz
1896 Lietz Cyclomic Transit
1897 Lietz
1899 Lietz
1908 Lietz
1911 Lietz
1929 Lietz
Mahn - St Louis based maker of instruments. Looks like they sold the instruments made by another St Louis maker though. Click on the pic to the left to pull up the pdf:
McAllister - Philly based company that sold mostly drafting and drawing items. A few instruments, presumably made by another maker:
Newton - English Catalogue - Circa 1870s. Mostly scientific equipment, but gotta love the name:
Richard Patten - New York:
Patten Catalogue
Herman Pfister - Cincinnati Ohio:
Pfister Catalogue
Benjamin Pike's Son & Co
1880 Mathematical Instruments
Benjamin Pike Jr's magnificent scientific instrument catalogue (circa 1856) and a few other cats:
Extensive Catalogue - Prince in Cincinnati Ohio:
Queen was a very interesting company in the last half of the 1800s. Sold a lot of drafting equipment. Really good catalogues. Sold Gurley equipment to start, then started to produce its own line of equipment:
Important instrument maker based in Cincinnati, Ohio:
Saegmuller was the successor to Fauth's business in Washington DC, and the manufacturer of the Saegmuller solar attachment for transits:
1892 Saegmuller
1898 Saegmuller
1901 Saegmuller
1903 Saegmuller
Schmolz was a San Francisco based instrument maker. Schmolz was the first to put a solar unit on top of a transit I believe, but this catalogue predates that instrument:
Secetan - Paris France Maker:
Seelig - Chicago Illinois Maker:
Starke & Kammerer was a San Francisco based instrument maker:
Stanley was a major English instrument maker in the late 1800s and early 1900s:
J. H. Stewart was a London based maker:
William Stieren was a Pittsburg, PA based maker:
Troughton& Simms - famous London based maker of instruments:
Woolman - based in NY, interesting 1890 catalogue, with the usual assortment of drafting supplies. But the catalogue also has instruments, including a diagram of a pocket solar compass:
W.S. Jones was an English maker, I think in the late 1700s and early 1800s. I even owned and sold a W.S. Jones compass back in the day:
William Young - Famous Philly based maker of instruments - made the first solar compasses for William A. Burt:
1800s Young Hendle Collection
1881 Young & Sons
1883 Young & Sons
1885 Young & Sons
1911 Young & Sons
Young Pocket Compasses
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