ROY, William.

An account of the trigonometrical operation, whereby the distance between the meridians of the observatories of Greenwich and Paris has been determined . . . From the Philosophical Transactions.

[London, 1790.] 4to (255 x 220 mm), pp. 162, with 11 folding engraved plates and four folding letterpress tables in the text; occasional light spotting; small tear in E2 and discrete old repair in T4 (both slightly affecting text); contemporary calf-backed marbled boards; slightly rubbed; with Cholmondeley and Wardington bookplates. First separate edition. Roy’s last paper on the triangulation of south-east England which, connected to the French network made by Jean Dominique Cassini, resolved the dispute over the difference in longitude between the Paris and Greenwich observatories. It also laid the foundations for the whole triangulation of England and the creation of the Ordnance Survey. Roy, director-general of the Royal Engineers, surveyor-general of coasts and engineer-director of military surveys in Great Britain, had met Cassini in 1783 when the latter had suggested this triangulation project. Roy, who had already begun a small triangulation in his spare time in London, managed to obtain Royal funding. He then commissioned the leading scientific-instrument maker of the day, Jesse Ramsden, to make the necessary instruments, including a three foot theodolite. The project was delayed and there were financial setbacks but by 1790 the triangulation was complete. ‘Roy’s persistence and insistence on high standards had ensured that Britain acquitted itself well in the enterprise, which had as much to do with national rivalry as scientific co-operation. It was also a significant test of the use of the theodolite: the French favoured different instruments, but Roy’s preference for the theodolite, despite its great weight, was vindicated in this project and shaped Ordnance Survey practice thereafter’ (Oxford DNB).This paper was read before the Royal Society on 25 February 1790 and Roy died in April later that year. His most important legacy was the establishment of what came to be called the Ordnance Survey. He had made two proposals, in 1763 and 1766, for a survey of the kingdom to be made, but it was only with the triangulation project described in this work that he finally succeeded. Through it, Roy ‘quite consciously laid the foundations for such a survey by procuring from the foremost instrument maker the most advanced equipment yet produced; by establishing a base-line at Hounslow from which triangulation could be extended in all directions – not just towards France; by elaborating methods and procedures in his papers for the Philosophical Transactions which were suitable for both the particular Anglo-French scheme and a more general national triangulation; and, perhaps most importantly, by securing the backing of the duke of Richmond, the master-general of the ordnance, who had lent men and equipment for the triangulation. In his description of the work Roy made clear that he saw the Anglo-French triangulation as part of a larger future British project’ (Oxford DNB).

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