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.
