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This topic is simply a spin-off from the thread "impossible lunar example",
and I have renamed the thread accordingly.

I've been offered help from all directions in getting access to the full
text of the 1781 edition of "Tables Requisite". Thanks to all the help, the
problem is solved, and I now have that access. But I wish to explain the
problems along the way, in case someone can explain how to avoid them in
the future.

I usually access such online texts by using Google books- advanced search.
When I asked it for Maskelyne, Tables requisite, and specified the
full-text button, the only return was the 1802 edition. So I dropped the
full-text requirement, and a list of several editions was then returned, of
which only the 1802 was marked full-text. In that list were two versions of
the 1781 edition that I was interested in; one with only 173 pages, which I
guessed must be a tables-only version without text explanations; and one
with 237 pages, that I took to be the full tables-with-text that I was
after.

When I selected the details of that latter version, a page came up with
details about the book, but as expected it didn't provide access to full
text.

That was the point at which I mentioned in a posting my inability to access
the text of this edition, which surprised others, and brought in offers of
help, from those that could.

So I explored a bit further. If I went into the (unwanted) 173-page
version, then in that case (and only in that case) two additional panels
appeared on screen. One was a useful list of "related books". The other
listed "other editions". One of those "other editions" was the 237-page
version of the 1781 edition, the one I was after, and what's more, here it
was marked "full text". And when I clicked on it, it did indeed take me to
a full-text version of that 237-page version of the 1781 edition, exactly
what I needed! It had been available all along, but access to it had been
concealed by "advanced search".

Frank suggested following the link
http://books.google.com/books?id=MDQAAAAAQAAJ , and indeed that took me
straightaway to the wanted text. That link also appears if I search on the
Google (not Google Books) web-page with "Maskelyne tables requisite 1781".
So why was advanced-search frustrating me? Any ideas?

George.

contact George Huxtable, at  george@hux.me.uk
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.

   

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