Mathematical Treasure: Johann Hemeling’s Selbstlehrende Rechneschul

German schoolmaster Johann Hemeling (ca 1615–1684) was considered to have been as influential in Lower Saxony in the 17th century as Adam Riese had been in Upper Saxony a century earlier. He wrote several textbooks, including Kleines Rechenbuch, but his best-known and possibly earliest work was Selbstlehrende Rechenschul of 1655, which helped readers teach themselves arithmetic. Pages from two later editions are shown here.

A version probably published around 1663 (the title page and other sections are missing) contains testimonials:

The book included instruction in music.

Number concepts were explained in words.

A “new” edition appeared in Frankfurt in 1678.

Division techniques and a multiplication table:

Full digitizations of the copies owned by the University of Michigan are available at HathiTrust (ca 1663) and (1678).

Index to Mathematical Treasures