Compendium logica in quatuor partes, 1701

Small hardcover notebook containing a manuscript copy of William Brattle's abstract of René Descartes' "Compendium Logicae" copied in Latin by Harvard student Joseph Metcalf between April 29th and May 7th, 1701. The text includes an ornately decorated title page and drawings and notes on the flyleaves. The covers are unattached. The inside front cover is inscribed: "Joseph Burbeen Walker 1845."

per Dom. Gul. Brattle. Transcriptum per Joseph Metcalfe. Inceptum Aprilis die 29. Et finitum Maÿ 7mo anno domini

Joseph Metcalf (1682-1723), a minister in Falmouth, Mass., was born on April 11, 1682 in Dedham, Mass. He received an AB from Harvard in 1703 and an AM in 1706. On October 28, 1708, Metcalfe was ordained the minister of the Falmouth church and served there until his death on May 24, 1723.

The undergraduate students of Harvard College followed a structured program of study in the early 1700s. Certain key texts were adopted as textbooks at Harvard, and students often copied them into personal notebooks in place of purchased books. Textbooks created by Harvard Tutors Henry Flynt and William Brattle, Instructor Judah Monis, and Fellow Charles Morton were among the earliest used in the colonies. William Brattle's Compendium logicae was first published in 1735 and used as a textbook at Harvard College until 1765.