Technical Books

It has been observed by a number of language teachers that a quick route to fluency in a target language is to read texts in subjects where you already have some familiarity - so-called technical books.

There are two keys to fluency - listening to a huge amount of the language you want to learn, and reading a lot.

The latter presents some problems for the aspiring Latinist, as easy reading in Latin is supposedly hard to come by - but actually, it isn't.

A huge number of schoolbooks were written for students on a plethora of subjects. This list will be periodically updated as I come across texts that were written for students, and so use a simpler register of Latin, and I will arrange them by subject matter.

Most of you will have studied some science at school, so the basic texts in physics, mathematics and chemistry will be accessible - the subject matter, not being totally foreign, makes wide reading more simple. I am a great believer in the quantity over quality argument for language learning. If you think about it for a moment, you will realise the truth of this. This is why immersion is such an important tool for language acquisition - and despite the growing body of Latin audio now available online, there simply is not enough.

You might be surprised to find out that textbooks on subjects such as Physics, Philosophy and Music Theory were still being published in Latin right until the end of the 1800's, and in some rare cases in the early 1900s.

These books can be searched for using search strings such as "in usum tironum", "in usum tyronum", "In usum juventutis", "in usum iuventutis" "In usum scholarum" , "ad Tyrones", "in usum discipulorum", "puerilia" and so on, with as many variant spellings as you have patience for, such as vsvm, ivventvtis, pverilia, mvsicae, etc as Google Books has wildly erratic orthography in its catalogues.


1729 Goetzio Brevis Introductio ad Geographiam Antiquam in Juventutis Usum

1844 Gerhard Brevis Bavariae Geographia



HISTORY

1603 Historia Britannica
1615 Bismarcus Vita et Res Gestae Praecipuorum Theologorum
1625 Erpenius Historia Saracenica
1651 May Historiae Parliamenti Angliae Breviarium
1651 Van Gent Historia Judaica
1662 Bacon Historia Regni Henrici Septimi Angliae Regis
1677 Chacon Vitae et Res Gestae Pontificum Romanorum
1682 Des Roches Epitomes Historiae Belgicae
1683 Thulemeyer Fundamenta Historica
1732 al-Fida Vita et Res Gestae Sultani Almalichi Alnasiri Saladini Abi Modaffiri Josephi
1737 Holmes Historiae Anglicanae Breviarium
1740 Major Historia Majoris Britanniae
1745 Ross Historia Regum Angliae
1752 Synopsis Historiae Germaniae
1752 Wagner Introductio in Universalem Historiam
1761 Matthiae Conspectus Historiae Medicorum Chronologicus
1764 Harles Introductio in Historiam Linguae Latinae
1778 Historiae Romanae Res Memorabiles
1788 Koppi Praelectionum Historicarum
1790 Kluit Historiae Federum Belgii Federati Primae Lineae Vol iii
1795 Historia Sacra et Ecclesiastica
1807 Historiae Anglicanae
1821 Siret Epitome Historiae Graecae
1824 Y Banyuls Digestum Romano-Hispanum
1826 Dannenmayer Institutiones Historiae Ecclesiasticae
1827 Bosscha Synopsis Historiae Universalis Veteris
1832 Nabe Compendium Historiae Ecclesiasticae
1842 Grace Annales Hiberniae
1847 Historia de Vita et Actis M Lutheri
1851 Vascotti Institutiones Historiae Ecclesiasticae Novi Foederis
1860 Vallauri Epitome Historiae Romanae
1860 JMJT De Viris Illustribus et de Persecutoribus Ecclesiae
1863 Schroeer Compendium Historiae Antiquae
1878 Rerum Germanicarum Pauli Historia Langobardorum

LANGUAGES
1639 Parisot Linguae Gallicae Institutiones
1780 Radices Graecae
1803 Wettenhall Graecae Grammaticae Institutio Compendaria
1844 Wordsworth Graecae Grammaticae Rudimenta
1869 Zschokke Institutiones Fundamentales Linguae Arabicae
1870 Zschokke Institutiones Fundamentales Linguae Aramaicae

MATHEMATICS
1577 Piscator Arithmeticae Compendium
1621 Praelectiones in Principium Elementorum Euclidis
1646 Metius Manuale Arithmeticae et Geometriae Practicae
1698 Wells Elementa Arithmeticae Numerosae et Speciosae
1725 Martinio Elementa Algebrae
1736 Arithmeticae et Algebrae Compendium
1744 Compendium Elementorum Matheseos Universae
1754 Polansky Elementorum Algebrae Brevis Institutio
1754 Boscovich Elementorum Universae Matheseos
1757 Arithmeticae Elementa
1765 Balajthy Institutiones Arithmeticae
1772 Bonotto Elementa Matheseos
1776 Scheeffer Institutiones Geometriae Sphericae
1778 Chelucci Institutiones Arithmeticae
1784 Van Haecht Geometria Elementaria et Practica
1823 Goebel Elementa Geometriae
1824 Elementa Arithmetica Generalis
1824 Garnier Elementa Arithmeticae Algebrae et Geometriae

 MEDICINE
1695 Hoffmann Fundamenta Medicinae
1771 von Haller Primae Lineae Physiologiae
1799 Ypey Introductio in Materiem Medicam
1817 Rembold Psychologia
1827 Martinius Elementa Physiologiae
1833 Institutiones Medicinae Practicae
1840 van der Hoeven De Arte Medica
1841 Suringar Epitome Therapiae Generalis

MUSIC
Note: When searching catalogues on this topic, be sure to search for variant spellings, musicae and mvsicae
1516 Aventinus Musicae Rudimenta
1533 Stirpianus Musicae Planae Rudimenta
1536 Luscinius Musurgia seu Praxis Musicae
1536 Spangenberg Quaestiones Musicae
1537 Heyden Artis Canendi
1538 Listenius Rudimenta Musicae
1542 Vogelsang Musicae Rudimenta
1546 Lampadius Compendium Musicae
1553 Medler Initia Artis Musicae
1563 Lossius Erotemata Musicae Practicae
1572 Fayser Paideia Musicae
1575 Dressler Musicae Practicae Elementa
1596 Magirus Artis Musicae
1611 Walliser Musicae Figuralis Praecepta Brevia
1612 Lippius Synopsis Musicae
1618 Trautmann Musicae Compendium Latino-Germanicum
1636 Keller Monochordum
1650 Kircher Musurgia Universalis I Musurgia Universalis II
1656 Demantius Artis Musicae Ad Incipientium Captum Accommodata
1683 Descartes Musicae Compendium
1719 Vogt Conclave Thesauri Magnae Artis Musicae
1754 Miller Artis Musicae Brevis Prolusio
1781 Wald Historiae Artis Musicae
1818 Pohl De Artis Musicae in Sanos et Aegrotantes Effectu
1826 Steinbeck De Musices atque Poeseos Vi Salutari Operis Prodromus
1841 Bellermann Bacchi Senioris Introductio Artis Musicae
1853 Manuale Musico-Liturgicum
1876 Hermesdorff De Disciplina Artis Musicae


METALLURGY

1768 Wallerius Elementa Metallurgiae

1798 Manuel José Barjona Metallurgiae Elementa

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY & GENERAL PHILOSOPHY
1563 Vallessi Controversiarum Naturalium ad Tyrones
1655 Hobbes Elementorum Philosophiae
1658 Musschenbroek Institutiones Logicae
1665 Lancicio Usus Meditandi
1694 Thomasius Introductio in Logicam
1727 Principia Philosophiae Naturalis
1730 Walch Introductio in Philosophiam
1743 Hieneccius Elementa Historiae Philosophicae
1755 Genovesi Institutiones Logicae
1756 Jaszlinsky Institutiones Metaphysicae
1757 Klaus Brevis Introductio in Philosophiam
1763 Ivancsics Institutiones Logicae
1766 Genuensis Elementorum Artis Logico-Criticae Libri V
1779 Scherffer Institutionum Analyticarum
1796 Altierus Elementa Philosophiae
1825 Duplan-Lassere Elementa Philosophiae
1842 Nieuwenhuis Quaestiones Logicae
1861 Cuevas Historiae Philosophiae Vol II
1868 Trendelenburg Elementa Logices Aristoteleae
1905 Cathrein Philosophia Moralis
1910 Zigliara Summa Philosophica
1911 Hickey Summa Philosophiae Scholasticae

PHYSICS
1687 Sviceri Compendium Physicae Aristotelico-Cartesianae
1700 Bayle Institutiones Physicae
1718 Taswell. Physica Aristotelica modernæ accomodatior.
1735 Verdries Physica
1752 Scherffer Physica Generalis
1754 De Causa Descensus Gravium
1754 Dalham Institutiones Physicae
1758 de Palau y Pont Physicae Generalis Institutiones
1768 Scherffer Institutiones Physicae
1769 Verneii De Re Physica
1769 Bohm Logica
1761 Jazlinsky Institutiones physicae pars prima, seu physica generalis
1773 Fuchsthaler Institutiones Physicae
1773 Scherffer Institutiones Mechanicae
1774 Biwald Institutiones Physicae
1776 Horvath Physica Generalis
1783 De Hada Elementa Hydrotechniae
1786 de Kerek Gede Compendaria Physicae Institutio
1800 van der Eyck Institutiones Physicae
1815 Elementa Physicae Mathematico Experimentalis
1852 Physicae Institutiones

THEOLOGY
1596 Lippeloo Vitae Sanctorum
1700 Ribadeneyra Flos Sanctorum
1719 Viva Cursus Theologicus
1769 Elementa Theologiae Practicae Tomus Tertius
1783 Opera Theologica
1785 Cabades Institutiones Theologicae
1789 Volborth Primae Lineae Antiquitatis Christianae
1803 Xaverius Epitome Historiae Ecclesiasticae
1810 Libellus Virtuti Adjuvandae Destinatus
1816 Selectae e Veteri Testamento Historiae
1844 Marriott Analecta Christiana