His place of work and the range of his stock can be determined from the following advertisement, which is written on a quadrant dated 1658: "This Instrument or any of the Mathematiques are made in Brass or Wood by Henry Sutton Instrument maker behind the royall exchange" (Image 1). The Royal Exchange, which is now a shopping complex, was a major landmark in mid 17th-century London, having been built in the 1560s as a centre for merchants and tradesmen to do business. Sutton's shop on Threadneedle Street behind the Exchange would have been an important location for mathematical practitioners; not only did he make and sell instruments, he also collaborated on their design and sold mathematical books.
Read more: Sutton's quadrant
References
- From the advertisement following the second title page of Edmund Stone's second edition of N. Bion, The Construction and Principal Uses of Mathematical Instruments ... (London, 1758).
Boris Jardine
Boris Jardine, 'The 'incomparable' Mr. Sutton: a famous 17th-century instrument maker', Explore Whipple Collections, Whipple Museum of the History of Science, University of Cambridge, 2008