Electrostatic measuring devices can do two things: indicate the presence of a charge or electrical field; or indicate its quantity. The former are simple things like hanging threads or gold-leaf electroscopes; the latter have had some kind of calibration, and can relate some visible behavior of the system to the strength of the field or the size of the charge. The first purpose-made electrostatic device was the versorium (above), introduced by Gilbert in his 1600 De Magnete. It was a variation of the compass, made to detect electric fields instead of magnetic fields.

A3.1 - qualitative
A3.1.1 - versorium
A3.1.2 - hanging thread or pith ball
A3.1.3 - uncalibrated foil electroscopes
A3.1.4 - condensing electroscopes
A3.2 - quantitative
A3.2.1 - Henley electrometer
A3.2.2 - Lane discharging electrometer
A3.2.3 - dry voltaic pile electrometer
A3.2.4 - calibrated foil electrometers
A3.2.5 - electrostatic force balances

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