The editio princeps in Greek of Euclid's Elements

EUCLID.

Stoicheion bibl. XV ek ton theonos synoysion. Proklou bibl. IV. (Elementa geometriae cum commento Procli. Graece ed. S. Grynaeus).

Basel: Johannes Herwagen, 1533.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. Item #001965

September 1533. Folio (307x205 mm). [12], 1-268, 1-115 [1] pp. With numerous woodcut diagrams printed in text, register and colophon on K4r, woodcut printer's device on K4v and title, decorative woodcut border on p.1. 17th century full flexible vellum (soiled, little bumped), spine titled in manuscript. Internally fresh with only very minor occasional spotting, title page with old ownership inscription (Jesuit collegium), an unobtrusive repair at top gutter not affecting text and a slight diagonal crease. A very fine, unusually wide-margined copy, free of markings or stamps. ----

Adams E 890; Norman 730; Thomas-Stanford 7. - Editio princeps in Greek of Euclid's Elements, one of the great books in the history of the exact sciences. This is also the first Euclid to have the diagrams inset in the text. The Greek text was edited by Protestant theologian Simon Grynaeus, professor of Greek at Basel University. Grynaeus used two manuscripts - one sent by Lazarus Bayfius from Venice and the other supplied by John Claymond, president of Magdalen and later of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The Elements occupy 268 pages, followed by 115 pages containing the four books of the commentary on the first book of the Elements by the brilliant fifth-century neoplatonist mathematician and astronomer Proclus. 'Because of his interest in the principles underlying mathematical thought and their relation to ultimate mathematical principles, Proclus' commentary is a notable - and also the earliest -contribution to the history of mathematics. Its numerous references to the views of Euclid's predecessors and successors, many of them otherwise unknown to us, render it an invaluable source for the history of science' (DSB).

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