Milestones of Science Books

EUCLID.

Euclidis Megarensis mathematici clarissimi Elementorum geometricorum lib. XV. Cum expositione Theonis in priores XIII a Bartholomaeo Veneto Latinitate donata . . . His adiecta sunt Phaenomena, Catoptrica & Optica, deinde Protheoria Marini & Data. .

Basel: Johannes Herwagen, 1537.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002541

Folio (292 x 198 mm). [8], 587 [1] pp., including the preface by Melanchthon, ornamental capitals and hundreds of diagrams in text, printer's woodcut device on title and Cc6v. Signatures: +⁴, a-z⁶, A-Cc⁶. Latin text with Greek letters used for designating points on geometric diagrams. Contemporary full vellum, spine with 4 raised bands, ink-lettered in first two compartments, embossed lettering to bottom edge (boards soiled and rubbed, little wear to extremities, upper hinge partly split, spine wormed and chipped at foot, corners bumped). Internally very little browned, the name Melanchthon ink censored on preliminary leaves, worm track to lower blank margin of first and final few leaves, little soiling of title-page, contemporary ink marginalia throughout (some shaved, one folded), faint marginal dampstains to few pages, occasional small ink spots. Provenance: Libreria Loescher, Roma (sticker to front pastedown). A fine, unrestored and wide-margined copy in nice contemporary binding. ----

Thomas-Stanford 9; Steck III.33; Houzeau-Lancater 832; Honeyman 977; VD 16, E4154; BM STC, German Books p. 288; Adams E 974. FIRST LATIN EDITION by Herwagen (Hervagius) with the prefatory letter by Philip Melanchthon which is often missing because of censorship (his name in our copy just inked out). Hervagen uses Bartolomeo Zanetti's translation of 1505 for this edition after having previously printed the first edition of the Greek text in 1533. The 1537 edition became the first to contain also Euclids smaller tracts "Phaenomena"(Spherical geometry), "Catoptrica" (Mirror-reflexion), "Optica", "Data" and "De levi et ponderoso" It was reprinted in 1546 and in 1558.

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