Milestones of Science Books

APOLLONIUS Pergaeus.

Conicorum lib. V. Vl. VII. paraphraste Abalphato Asphahanensi nunc primum editi. Additus in calce Archimedis assumptorum liber, ex codicibus arabicis m.ss. J.A.Borellus contulit, & notas adiecit.

Florence: Joseph Cocchini, 1661.

1st Edition. Soft cover. Very Good. Item #003291

Folio (365 x 255 mm). [36], 415 [1] pp., half-title, first title printed in red and black, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, numerous woodcut diagrams in text, separate title-page to second part, final leaf of errata. Signatures: [cross]⁶, **-****⁴, A-Fff⁴. The second part (p. [377]-413) has the title "Archimedis liber assumptorum interprete Thebit Ben-Kora exponente Almochtasso ex codice arabico manuscripto sereniss. magni ducis Etruriae, Abraham Ecchellensis latinè vertit. Jo: Alfonsus Borellus notis illustravit." All pages uncut. Simple contemporary paper wrappers (spine with multiple splits, some edge chipping and fraying) protected in mylar foil. Text generally crisp and clean with only very minor occasional spotting, marginal dust-soiling, pp. 312 and 352 with paste-over slip, hole in blank margin of leaves cc3-4, leaf Eee3 browned. An exceptional, unsophisticated copy. ----

Roller-Goodman I, p.42; Sotheran, Suppl. 1, 762. DSB I, pp. 179-193; Riccardi 1/1, 158. FIRST EDITION of these three parts of the Conics of Apollonius of Perga (c. 262-c. 190 B.C.), previously unknown to the Latin west. The Conics consisted of 8 books but only the texts of the first 4 had been received by the Latins. In the 17th century the Medici acquired an Arabic manuscript of the text of the fifth, sixth and seventh books, which Borelli translated in collaboration with the Syrian-born Maronite scholar Abraham Ecchellensis (1605-1664). The Arabic version was made by Thabit ibn Qurra (836-901 AD). The appended Liber assumptorum was taken from another manuscript. In his work Apollonius showed that a plane intersecting a cone will generate an ellipse, a parabola, or a hyperbola, depending on the angle of intersection. He may have studied at the school established by Euclid at Alexandria, especially since much of his work was built on Euclidean foundations. Apollonius' Conics is still used today in astronomy, ballistic science, and rocketry. It already was an important source of mathematics for Newton and Descartes. - Visit our website to see more images!

Price: 6,500 €  *  convert currency