Milestones of Science Books

SNEL, Willebrord van Roijen [SNELLIUS].

Tiphys batavus, sive histiodromice, de navium cursibus, et re navali.

Leiden: Elzevier, 1624.

1st Edition. Hardcover. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Very Good. Item #003837

Three parts in one volume. 4to (183 x 141 mm). [60], 109 [1]; [2], 62, [2] pp. Printer's woodcut device on title-page, final errata leaf, 3 full-page engraved illustrations, woodcut diagrams in text; woodcut initials. Signatures: *⁶ 2*-7*⁴ A-O⁴, a-c⁴ d² e-h⁴ i². Light browning and occasional minor spotting, oversized illustration on p.100 slightly shaved at outer margins. Bound in contemporary mottled calf, gilt-decoated spine with 4 raised bands and red morocco lettering piece, mottled edges, brocate pastedowns. Provenance: private library of the Bordonaro family, Palermo (shelf-mark lable to front pastedown); cancelled illegible ownership entry on title page. ----

FIRST EDITION. Named after the pilot of the mythical ship Argo, Snel's navigational treatise was mainly a study and tabulation of Pedro Nunez's "rhumb lines," which Snel named "loxodromes." Pedro Nunez Salaciense (1502-1578) made a significant discovery based on on observations reported to him in 1533 by Admiral Martim Afonso de Sousa. They related to rhumb line sailing and to great circle sailing. He demonstrated for the first time the spiral nature of these lines, which denote the quarters of the wind on navigational charts. Snel's "consideration of a small spherical triangle bounded by a loxodrome, a parallel, and a meridian circle as a plane right triangle foreshadows the differential triangle of Pascal and later mathematicians" (DSB).
Snel (1580-1626) was one of the most important Dutch mathematicians of his time. He studied with Brahe, Kepler and Mastlin. "In 1624 Snel published his lessons on navigation in Tiphys batavus. The work is mainly a study and tabulation of Pedro Nunez' so-called rhumb lines (1537), which Snel named 'loxodromes'. His consideration of a small spherical triangle bounded by a loxodrome, a parallel, and a meridian circle as a plane right triangle, foreshadows the differential triangle of Pascal and later mathematicians" (DSB).
References: DSB XII, pp. 499-502; Norman 1964; Willems 224. - Visit our website to see more images!

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