![EUCLID (fl. 300 B.C.). [Opera]. Elementorum libros XIII [-Phaenomena; Specularia; Perspectiva; Data]. Translated by Bartolommeo Zamberti. Venice: Johannes Tacuinus, 1510.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2013/NYR/2013_NYR_02706_0173_000(euclid_opera_elementorum_libros_xiii_-phaenomena_specularia_perspectiv094403).jpg?w=1)
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EUCLID (fl. 300 B.C.). [Opera]. Elementorum libri XIII [-Phaenomena; Specularia; Perspectiva; Data]. Translated by Bartolommeo Zamberti. Venice: Johannes Tacuinus, 1510.
2o (301 x 209 mm). Title with xylographic heading and woodcut vignette of St. John the Baptist, A1r printed in red and black within woodcut historiated border, numerous woodcut initials (the larger historiated showing putti at play), and numerous woodcut diagrams in margins and text. (A few stains on title, some occasional pale marginal dampstaining, leaf FF1 with margins darkened and frayed at edges, lacking final blank 2F6.) Old vellum (rebacked). Provenance: Augsburg, Monastery of SS. Ulrich and Afra (early inscription on title); acquired from William Schatzki, 1963.
FIRST COMPLETE EDITION OF EUCLID'S WORKS, THE RARE 1510 ISSUE. A very important edition of Euclid's Elements appeared in 1505 printed at Venice by Joannes Tacuinus. It was a translation into Latin from a Greek text by Bartolommeo Zamberti, who claims that he has restored and excluded from the exposition of Theon many things that were 'subuersa et prepostere voluta' in the version of Campanus. For example, the Pythagorean proposition becomes the 47th of the first book as we know it (instead 46th in Campano). Zamberti contributes a long preface and a life of Euclid. The thirteen books of the Elements are followed by the Phaenomena, Specularia, &c. The volume itself is a fine example of the Venetian book of the time. There is an elaborate title-page with the printer's well-known cut of John the Baptist at the foot. The first page of the text has a fine border, and the larger initial letters are a charming set depicting children playing. The enunciations are printed in gothic, the demonstrations in roman type.
"In 1510 some of the same sheets were reissued with a freshly printed last page containing the colophon, a misreading of which has often led to the issue being described as of 1517. Both issues seem to be among the rarest of early Euclids. I have both, as has the British Museum; the Bibliotheque Nationale has only that of 1510, the Bodleian and the University Library, Cambridge, neither" (Thomas Stanford).
EXTREMELY RARE ISSUE: according to American Book Prices Current no copy has appeared at auction in at least thirty-five years. Adams E-973; Thomas-Stanford 5.
2o (301 x 209 mm). Title with xylographic heading and woodcut vignette of St. John the Baptist, A1r printed in red and black within woodcut historiated border, numerous woodcut initials (the larger historiated showing putti at play), and numerous woodcut diagrams in margins and text. (A few stains on title, some occasional pale marginal dampstaining, leaf FF1 with margins darkened and frayed at edges, lacking final blank 2F6.) Old vellum (rebacked). Provenance: Augsburg, Monastery of SS. Ulrich and Afra (early inscription on title); acquired from William Schatzki, 1963.
FIRST COMPLETE EDITION OF EUCLID'S WORKS, THE RARE 1510 ISSUE. A very important edition of Euclid's Elements appeared in 1505 printed at Venice by Joannes Tacuinus. It was a translation into Latin from a Greek text by Bartolommeo Zamberti, who claims that he has restored and excluded from the exposition of Theon many things that were 'subuersa et prepostere voluta' in the version of Campanus. For example, the Pythagorean proposition becomes the 47th of the first book as we know it (instead 46th in Campano). Zamberti contributes a long preface and a life of Euclid. The thirteen books of the Elements are followed by the Phaenomena, Specularia, &c. The volume itself is a fine example of the Venetian book of the time. There is an elaborate title-page with the printer's well-known cut of John the Baptist at the foot. The first page of the text has a fine border, and the larger initial letters are a charming set depicting children playing. The enunciations are printed in gothic, the demonstrations in roman type.
"In 1510 some of the same sheets were reissued with a freshly printed last page containing the colophon, a misreading of which has often led to the issue being described as of 1517. Both issues seem to be among the rarest of early Euclids. I have both, as has the British Museum; the Bibliotheque Nationale has only that of 1510, the Bodleian and the University Library, Cambridge, neither" (Thomas Stanford).
EXTREMELY RARE ISSUE: according to American Book Prices Current no copy has appeared at auction in at least thirty-five years. Adams E-973; Thomas-Stanford 5.