APOLLONIUS PERGAEUS (fl. 2-3rd century BCE). Conicorum lib. V. VI. VII. Florence: Joseph Cocchini, 1661.
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
APOLLONIUS PERGAEUS (fl. 2-3rd century BCE). Conicorum lib. V. VI. VII. Florence: Joseph Cocchini, 1661.

Details
APOLLONIUS PERGAEUS (fl. 2-3rd century BCE). Conicorum lib. V. VI. VII. Florence: Joseph Cocchini, 1661.

First edition of books V, VI and VII of Apollonius of Perga’s work on conic sections. These books, one believed lost, were recovered from an Arabic paraphrase of Abalphatus Asphahanensus in a manuscript owned by Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, to whom this edition is dedicated. The translation from Arabic into Latin is by Abraham Ecchellensis, edited by Giovanni Alfonso Borelli. ‘Apollonius applied to conic sections the discipline that Euclid had given to geometry’ (Dibner 101 [1566 ed.]). Book V is particularly important for containing the author's proof for the construction of the evolute curve. A Latin translation of Thebit Ben-Kora's Arabic version of Archimedes' Liber assumptorum is included in this edition; two years earlier the Arabic text had been edited by Johannes Gravius. The first 4 books had appeared in 1566, and they were first printed in the original Greek in 1710. Norman 58; DSB I, p. 179; Brunet I, 348.

Folio (296 x 198mm). Half-title, errata leaf, title printed in red and black, woodcut diagrams in text, woodcut initials, typographic ornaments, small slips pasted on pp.300, 312, 352 (occasional light spotting, small dampstain at extreme lower gutter in first quires). Modern sheep, gilt spine, red edges.

Special notice
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.

Brought to you by

Margaret Ford
Margaret Ford

More from Important Scientific Books from the Collection of Peter and Margarethe Braune

View All
View All