DIOPHANTUS of Alexandria. Arithmeticorum libri sex, Paris, sumptibus Hieronymi Drouart, 1621, folio, first edition of the original Greek text, with Latin translation by Claude Gaspar Bachet, title in red and black with publisher's device of thistles within baroque frame, woodcut diagrams, errata leaf (title wormed at outer margin, some browning, appendix leaves wormed with some loss), 19th-century half calf (upper joints cracked). [Hoffman II, 109; Brunet II, 731; Honeyman 891 (variant title page)]

Details

DIOPHANTUS of Alexandria. Arithmeticorum libri sex, Paris, sumptibus Hieronymi Drouart, 1621, folio, first edition of the original Greek text, with Latin translation by Claude Gaspar Bachet, title in red and black with publisher's device of thistles within baroque frame, woodcut diagrams, errata leaf (title wormed at outer margin, some browning, appendix leaves wormed with some loss), 19th-century half calf (upper joints cracked). [Hoffman II, 109; Brunet II, 731; Honeyman 891 (variant title page)]

Lot Essay

The most important work of Diophantus, a Greek mathematicians of the the third century, containing a tract on polygonal numbers as well as the six books of the Arithmetica. Although a previous Latin edition had appeared in 1575, this edition is important since it directed Fermat's attention to the theory of numbers. Another edition containing Fermat's own commentaries was published at Toulouse in 1670.

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