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Details
EUCLIDES (FL. C. 300B.C.)
Elementa geometria, in Arabic. Translation ascribed to Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d.1274). Rome: Typographia Medicea, 1594. 2° (325 x 220mm). Arabic type in 2 sizes by Robert Granjon. Issue with title in Arabic only. 629 diagrams and mathematical figures [Mortimer's count], all pages within double-rule border, xylographic heading on title verso and headings for each book, arabesque type ornaments. (Browned, some worming, mostly marginal and mostly repaired.) 18th-century vellum (restored).
FIRST ARABIC EDITION -- 'possibly the most remarkable of all printed editions of Euclid' (Thomas-Stanford, p.17). The text is an important and detailed Arabic recension ascribed (probably wrongly, cf. DSB) to the 13th-century Persian astronomer and philosopher, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. Only two manuscripts survive, both in Florence at the Laurenziana. It was printed at the press established by Ferdinando de' Medici under Pope Gregory XIII, which was founded to disseminate works in oriental languages. According to contemporary documents, the Euclid was planned as an edition of 3000 copies, almost two-thirds of which remained unsold in the 18th century, no doubt owing to the paucity of Arabic readers of Euclid. Thomas-Stanford distinguished two variants, with and without a Latin title. Adams E-990; Mortimer, Harvard Italian, 175; Thomas-Stanford 46a.
Elementa geometria, in Arabic. Translation ascribed to Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d.1274). Rome: Typographia Medicea, 1594. 2° (325 x 220mm). Arabic type in 2 sizes by Robert Granjon. Issue with title in Arabic only. 629 diagrams and mathematical figures [Mortimer's count], all pages within double-rule border, xylographic heading on title verso and headings for each book, arabesque type ornaments. (Browned, some worming, mostly marginal and mostly repaired.) 18th-century vellum (restored).
FIRST ARABIC EDITION -- 'possibly the most remarkable of all printed editions of Euclid' (Thomas-Stanford, p.17). The text is an important and detailed Arabic recension ascribed (probably wrongly, cf. DSB) to the 13th-century Persian astronomer and philosopher, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. Only two manuscripts survive, both in Florence at the Laurenziana. It was printed at the press established by Ferdinando de' Medici under Pope Gregory XIII, which was founded to disseminate works in oriental languages. According to contemporary documents, the Euclid was planned as an edition of 3000 copies, almost two-thirds of which remained unsold in the 18th century, no doubt owing to the paucity of Arabic readers of Euclid. Thomas-Stanford distinguished two variants, with and without a Latin title. Adams E-990; Mortimer, Harvard Italian, 175; Thomas-Stanford 46a.
Provenance
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 26 November 1987, lot 78 (to Dreesmann).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. Y-34).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. Y-34).
Special notice
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