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MARTINUS BLASIUS, Joannes (fl. ca. 1500). Liber arithmetice practice astrologis phisicis et calculatoribus admodium utilis. Paris: Thomas Kees for J. Petit and J. Lambert, 1513.
4o (277 x 201 mm). Title printed in red and black, gothic letter, double-column. Woodcut title border surrounding Petit's device (Davies 93), woodcut diagrams and initials. (Lower corner of title renewed, some pale spotting and light browning.) Later vellum-backed boards (front joint cracked). Provenance: some early marginalia.
FIRST EDITION. "Although an algorism, the work is mediaeval in character. The author first discusses the fundamental operations with integers, including series and roots as was the custom, but not considering duplation and mediation as distinct topics. He is one of the earliest writers to adopt the spelling subtractio, for subtraction, a custom more or less followed by the Dutch and English arithmeticians for several generations" (Smith Rara Arithmetica, pp.95-97). This was the most popular work by Blasius, a Spanish astrologer and mathematician. RARE: the last copy to appear at auction was the Honeyman copy, sold 1978. Adams M-745; Palau 156382.
4o (277 x 201 mm). Title printed in red and black, gothic letter, double-column. Woodcut title border surrounding Petit's device (Davies 93), woodcut diagrams and initials. (Lower corner of title renewed, some pale spotting and light browning.) Later vellum-backed boards (front joint cracked). Provenance: some early marginalia.
FIRST EDITION. "Although an algorism, the work is mediaeval in character. The author first discusses the fundamental operations with integers, including series and roots as was the custom, but not considering duplation and mediation as distinct topics. He is one of the earliest writers to adopt the spelling subtractio, for subtraction, a custom more or less followed by the Dutch and English arithmeticians for several generations" (Smith Rara Arithmetica, pp.95-97). This was the most popular work by Blasius, a Spanish astrologer and mathematician. RARE: the last copy to appear at auction was the Honeyman copy, sold 1978. Adams M-745; Palau 156382.