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Elementa geometriae, translated by Adelard of Bath, edited by Johannes Campanus. Venice: Erhard Ratdolt, 25 May 1482.
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EUCLIDES (fl. c.300 B.C.)
Elementa geometriae, translated by Adelard of Bath, edited by Johannes Campanus. Venice: Erhard Ratdolt, 25 May 1482.
First edition of 'the oldest textbook in the history of science' (Norman), 'a monument of typography' (Kelly) and a work which has 'exercised an influence upon the human mind greater than that of any other work except the Bible' (DSB 4, p.415). A brilliant compilation and refinement of earlier mathematical knowledge, the Elements remained a standard textbook for more than two millennia. One of the most famous geometric proofs - 'Pythagoras's theorem' - is in fact due to Euclid, and it is stated as proposition 47 in Book I. The 'decisive influence of Euclid's geometrical conception of mathematics is reflected in two of the supreme works in the history of thought, Newton's Principia and Kant's Kritik der reinen Vernunft' (DSB p.425). Euclid is accepted as the author of the first 13 books, while book 14 is considered the work of Hypsicles, and book 15 belongs to the school of Isidorus Milesius (see Hillard 776).
Ratdolt's first edition of the Elements is not only 'one of the great classics in the history of science [but also] a masterpiece of early typographical ability and ingenuity' (Buhler). 'Ratdolt created geometric diagrams which are so finely wrought that the method of manufacture still baffles historians of printing. The most accepted theory today is that they were made from bent rules or perhaps cast metal shapes, but we cannot be sure how such consistent, thin and accurate lines were printed' (Kelly).
Variants occur in the first quire; the present copy agrees with the main entry in GW and Anm. 2. Furthermore, the Glasgow Incunabula Project notes discrepancies in the marginal diagrams; the present copy has one diagram on d1r and 3 on d1v and 2 diagrams on e1r. Goff E-113; HC *6693; BMC V, 285; Flodr 170 Eucl.1; GW 9428; Bod-inc. E-036; BSB-Ink. E-106; Klebs 383.1; Norman 729; Redgrave 26; PMM 25; Thomas-Stanford 1a; ISTC ie00113000.
Chancery folio (303 x 208mm). 138 leaves, with the final blank, incipit on a2r printed in red, woodcut three-quarter vine-work border opening text [Redgrave border 3, perhaps by Bernhard Maler], woodcut white-on-black initials, numerous text diagrams (occasional faint spotting, a few tiny holes repaired in first and last leaves, washed and pressed). Late 19th-century brown morocco gilt by F. Bedford, gilt edges; modern burgundy morocco-backed box. Provenance: Cremona, Convent of S. Himerius, Discalced Carmelites (stamps on first 2 leaves) – Sir William Augustus Fraser, BT, of Ledeclune and Morar (1826-98; armorial bookplate, sale Sotheby’s 22 April 1901, lot 573) – Clarence S. Bement (1843-1923; bookplate, not in his 1923 sale) – Richard L. Adams (monogram bookplate).
Elementa geometriae, translated by Adelard of Bath, edited by Johannes Campanus. Venice: Erhard Ratdolt, 25 May 1482.
First edition of 'the oldest textbook in the history of science' (Norman), 'a monument of typography' (Kelly) and a work which has 'exercised an influence upon the human mind greater than that of any other work except the Bible' (DSB 4, p.415). A brilliant compilation and refinement of earlier mathematical knowledge, the Elements remained a standard textbook for more than two millennia. One of the most famous geometric proofs - 'Pythagoras's theorem' - is in fact due to Euclid, and it is stated as proposition 47 in Book I. The 'decisive influence of Euclid's geometrical conception of mathematics is reflected in two of the supreme works in the history of thought, Newton's Principia and Kant's Kritik der reinen Vernunft' (DSB p.425). Euclid is accepted as the author of the first 13 books, while book 14 is considered the work of Hypsicles, and book 15 belongs to the school of Isidorus Milesius (see Hillard 776).
Ratdolt's first edition of the Elements is not only 'one of the great classics in the history of science [but also] a masterpiece of early typographical ability and ingenuity' (Buhler). 'Ratdolt created geometric diagrams which are so finely wrought that the method of manufacture still baffles historians of printing. The most accepted theory today is that they were made from bent rules or perhaps cast metal shapes, but we cannot be sure how such consistent, thin and accurate lines were printed' (Kelly).
Variants occur in the first quire; the present copy agrees with the main entry in GW and Anm. 2. Furthermore, the Glasgow Incunabula Project notes discrepancies in the marginal diagrams; the present copy has one diagram on d1r and 3 on d1v and 2 diagrams on e1r. Goff E-113; HC *6693; BMC V, 285; Flodr 170 Eucl.1; GW 9428; Bod-inc. E-036; BSB-Ink. E-106; Klebs 383.1; Norman 729; Redgrave 26; PMM 25; Thomas-Stanford 1a; ISTC ie00113000.
Chancery folio (303 x 208mm). 138 leaves, with the final blank, incipit on a2r printed in red, woodcut three-quarter vine-work border opening text [Redgrave border 3, perhaps by Bernhard Maler], woodcut white-on-black initials, numerous text diagrams (occasional faint spotting, a few tiny holes repaired in first and last leaves, washed and pressed). Late 19th-century brown morocco gilt by F. Bedford, gilt edges; modern burgundy morocco-backed box. Provenance: Cremona, Convent of S. Himerius, Discalced Carmelites (stamps on first 2 leaves) – Sir William Augustus Fraser, BT, of Ledeclune and Morar (1826-98; armorial bookplate, sale Sotheby’s 22 April 1901, lot 573) – Clarence S. Bement (1843-1923; bookplate, not in his 1923 sale) – Richard L. Adams (monogram bookplate).
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Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts