VIVIANI, Vincentio De maximis, et minimis geometrica divinatio in quintam Conicorum Apollonii Pergaei ad hunc desideratum...Liber primus ( - secundus)... Florence, Cocchini 1659. Two parts in 1 vol..
Folio. (8) lvs., 154 pp.; (2) lvs., 154 pp., (1) leaf. With repeated printer's device on titles, 2 plates with woodcut diagrams and 1 folding plate (divided in 2 parts) with engraved diagrams. Numerous text diagrams (woodcut). Contemporary leather (particularly front board with leather defects, spine renewed [remaining the original material], spine gilt, title on spine. First edition. Galileo's pupil Viviani attempted to restore the reputation of Apollonius of Perge - besides Euclid one of the most important of the classical mathematicians - with the writing of the 5th book on conic sections, a mathematician who had been totally forgotten in the meantime. Even while he was writing his work, books 5 - 7 of Apollonius himself were found in arabic handwriting and immediately translated into Latin. Viviani found support for his work in Ferdinand II. of Etruria: the translation from Arabic was kept secret and locked away, until such time as he had published his own work; he had no need to worry about accusations of plagiarism. The translation of Apollonius then appeared in print in 1661 (Pub. G.A. Borelli). The Sotheran-Catalogue summarises an assessment of Cantor's: "One of the very few reproductions, whose value can be judged by comparing with the exact wording of the original". One should perhaps mention, that in the Latin translation of the Arabic manuscript that one can hardly speak of "exact wording". As already mentioned concerning Cinti there are various older text corrections which have been carried out by sticking paper strips over the top of individual words, e.g. pp.15, 52, 118 (also Cinti) and p. 111. On the first and main title pages a stamp has been removed. Half title and 1st main title with erased stamp. Some lvs. browned and damp-stained, 1 leaf finger-stained, otherwise slightly browned only and clean. Wide margins. Cinti 153; Riccardi I, (2) 625 ("raro e pregiato"); Poggendorf II, 1213; Roller / G. II, 542 ("Landmarks of Science"); Sotheran I, 5114; Brunet V, 1335 ("Cet ouvrage savant se rencontre difficilement").
Euro5100
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