Archimedes | Opera ..., Basel, 1544, three works in one volume, editiones principes

Archimedes

[Archimedus tu syrakusiu, ta mechri nyn sozomena, hapanta]. Opera, quae quidem extant, omnia, multis iam seculis desiderata. ... Basel: Johannes Herwagen, (March) 1544

Editiones principes of the works of Archimedes that were known about at this date.

The Greek text survived from antiquity through a single Byzantine manuscript, which was copied for Cardinal Bessarion in the mid-fifteenth century; Bessarion was also instrumental in kindling Regiomontanus's interest in Archimedes. The text was prepared by the Lutheran preacher Thomas Gechauff of Nuremberg, and the accompanying Latin version is the translation by Jacobus Cremonensis (ca. 1450), also based on the surviving Byzantine manuscript. This translation was copied in Rome by Regiomontanus, who made emendations and alterations through comparison with Bessarion's copy of the Greek original, in preparation for a printed edition of Archimedes which never came about; the manuscript returned with him to Nuremberg (it is now in the Stadtbibliothek).

Gechauff's prefaces are addressed to the city council of Nuremberg. The Neoplatonic scholar Eutocius of Ascalon (ca. 480–540) wrote commentaries on Archimedes and on Apollonius' Conics which probably helped the survival of these texts beyond antiquity. Gechauff's edition broadcast the mathematical and mechanical ideas of Archimedes across Europe to be utilised by Galileo, Kepler, and numerous others. Although this edition was printed the year after Copernicus's death, it does contain the passage where Archimedes discusses Aristarchus of Samos's description of a heliocentric universe.

3 parts in one volume, folio (317 x 216 mm). Text in Greek and Latin, woodcut initials and diagrams, with blank leaf I4, woodcut printer's device on final verso (otherwise blank); some marginal dampstaining, one or two unobtrusive wormholes extending from final few gatherings into rear pastedown. Strictly contemporary German blindstamped pigskin with owner's initials ("I.W.D.") and date ("1544") stamped to upper cover, spine with raised bands in six compartments; binding somewhat stained.

REFERENCES

Printing and the Mind of Man 72; VD16 3217; USTC 612734; VD16 A 3217

PROVENANCE

Bound for a contemporary owner, with initials and date ("I.W.D. | 1544") blindstamped to upper cover — library stamp "S.B." to title-page, a1r, Ii2v, and top edge of textblock — effaced library stamp and deaccession stamp to verso of title