Geometria prattica tratta dagl'Elementi d'Euclide et di altri Auttori.

Roma: Stefano Paolini,, 1599. Renaissance illustrated geometry First edition of this richly illustrated treatise on applied geometry, structured as a manual for surveyors, geographers, cosmographers, civil and military architects, and "any other virtuous person". The Venetian mathematician Pomodoro had prepared 44 plates before his premature death; Scala took on the task of completing the treatise by adding detailed descriptions and 7 more plates. After the first Italian publication of Euclid's Elements in 1545 in Venice, geometry started to be seen as a powerful tool for measuring reality, and therefore managing and transforming the world. Unlike the numerous purely theoretical treatises of the period, Geometria prattica was aimed at providing methods for solving everyday problems. It "favoured the diffusion of scientific notions and solutions between clients and common people... The good fortune of Pomodoro's treatise is in offering to his contemporaries a work suited to the needs of clients - increasingly numerous and demanding, useful for practical administrative needs, simple in format and smart in contents... Pomodoro's drawings have a peculiar graphical quality, being a smart visual guide for professionals" (Brusaporci, pp. 201-17). The work begins with a presentation of the necessary instruments for drawing and surveying, including different types of compasses, rulers, goniometers, and the "surveyor cross" (a particular measuring tool for surveyors). Pomodoro's plates from II to XXX are dedicated to geometric definitions (i.e. what is a point) and calculations related to all basic shapes; plates from XXXI to XLIV illustrate – by superimposing geometric diagrams on landscapes and architectural plans - how to measure distances and areas in real-life settings, featuring human characters in contemporary civilian and military dress, or nude. Scala's additional plates focus on solids and buildings. Giovanni Pomodoro (d. before 1599), renowned astronomer and land surveyor, was active in the contemporary European cultural context and a well-educated scholar – in his plate XXVIII, he quotes Albrecht Dürer. Giovanni Scala (fl. 1547-1599) was a military engineer from Friuli, author of a treatise on fortifications. From his introduction to the reader, it appears that Scala knew Pomodoro's brother and accepted his request to finish and publish this work. Folio (345 x 237 mm). Engraved title page with scrollwork cartouche and coat of arms of the dedicatee, Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, 51 full-page engraved plates, woodcut ornate initials and tailpieces. Contemporary vellum over boards. Binding bright and firm with some stains, small hole to front joint and crack to vellum of lower cover, intermittent damp stain to lower margins at gutter, some light browning and spots to contents, crude early repair to lower margin of one leaf, but overall internally clean. A very attractive copy, the plates executed with clear impression. USTC 850265; EDIT 16 CNCE 28377; not in Adams. S. Brusaporci, "Giovanni Pomodoro (XVI Century)" in Distinguished Figures in Descriptive Geometry and Its Applications for Mechanism Science, 2016.