Seville, En Casa de Alonso de la Barrera, 1576.. First Edition in Spanish. 4°, contemporary limp vellum (ties missing, light stains), vertical manuscript short author and title on spine, in a recent quarter brick-red morocco over reddish-orange cloth folding box. Large woodcut arms of dedicatee on title-page. Numerous woodcut geometric designs in text. Large (13-line) woodcut initial on first page of text; a few 4- and 5-line initials. Woodcut vignette tailpiece. Crisp. Light dampstain in lower blank margin of final 20 leaves. In fine condition. Bookplate from the Landau library, number 64704. 121, (1) ll., signed A4, B-P8, Q4, R2. A4 missigned "4", M2 missigned "M3". Leaf 11 unnumbered, 51 misnumbered 42, 78 misnumbered 70, 84 misnumbered 76, 103 misnumbered 102, 105 misnumbered 108, and 116 misnumbered 108. *** First Edition in Spanish, and the only edition of this translation prior to a Salamanca 1999 reprint. It is also the first printing of any text by Euclid in Spain, in any language. Zamorano (b. 1542) was professor of cosmography at the Casa de la Contratación de las Indias, as well as an astrologer and mathematician. He later became piloto mayor to King Philip II and wrote the official navigation manual of the Spanish Navy at the time of the Armada. In the present book, he emphasizes the sciences of mechanics, astronomy, and cosmography. Thomas-Stanford comments that this volume has the appearance of a schoolbook, which would account for its rarity, and notes that the few copies he had been able to examine were rather worn (pp. 16-17). Euclid’s Elements, a collection of definitions, axioms, theorems, and proofs in 13 books (of which six are included in this translation) is the oldest extant deductive treatment of mathematics, and played an important role in the development of logic and modern science. One of the world’s most successful and influential textbooks, it was first published in Venice, 1482, and has appeared in over a thousand editions. *** Thomas-Stanford 43. Adams E1018. BL, Pre-1601 Spanish STC p. 74 (British Library copy with title-page mutilated). Palau 84721. Beardsley 95 (listing copies at the Biblioteca Nacional de España and University of Michigan). Catálogo colectivo E903. Salvá 2570. Heredia 4494. Steck III, 88. Duarte, Euclides, Arquimedes, Newton pp. 46, 48. Honeyman 1011. Riccardi, Bibliografia euclidea, 1576 (1). Not in HSA. CCPBE locates sixteen copies. Not located in Rebiun (which cites Salamanca 1999 and Mairena del Aljarafe 2006 editions). Jisc repeats the two copies at Cambridge University. Not in Orbis (which lists the Salamanca 1999 edition at SML). KVK (51 databases searched) adds one copy at Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale-Roma, and one at Biblioteca Casanatense-Roma. NUC: MiU, MB.
