Sex libris priores, de geometricis principis, Graeci & Latini … — Basel 1550

Sex libris priores, de geometricis principis, Graeci & Latini … — Baseliae, per Ioannem Hervagium, [colophon:] M. D. L. Mensis Septembri [Basel, Hervagen, Sept. 1550.

Folio (314 x 209 mm). a⁴ A-Z, Aa-Pp⁴, Qq⁶: (4) leaves, 615, (1) pp.

Contemporary limp vellum. First edition in both Greek & Latin.

Provenance: Contemporary annotations on pp. 83, 107, 147, 153; in a different hand: 3, 114, 151.

„It is a handsome book, with the diagrams on a large scale and printed on better paper than the other Basle editions.“ (Thomas-Stanford p. 8).

The introduction by Johann Scheubel (1494-1570) on pages 1-76 was printed separately as Algebra compendiosa facilisque descriptio … in 1551and 1552 in Paris (Smith, Rara Arithmetica, p. 252), and later in Basel. The German algebraist Johannes Scheubel lectured in Tübingen; he is known as one of the forerunners of algebra in Europe. In 1555 he published his translation into German of Euclid’s books vii-ix. – Steck, Bibliographia Euclideana, p. 64 (III 49); Adams E 1012; Hoffmann II 39;  VD16 E 4145. Except for a few scattered ink stains here and there a fine, unsophisticated copy with ample margins.