18. Leipziger - abooks

Antiquariat Michael Kühn
ground developed Guarini’s magnum opus on geometry, the Euclides Adauctus et methodicus mathematicaque universalis
published in 1671. Guarini, therefore, falls well within the tradition of Euclidean commentators. His interest
for the discipline went beyond the mere content, however, as Euclidean geometry was for him a sort of universal key for
human knowledge. The extent to which Guarini considered Euclidean norms as the basis of every scientific work is also
clear from another work of his, the Trattato di Fortificazione, where the Euclidean basic definitions of point, line, etc.
are provided at the very beginning as a kind of conditional entry to the topic. The same approach occurs with his Del
modo di Misurare le fabbriche, a booklet on mensuration.- Cicognara 524; Riccardi I, 636; STC, XVII sec. I, 423. DBI
LX, 369-378; Cat. Vinciana 1574; Macclesfield 950; Thieme-Becker XV, 174 ff.; Turner [ed.] Dict. Art XIII, 748 ff.;
Enc.Arch. 265-279; E.C. Robinson. Optics and mathematics in the domes churches of G.G.; in: Journal of the Society of
Architectural Historians L (1991), 384 – 401; A. Mastrorilli. Scienza e meccanica in G. G. in: Quaderni dell’Istituto di
storia dell’architettura I (1998), 47-68; Michele Sbacchi. Euclidism and Theory of Architecture.
– Mathematisches Instrument –
Lupicini, Antonio. Discorso sopra la fabbrica delle nuove verghe astronomiche. Fiorenza:
appresso Giorgio Marescotti, 1582. 4° [205 x 150 mm]. 53 pp., [1]. With woodcut printer’s
mark on title and on last page, and 15 woodcuts (7 full-page). XVIII century half-vellum (recased,
new end-papers). Title fingermarked and with a library accession number, minuscule hole on
pages 7-8 not affecting printed surface, little foxing in places, otherwise a good copy. 2.400,-
Only edition with nice woodcuts of the instrument. Antonio Lupicini was a prominent military architect, hydraulic
engineer and astronomer born in Florence, who participated to the war of Florence against Siena in 1552. In 1578
he was sent to the Emperor Rudolf II by his employer, the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, in order to improve the fortifications
of Vienna against the Turks, in 1584 he worked in Venice to secure protection of the lagoon against seaborne
attacks and later on, in 1589, he was active in the chaneling of the Arno in Florence and the drainage of Maremma
marshes. He published in the same year and by the same publisher an esteemed manual of military architecture.
This book is a richly illustrated manual for an instrument invented by the same Lupicini, consisting essentially of
an improved Galilean compass. Its design is very similar to the instrument of Jobst Bürgi, whose description was
published in 1603 by Hulsius. Its applications to several problems, especially in ballistics and fortification as
expected, but also in surveying and cartography, are discussed.Riccardi I/2, 59; Adams L-1723; 1499; Houzeau-
Lancaster 2741; Boffito (Gli strumenti della scienza) 91; not in Cockle, Daumas and Kiely.
– Proclus über Bewegung –
Valdagni, Giuseppe. Iosephi Valdanii medici Veronensis de mistione dialogi duo... Item
[P]rocli de motu libri duo ab eodem conuersi. Basileae [Basel]: Petrum Pernam, 1562. 8° [155
x 95 mm]. [8], 173 pp., [1, blank] Later halfvellum, titlepage restored in margins, with loss of a
single word [P] in Procli. Else good, with geometrical woodcut diagrams within text. 1.600,-
First edition, thus. A book on the greek stoic philosopher Chrysippus’ of Soli process of dissolution [Mischungslehre]:
the elements change into one another by a process of condensation and rarefaction. Based on works by Johannes Baptista
Montanus (1498-1551), one of the leading humanist physicians of Italy, a friend of the pioneering anatomist Andreas Vesalius.
Montanus promoted the revival of greek medical texts and practice. Included in this volume is the latin translation
of “Stoicheiosis physike he peri kineseos” [Institutio Physica, or Elements of Physics] of Proclus, a compendium of the
last five books of Aristotle’s De physica auscultatione. It consists of propositions and their proofs, after the model of
Euclid, and deals with motion along aristotelian lines. The first book begins with definitions of the continuous, of entities
touching and following each other, of the first time and place, and of rest. The propositions or theorems following these
definitions consider the properties of the indivisible and the divisible, particularly with respect to motion, infinity,
divisibility of time and magnitudeand motion and their mutual relations. From the 12th cent. latin translations of the text
circulated [seven manuscripts known], but the greek text was first published in Basel, 1531 by Simon Grynaeus, followed
by a latin edition of Martinus Cuneatis in 1542 [Paris] and a greek/ latin edition of Justus Velsius (approx. 1510-1581)
1545 by Herwagen [Basel]. A french translation was made by Forcadel in 1565. Ficino states thathe made a new translation
of the work, but his translation is lost. The sixteenth century saw three new translations, one of them by Francesco Patrizi.
About Giuseppe Valdagni ist not much known, a medicin in Verona in the 16th cent., who has written a book on theriacs
and on comets: Riposte ad alcune appositioni fatte contra il discorso [Hellmann 430jk] [Pizzamiglio. L’astrologia in italia
in all’ epoca di Galilei 79]. He might have been lecturing in Brixen.- not in Hoffmann III, 289; not in Hirsch, Honeyman,
et al. Bietenholz, Ital. Humanismus 135; Dimitri Nikulin. Physica more geometrico demonstrata: Natural Philosophy in
Proclus; in: Cleary/ Gurtler. Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Phil. pp. 163 ff.
Scherffer, Carl. Abhandlung über die geographische und orthographische Projektion
einer bey dem Pole zusammen gedrückten Elliptoide, wie auch über die Figur des Erdschattens
bey Mondfinsternissen. Wien: gedruckt bey Johann Thomas Trattnern, 1778.
8°. 93 pp., [3] with six fold. plates Blue plain later paperboards, fresh. 800,-
Early work on map projection by the learned Jesuit Karl Scherffer. Der Jesuit Karl Scherffer (1716-1783) war von
1748-1750 Lehrer der Mathematik in Graz und zuletzt auch Aufseher der Sternwarte daselbst, dann Mitglied der
philosophischen Fakultät der Universität zu Wien und 1751 öffentlicher Lehrer der Anfangsgründe der Mathematik
und Physik an derselben, später, nach Aufhebung des Ordens ordentlicher Professor der höheren Mathematik an
dieser Universität.- De Backer/S. VII, 771,27; Pogg. II, 791; Wurzbach XXIX,216; Giese 1608. KVK: Stabi Berlin,
Halle, Göttingen, Munich; COPAC: UCL [Graves copy], BL London; OCLC: only New York Public.
89