ARCHIMEDES; RIVAULT, David (editor).

Opera quae extant.

Stock Code

105578

Paris, Claude Morel, 1615

£6,300

First bilingual Rivault edition of the complete works of Archimedes (c.287-212 BC), the founder of hydrostatics and theoretical mechanics. Among his contributions to mathematics and science is his discovery of the principle of specific gravity, a method for calculating the centres of gravity, an approximation of the value of pi and a system for expressing very large numbers. Brunet considered this one of the two finest editions of Archimedes.

The editor, David Rivault (1571-1616), was an intimate of the great classical scholars Casaubon and Scaliger, as well as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Henry IV of France, and a tutor to Louis XIII from 1612 until he was dismissed for striking his charge's pet dog. Rivault is credited with discovering that water, when confined in a bombshell and heated, would explode the shell. His discovery is seen as one of the steps leading to the invention of the steam

Description

[Greek and Latin text] Second edition, first bilingual edition, folio, (33.5 x 21.6 cm); title page in red and black with printer's device, numerous woodcut mathematical diagrams in text, ornamental head- and tailpieces and initials, pages browned, evidence of wormholes at the top centre of R, S, T very close to the seam and Kk - Mm along the seam but not interfering with the text; 18th-century full vellum with gilt lettering to spine, edges in blue, mild wormholes on upper board and spine, some soiling to boards, corners slightly rubbed; [44] 549 pp. (i.e. 551 with frequent misnumberings).