Euclides - De gli elementi d’Euclide libri quinidici - 1575

(MATHEMATICS; ILLUSTRATED; FIRST EDITIONS) EUCLIDES
De gli elementi d’Euclide libri quinidici con gli scholii antichi tradotti prima in lingua latina da M. Federico Commandino da Urbino, & con commentarij illustrati, et hora d’ordine dell’isttesso trasportati nella nostra vulgare, & da lui riveduti. In Urbino, appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575
§ 4to (310x210); [8], 278 leaves, signature: []2, **4, ***2, A-Z4, AA-ZZ4, AAa-ZZz4, AAAa2. All pages with typographical border; Richly illustrated with diagrams on most pages; woodcut initials. First 85 leaves annotated with added diagrams on margins. Handwritten ex libris in an ancient hand on title page (Petri Rajmondi Sica) Contemporary vellum. A tear on back cover. Marginal stains at first and last leaves, unobtrusive worm hole on right margin of the second half of the book, slight browning/foxing at very few pages. Very good copy.
First Italian edition of Commandino translation of Euclid, previously printed in Latin in 1572. Commandino studied philosophy and medicine, but he developed a deep interest for mathematics and he is best known for his translations from Greek of some of the great mathematicians of the classical antiquity, such as Aristarchus of Samos Pappus of Alexandria and Archimedes of Syracuse. “In 1572, ... C. published the Euclidis Elementorum libri XV una cum scholiis antiquis commentariisque illustrati (Pisauri, apud Camillum Francischinum), translation from the Greek with relative comment that marks a turning point for the diffusion of Euclidean doctrines ... in the Prolegomena to Euclid he also traces the history of mathematics and uses Proclus' comment to distinguish the mathematical Euclid from the homonymous philosopher of Megara.” (Bianca, translated). Euclid’s Elements represents one of the most influential works in the history of mathematics: “... Euclid stayed in Alexandria, and the school of mathematics that formed around him continued for centuries. ... Euclid ... did write the greatest mathematical textbook of all time. In The Elements, he gave the world a masterly explanation of the universal principles of mathematics, presented in such an ordered, lucid way that it was still being used as a textbook 2300 years later and, according to one scholar, ‘has exercised an influence on the human mind grater than that of any other work except the Bible’.” (Frankopan, p. 37) Indeed, it has been defined “the oldest mathematical textbook in the world” (PMM).
 RICCARDI, I (1), 363-364 “Raro”; CONCETTA BIANCA Commandino, Federico In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani; THOMAS-STANFORD 42; BM STC It., p. 568; HONEYMAN II, 1009 and 1010; PMM, 25; PETER FRANKOPAN The map of knowledge London, Picador, 2019