Christopher Clavius or Schlüssel - Euclidis Elementorum Libri XV or Euclid's Elements in 15 Books - 1589

RARE ILLUSTRATED SECOND EDITION about Euclid's geometry by Christopher Clavius or Schlüssel (1538-1612), famous mathematician because he invented our calendar still in use and was nicknamed by his contemporaries the "Euclid of the 16th century". This edition of 1589 includes two volumes, with original and antique bindings, about 650 illustrations and diagrams in the text and 1877 pages, each volume has its own title and date. A complete and fundamental work for geometry, mathematics, trigonometry, astronomy, optics, cartography and geography. He was probably the most respected mathematician and astronomer in Europe and his textbooks were used for astronomical education for over fifty years in and even out of Europe. These two volumes "Euclidis Elementorum Libri XV" or Euclid's Elements Books 15, solve hundreds of problems, theorems and calculations using the theories of Euclid (300 BC) but also of other scientists of the past and of the time such as Jacques Pelletier du Mans (1517–1582), Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 a.C.), Gerolamo Cardano (1501–1576), Apollonius of Perga (240–190 BC), Claudius Ptolemy (100–170 d.C.), François de Foix (1512–1594), Theodosius of Bithynia (2nd–1st century BC), Hypsicles (190–120 BC)...etc. Second edition, expanded and improved (1877 pages) compared to the first edition of 1574 (only 1262 pages), of Clavius' main work.

Both volumes open with an allegorical title containing portraits of Archimedes of Syracuse and Euclid who are carrying compasses, squares, polygons and measuring instruments. The work was printed in Rome in 1589 and is dedicated to Charles Emmanuel I or Carlo Emanuele di Savoia (1562–1630). Christopher Clavius ​​was a German Jesuit mathematician native of Bamberg who taught mathematics/geometry/astronomy at the Collegio Romano (Jesuit's Roman College) in Rome, was also the Vatican's chief astronomer at the time of Galileo's first telescopic discoveries, his doing so effectively silenced the first wave of opposition to Galileo. "Euclidis Elementorum Libri XV" or Euclid's Elements Book XV, it is focused on perspective, conic sections, flat and three-dimensional figures, solids, spherical geometry, number theory, various calculations, optics, geometry and mathematical rigour. Christopher Clavius' achievement consists of assembling accepted mathematical knowledge into a cogent order and adding new proofs to fill in the gaps. For example, using the Prussian Tables of Erasmus Reinhold (1511-1553) and building on the work of Aloysius Lilius or Luigi Lilio (1510–1576), he proposed a calendar reform that was adopted in 1582 in Catholic countries by order of Pope Gregory XIII and is now the Gregorian calendar used worldwide. The Christopher Clavius' "In Sphaera" a commentary on the so-called Spheres of Johannes de Sacrobosco (1195–1256), along with this book on “Euclid's Elements,” became the most influential textbooks on astronomy, geometry and mathematics of its time.

Title: Euclidis Elementorum libri XV: accessit XVI. de solidorum regularium cuiuslibet intra quodlibet et comparatione...(Euclid's Elements Books 15: He reached 16, of regular solids of any within any and comparison). Published by Barthololaeum Grassium (Bartolomeo Grassi), MDLXXXIX (1589). The two volumes contains the 13 books of Euclid's Elements, as well as three suprious books. Book 14 is traditionally attributed to Hipsicles of Alexandria; book 15, once incorrectly attributed to Hipsicles, has been attributed to several men; and book 16 is by François de Foix. Text in Latin.

Description: in 8vo size, height 185 x width 143mm or 7.3 by 5.7 inches. First volume; 16 unnumbered pages + 918 numbered pages + 2 unnumbered pages. Second volume; 959 numbered pages + 97 unnumbered pages for index, tables and register. Two allegorical frontispieces in copper, with the figures of Archimedes and Euclid, rich iconographic set composed of hundreds of illustrations-diagrams within the text, many ornamental vignettes and drop caps. Two ancient and solid bindings in parchment and with renewed endpapers. Well printed characters and illustrations, small stains and oxidations more or less light or intense and scattered here and there for at least 15% of the total pages, but all in all the work is in good condition for its age. RARE COMPLETE SECOND EDITION.

References: Adams E-987; OPAC ID: 134367; Heath 105 (1574 edition). Adams E-985 (1574 edition); STC Italian 238 (1574 edition); Bibliografia Euclidea 422-423 (1574 edition); Sommervogel II, 1214 (1574 edition); Lattis, J. 1994, Between Copernicus and Galileo: Christopher Clavius and the collapse of Ptolemaic Astronomy (Chicago: The University of ChicagoPress).

Author: Christopher Clavius or Christoph Clau oder Schlüssel (1538-1612) was a Jesuit German mathematician, head of mathematicians at the Collegio Romano in Rome, and astronomer who was a member of the Vatican commission that accepted the proposed calendar invented by Aloysius Lilius, that is known as the Gregorian calendar. Clavius would later write defences and an explanation of the reformed calendar, including an emphatic acknowledgement of Lilius' work. Clavius ​​wrote several mathematics books, including a commentary on Euclid (1574) and on the most important astronomy textbook of the late Middle Ages, the Sphaera of Johannes de Sacrobosco. He was probably the most respected astronomer in Europe and his textbooks were used for astronomical education for over fifty years in and even out of Europe.

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