Mathematics. VIVIANI. De maximis, et minimis geometrica divinatio in quintum conicorum Apolonii Pergaei adhuc desideratum [..]

VIVIANI, Vincenzo. De maximis, et minimis geometrica divinatio in quintum conicorum Apolonii Pergaei adhuc desideratum. Liber primus [-secundus]. 

Firenze, Ioseph Cocchini, 1659 

2 parti in un volume in-folio, 306x222 mm. Legatura coeva in piena pergamena con unghie, titolo su tassello al dorso liscio. Pagine [16, compresi Occhietto e Frontespizio], 154, una tavola incisa in rame su doppia pagina [dopo p. 30]; Pagine [4, compreso Front.], 154, [2], 2 tavole in xilografia a piena pagina fuori testo [dopo p. 76 e 78]. 2 Frontespizi in rosso e nero con stemma dei Medici inciso in legno, numerosi diagrammi nel testo, Testatine, Finalini e Iniziali xilografiche, tre tavole fuori testo, una su doppia pagina incisa in rame e due a piena pagina in xilografia. Tracce d’uso alla legatura, fogli di guardia posteriori, sporadiche macchie, strappo restaurato sull’ultima carta con piccola perdita.

Rara prima edizione. Pietra miliare della storia della matematica: questa notevole ricostruzione del V libro delle Coniche di Apollonio rese celebre Viviani, allievo di Galileo e Torricelli. Riccardi: “Raro e pregiato”.

Libri: “Most able restitution of the lost Fifth Book of the Conic Sections of Apollonius Pergaeus, made previously to the discovery of Borelli of its existence in an Arabic Version. When the Latin Version of that discovery was published, and Geometricians were able to compare the two works, Viviani's reputation became immense, as it was rendered clear that not only had he divined what Apollonius wrote, but had gone much deeper into the subject. This is the rarest of Viviani’s works…” Hildebrant & Tromba: “(Viviani) published his results on what is now called the Steiner problem (although the designation Fermat problem would be more appropriate) as an appendix to his celebrated reconstruction of the fifth book of Apollonius's Conic Sections where the ancient author treated maximum and minimum problems related to conic sections.” 

Boschiero: “Viviani’s De maximis et minimis turned out to be an excellent prediction of Apollonius’ propositions and geometrical demonstrations of normal to conics. A. Natucci, the only historian to have noted the accuracy of Viviani’s restoration, even suggests that once the translation of Apollonius’ work was published under Borelli’s editorship, ‘it then became possible to ascertain the substantial similarity between the two works.’ Indeed, not only did Viviani manage to provide propositions similar to those in Apollonius’ original treatise, but the logical construction of the geometrical demonstrations also closely resembled the original text”.

Cinti 135; Libri Cat., Auction 1861, nr.3138; Hildebrant & Tromba, The Parsimonious Universe, p. 92; Riccardi, II, 625; Honeyman 3061; Boschiero, ‘Post-Galilean Thought and Experiment in Seventeenth-century Italy: The Life and Work of Vincenzio Viviani, ’History of Science 43 (2005), pp. 77-100; Heath, A History of Greek Mathematics, vol. II, 1921. Neugebauer, ‘The astronomical origin of the theory of conic sections,’ Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 92 (1948), pp. 136-138; Toomer (ed.), Apollonius Conics Books V to VII, 1990.