Jeffrey Kral
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Mathematics
Lot 4
TARTAGLIA, NICOLO. 1500-1557. Quesiti, et inventioni diverse. Venice: Nicolo de Bascarini, for the author. 1554.
31 March – 8 April 2025, 12:00 EDT
Online, New YorkUS$1,000 - US$1,500
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TARTAGLIA, NICOLO. 1500-1557.
Quesiti, et inventioni diverse. Venice: Nicolo de Bascarini, for the author. 1554.
4to (209 x 155 mm). Woodcut portrait on title, woodcut illustrations in text, woodcut folding plate tipped to foremargin of leaf S3. Modern quarter vellum and grey boards, titled in gilt on upper covers, gilt foliate decorations on spine. Leaves slightly warped, dampstaining, browning.
Second edition of Tartaglia's continuation of the discussion of ballistics begun in Nova scientia, including the addendum to book 6 which provides one of the most important early works on fortifications. In this work, Tartaglia observes for the first time that the trajectory of a projectile follows a curve (correcting what he had written in Nova scientia. It also contains a way of solving cubic equations, which had been considered impossible until only a few years earlier: though Tartaglia had discovered the solution in 1535, he did not publish it right away — it was revealed when Girolamo Cardano had published Tartaglia's solution in 1545, without permission. Adams T184; Breman Writings on Architecture 293; Tomash & Williams T10 (first edition of 1546).
4to (209 x 155 mm). Woodcut portrait on title, woodcut illustrations in text, woodcut folding plate tipped to foremargin of leaf S3. Modern quarter vellum and grey boards, titled in gilt on upper covers, gilt foliate decorations on spine. Leaves slightly warped, dampstaining, browning.
Second edition of Tartaglia's continuation of the discussion of ballistics begun in Nova scientia, including the addendum to book 6 which provides one of the most important early works on fortifications. In this work, Tartaglia observes for the first time that the trajectory of a projectile follows a curve (correcting what he had written in Nova scientia. It also contains a way of solving cubic equations, which had been considered impossible until only a few years earlier: though Tartaglia had discovered the solution in 1535, he did not publish it right away — it was revealed when Girolamo Cardano had published Tartaglia's solution in 1545, without permission. Adams T184; Breman Writings on Architecture 293; Tomash & Williams T10 (first edition of 1546).