RICHARD DELAMAIN, ‘THE FIRST BOOKE OF EUCLIDE, CONTAYNING YE FIRST GROUNDS OF GEOMETRIE …
MANUSCRIPT, 1639
Auction: Day 1: Wednesday 20 August - Lots 1 - 296
Description
composed & thus ordered by R. Delamain in the ye 12 yeare of his age for ye Princes highnes’, 1639. Manuscript, oblong folio (32 x 20cm), contemporary vellum with diamond-form black morocco onlays gilt-tooled with Scottish wheel pattern and crest of the Prince of Wales, comprising 74 neat manuscript pages of Euclidean theory and illustrations
Provenance
Property from the Earls of Airlie
Footnote
This manuscript is presumably by Richard Delamain the younger, son of Richard Delamain the elder (1600-1644); both were mathematicians. Richard Delamain the elder was mathematics tutor to the young Charles II.
This reprint of the Ancient Greek mathematics philosopher, Euclid (first printed as early as 1482) shows the material that was being used by 17th century tutors. Regarded as the father of geometry, his work from Ancient Greece inspired and influenced later mathematicians like Isaac Newton and Nicolaus Copernicus.
Oliver Byrne in 1847 published ‘The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid’ which is regarded as a masterpiece of Victorian book design, considered 'one of the oddest and most beautiful books of the whole century' (McLean). Copies are also encountered in publisher's cloth bindings in various colours.