Archimedes opera quae extant

Paris: Claude Morellum, 1615. Title in red and black with printer’s device, ornamental initials, head- and tailpieces, woodcut mathematical diagrams throughout. Greek, Roman and Italic type. Contemporary calf, rebacked; inner margins of last dozen leaves waterstained, otherwise a very nice copy with contemporary annotations and the contemporary ownership signature of Thomas Willughby on the title page. The complete works of Archimedes, the first edition edited by David Rivault. It contains all Archimedes’ monumental contributions to science: his discovery of the principle of specific gravity and methods for calculating the centres, circle measurements, the quadrature of the parabola and spirals, techniques of analysis, his theoretical work on mechanics and hydrostatics, an approximation of the value of π, and his treatment of the numeration of large numbers.

Archimedes of Syracuse (c. 287-212 BC) was the finest scientist and mathematician of the ancient world. He created mechanics and was a pioneer in the fields of statics and hydrostatics. According to Gauss, Archimedes had only Newton as a mathematical equal.