Page 6 - Catálogo #78 2020 Bostn Virtual Book Fair

Librería José Porrúa Turanzas 2020 Boston Virtual Book Fair

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO ALGEBRA OF HIS TIME
3. CARDANO, Girolamo. Opus novum de proportionibus numerorum. [Together with:]
Artis magnae, sive, de regulis algebraicis, liber unus, qui et totius operis de Arithme-
tica. [Together with:] De aliza regula liber, hoc est, algebraicae logisticae suae. Basel,
Henricus Petri, 1570. 3 parts in volume. Folio (300 x 190)mm. (16), 270 pp., (1) bl.,
163 pp., (8), 111, (1) pp. Numerous diagrams and illustrations. Contemporary calf, gilt
estamped on covers; spine gilt, spine restored on top. 14,000 € / US$ $16,320
First edition of this important mathematical work, and second edition of the Ars Magna,
the most significant contribution to algebra of his time. The Opus includes Cardano’s
three works on proportions, his studies on arithmetic, and the “Ars magna”, his great
treatise on algebra, in which he publishes Tartaglia’s method of solving third and fourth
degree equations. The work contains interesting physics studies also. Smith says of
Cardano’s Arithmetic that it was one of the most influential during the sixteenth century,
being used by scholars; it contains numerous commercial applications, more theoretical
than practical. The work also contains Cardano’s experiments in relation to the densities
of water and air. Good copy boud.
References: Ricardi I, 256; Smith p. 338; Adams C689; Honeyman 594

— 6 — — 7 —