DÜRER, ALBRECHT. 1471-1528.

Underweysung der messung, mit dem zirckel unn richtscheyt in Linien ebnen unnd gantzen corporen. Nuremberg: [Hieronymus Andreas Formschneider], 1525.

Underweysung der messung, mit dem zirckel unn richtscheyt in Linien ebnen unnd gantzen corporen. Nuremberg: [Hieronymus Andreas Formschneider], 1525.
Folio (281 x 204 mm). 89 leaves (of 90 without final blank). Numerous woodcuts of geometrical diagrams and architectural renderings, two, on P4v and Q1r, extended with pasted-in folding slips to demonstrate a point in perspective, two figures on C5v and K1r printed on pasted-in cancel slips correcting the original figures; two half-page woodcuts showing artists using Dürer's drafting apparatus for drawing in perspective, the second with Dürer's monogram and dated 1525 (as are 2 of the triumphal column cuts); roman and gothic types. Modern morocco. Text with some minor staining.
Provenance: Mark Lansburgh (bookplate).

FIRST EDITION of one of the earliest mathematical works published in German. "Dürer's work first presented to northern Europe the completely new attitude to artistic creation which had crystallized in Italy during the Renaissance ... The Renaissance established a completely different aesthetic theory: the work of art as a representation of a natural object. The connection of the beautiful with the natural, of the work of art with what is correct (i.e. mathematical) was a typical concept of the Renaissance. In the illustration of these principles lies the great historical importance of Dürer's theoretical writings ... they were the foundation of accepted aesthetic dogma until the nineteenth century" (PMM). "Except for the Geometria Deutsch (c.1486-1487), a book of arithmetical rules for builders which Dürer knew and used, the Underweysung der messung is the first mathematics book in German. With its publication Dürer could claim a place in the front ranks of Renaissance mathematicians" (DSB). Berlin Kat 4607; Bohatta Ia; Meder XXVI 1; Norman 665; PMM 54; Stillwell Science 161; Fact and Fantasy 165; VD16 D 2857.