Protomathesis

FINÉ, Oronce (1494-1555). Protomathesis. Paris: G. Morrhe & J. Pierre, 1532.
First collected edition, and first edition of many individual treatises. The polymathic Finé was a great popularizer of the sciences; the four sections of this book cover arithmetic, geometry, cosmography, and horology. He was not only responsible for the text but the book’s many woodcuts—"his work as a designer is closely related to his major fields of mathematics, astronomy, and geography, and his contribution to book production is particularly interesting in extending beyond the illustration to the ornamentation of scientific texts" (Mortimer). This copy is formerly from the library of Jacopo Francesco Riccati, a Venetian mathematian. Mortimer French 225; Stillwell, Science 838; Smith, Rara Arithmetica, pp. 160-61.
Four parts in one, folio (353 x 234mm). Title page in woodcut architectural border with letterpress section titles, 284 woodcuts by Finé comprising 280 blocks, large woodcut initials, mathematical headpieces, woodcut device of Morrhe (repaired wormhole in gutters of gatherings B-F occasionally touching a letter, a few other small repairs to blank margins, some leaves browned, a little bit of spotting at edges). 18th-century mottled half sheep, morocco title labels, red speckled edges (a little wear at extremities). Provenance: some marginalia from various periods (trimmed) – Jacopo Francesco Riccati (1676-1754, Venetian mathematician; bookplate on pastedown and title verso, likely by descent to his son Vincenzo, a Jesuit mathematician, and thus to:) – Collegio di San Francesco Saverio in Bologna (inscription on title, where Vincenzo Riccati taught for 30 years).