Ramus (Petrus) Scholarum Mathematicarum, libri unus et triginta, first edition, Basel, Heirs of Eusebius & Nicolaus Episcopius, 1569.

Ramus (Petrus) Scholarum Mathematicarum, libri unus et triginta, first edition, woodcut device on title, woodcut initials and a few diagrams, some light foxing, browning and water-staining, creases to some leaves, inscription and ink library stamps to title, modern vellum-backed marbled boards, [Tomash & Williams R10; Smith, Rara arithmetica, p.335; VD16 L534], 4to, Basel, Heirs of Eusebius & Niklaus Bischoff, 1569.

⁂ "This book, consisting of thirty-one chapters, was part of Ramus' attempt to reform the teaching of mathematics. The first three chapters deal with the history of mathematics, mainly from the time of the Greeks, and were actually published two years previously, in 1567, as Proemium mathematicarum. The next two chapters are a commentary on one of Ramus' earlier works, Arithmetica (an elementary text on arithmetic), first published in 1555 but with many editions since that date. Chapters 6 to 31 are a commentary on Euclid's Elements, with Ramus pointing out the useful applications. In a remarkable eight-page preface to this work, Ramus addresses Catherine de' Medici and pleads with her to provide a building for the professors of what came to be called the Collège de France. He indicates that this building is needed so that the professors would no longer have to lecture in the back streets of Paris. He also asks that she follow the lead of her Italian relatives and put her personal library in this new building rather than keeping it in the provinces. Ramus was well aware of the library and the current situation of the queen mother because he had taken shelter with her when, in 1562, his Protestant beliefs caused him to be driven out of Paris" (Tomash & Williams).

Provenance: Library of the Franciscan Minims, Tyrol, Austria (inscription on title: Ex lib F.F. Mm Ref Bibliothek der P.P. Franciscaner in Hall, and later ink stamps).