De Subtilitate libri xxi
The best work of Jérôme Cardan (Caillet), a genius inventor and remarkable scientist of the Renaissance.
An exceptional copy in a wonderful Fanfare binding made in 1559 attributed to 'the great gilder of Henry II'.
Lyon, Rouillé, 1559.
Octavo, 718 pages, 24-leaf index, woodcut illustrations.
Flexible vellum with gilt overlapping Fanfare decoration, smooth spine ornately gilt in compartments with raised bands, gilt and tooled edges, traces of clasps. Lyon binding of the period. Modern black morocco and plexiglass slipcase.
172 x 107 mm.
“The greatest scientific work of Jérôme Cardan” (1501-1576) (Caillet), a brilliant inventor and outstanding scientist of the Renaissance.
Exceptional copy bound in a marvelous “Fanfare” binding from 1559 attributed to “the great gilder of Henry II.”
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Cardan, Jérôme (1501-1576). De Subtilitate libri xxi.
“The greatest work of Jérôme Cardan”, (Caillet 2015) “a vast encyclopedia of sciences and techniques, in which he compares the world to a living body.”
First octavo edition printed in Lyon in 1559 and second edition reproducing the original expanded 1554 folio edition, adorned with numerous woodcuts.
The De Subtilitate, “famous work by Jérôme Cardan” (Brunet), was first printed in Nuremberg in 1550. The second original edition “to which the author made major changes and many additions” was printed in Basel in 1554. The present 1559 edition reproduces this one. A third original edition issued by Cardan with further additions would appear in Basel in 1560.
Jérôme Cardan (1501-1576) excelled in mathematics as well as in science and mechanics.
A brilliant inventor, he devised a philosophical system based on the immortality of the soul.
In 1570, towards the end of his life, he was arrested, tried before the Inquisition, and charged with heresy for publishing a horoscope of Jesus Christ and an apology for Nero.
He lost his professorship, was released on bail but forced to destroy much of his remaining manuscript work and was banned from publication.
In mathematics, Jérôme Cardan advanced algebra through the theory of equations of the 3rd and 4th degree.
The concept of negative numbers had already been mentioned by Leonardo of Pisa (Fibonacci) in the 13th century and previously anticipated by the Hindus. But it was Jérôme Cardan who, for the first time in the West, performed calculations with roots of negative numbers.
Cardan successfully studied the square roots of negative numbers, creating the concept of a new type of number, the “fictitious numbers.” What we now call “imaginary numbers.”
He was one of the first to address the field of statistics and probability. Cardan’s contribution to the problem of probability calculation is considerable.
In addition to his major contribution to medicine and mathematics, he was a pioneer in many fields: mechanics, probability theory, hydrodynamics, meteorology, photography, botany, and geology.
In mechanics, Cardan’s stroke of genius was to understand that the transmission of power from an engine to a wheel could not happen directly: the driveshaft would break. He therefore invented, between the engine and the wheel, a part (the universal joint, “cardan joint”) that is constructed as with a void.
A free and generous man, free thinker, scientist with modern ideas, pioneering researcher and experimenter, accustomed to controversy and provocative positions, Jérôme Cardan was a remarkable Renaissance scientist.
In mechanics, Cardan’s stroke of genius was to understand that the transmission of power from an engine to a wheel could not happen directly: the driveshaft would break. He therefore invented, between the engine and the wheel, a part (the universal joint, “cardan joint”) that is constructed as with a void.
A free and generous man, free thinker, scientist with modern ideas, pioneering researcher and experimenter, accustomed to controversy and provocative positions, Jérôme Cardan was a remarkable Renaissance scientist.
Exceptional copy, in its original fanfare-decorated binding, without prior restoration.
Copies of Cardan’s Works in bindings of exceptional quality are extremely rare.
The decision to have it bound in this way can probably be attributed to the owner of the large armorial ex-libris on the front pastedown, who remains unidentified.
Binding of remarkable design. Its masterful execution, entirely in fillet with the addition of azure tools, makes it possible to credit it to “the great master gilder of Henry II” (Rahir catalog, 1910, no. 42 pp. 9 and R. Esmérian. First part, 6 June 1972, no. 32).
The Rahir binding, no. 42, fetched the colossal sum of 6,500 francs gold in 1910.
From the library of Ricardo Heredia y Livermore, Count of Benahavis, a Spanish bibliophile whose library, containing over 8,000 volumes, was dispersed in Paris in 1891. His ex-libris label was pasted over the center of the earlier ex-libris.
