BOVELLES, Charles de

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BOVELLES, Charles de
Que in hoc volumine continentur : Liber de intellectu ; Liber defensu ; Liber denichilo ; Ars oppositorum ; Liber de generatione... In sup mathematicum opus quadri partitum : De Numeris perfectis ; de mathematicis rosis ; de geometricis corporibus ; de geometricis supplementis. Paris, Robert Estienne, February 1, 1510, small folio (272 x 195 mm) of 196 ff. (with foliation errors), title in a large woodcut frame and 35 engravings in the text. Brown calf, boards decorated with a cold-stamped decoration, spine ribbed, red edges (period binding). Renouard, Estienne, 8:9; Adams, B-2623; Fairfax-Murray, 63; Thorndike, VI, pp. 438-443; lacking in Schreiber. First edition. A rare work dealing with philosophy, medicine, and mathematics, written by the polymath Charles de Bouelles [or Bovelles, or Bouvelles] (1470-1553), one of Jacques Levèvre d'Etaples' most gifted students. He wrote the first book on geometry in French. "In his Liber de XII numeris (1510) [ff. 172-180 of this work] Bouvelles wrote on perfect numbers, i.e., numbers that are equal to the sum of all their possible factors, such as 6, 28, and 496. He asserted, without proof, that a perfect number (except 6) is always a multiple of 9, plus 1, but that the inverse is not true. This rule was given, also without proof, by Tartaglia" (DSB, II, 361). The two full-page engravings represent a student (f. 60v, entitled Studiosus Palestrites) as well as Fortune and Wisdom (f. 115v) accompanied by their respective trumps. A very good copy, old signature on the title-page, binding skilfully restored.
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