BOVELLES Charles de Recueil de 4 pièces scientifiques en édition originale

Charles de Bovelles was born in Saint Quentin around 1475 and died around 1567 in Ham in the Somme. A mathematician and philosopher, he studied arithmetic under Lefèvre d’Etaples at the Cardinal-Lemoine College before becoming a professor at this famous college himself. Among his pupils was the Alsatian Beatus Rhenanus. Author of numerous philosophical, mathematical, theological and mystical treatises, he is considered one of the most remarkable French thinkers of his time.

Contains :

1. Physicorum elementorum decem. Paris, Josse Bade, 15 December 1512. 4to (209 x 140 mm). 4 unn.ll., LXXIX num.ll. 1 un.l. Printer’s device of Jehan Petit on the title, 1 large initial, woodcut vignettes in the text, last leaf with a blazon of St Sebastian surrounded by 3 fleur de lis.

Renouard, Bade, II, 221; Morau, II, 257; DSB, II, 36;

First edition, very rare.

USTC locating only 3 institutional copies in European librairies : Emden (Germany), Staatsbibliothek (Munich), Madrid (Complutense). No institutional copy in the United States.

“In [this] work Bovelles applied this constructivist view of knowledge to mathematical physics. The Elementorum physicorum Libri (1512) introduces the main topics of Aristotelian physics that Beatus learned under the acronym of NaCaMILUT. Bovelles frames these topics, however, with an overt interest in mathematics. His typically playful approach to the metaphysics of numbers is already evident in the treatise’s organization: it is composed of ten books, each with ten propositions. Far from being a strict axiomatic assembly, this schema gives Bovelles plenty of space to take excurses. At one point he offers an extended reflection on the ‘order of teaching’ (eruditionis ordo) as a movement from memory to memory. Knowledge moves from a teacher’s memory, through their voice, into the student’s ear, where it becomes a concept in their mind, which the student then keeps in memory. Throughout the book Bovelles refers to the creative power of the mind, notably on the topic of vacuum. He first repeats the Aristotelian view that vacuum is impossible in nature – like a chimera it can only be imagined. But this raised the sceptical worry about how we can trust the mind’s products” (R.J. Osterhoff, in: Making Mathematical Culture, p. 210).

Small marginal waterstain to quires ‘A-C’.

2. In hoc opere Caroli Bovilli Samarobrini contenta. Liber Cordis. Liber proprie rationis. Liber Substantialium propositionum. Liber naturalium sophismatum. Liber cubicarum mensularum. Paris, Josse Bade, Octobre 1523. 4 unn.ll., LXXXVIII num.ll. Printer’s device on the title page, one full-page woodcut depicting a man, last leaf with an armilla sphere and the blazon of St Sebastian surrounded by 3 fleur de lis.

Renouard, Bade, II, 224; Moreau, III, 435.

First edition.

“In 1523 appeared another collection of treatises concerned primarily with dialectic and mathematics. The most important treatise in this group was Liber proriae rationis which dealt at length with the problem of universals and their importance for mystical theory. Also included in this collection were the Liber cordis, a medical treatise, and the Liber cubicarum mensularum, a mathematical work dealing with the construction and measurement of various cubes. The logical works in the collection were the Liber substantialium propositionum and the Liber Naturalium sophismatum. None of these treatises has yet been studied in detail by anyone concerned with the history of logic” (Joseph M. Victor, in: Charles Bovelles, an intellectual biography, p. 24).

USTC  locates 13 institutional copies of this book (3 in the United States : NLM, Houghton, Yale).

3. Aetatum mundi septem supputatio. Paris, Josse Bade, 1520. XLVIII num.ll. Woodcut printer’s device on the title page.

Renouard, Bade, II, 223; Moreau, III, 35.

First edition.

USTC locates 26 institutional copies of which only 2 to be found in the United States : Houghton, Newberry.

4. Responsiones ad novem quesita Nicolai Paxii Maioricenus seu Balearici in arte Lullistarum peritissimi. Paris, Josse Bade, March 1521. VIII num.ll. Woodcut printer’s device on the title page.

Renouard, II, 224; Moreau, III, 36.

First edition.

USTC locates 11 institutional copies worldwide but none in the United-States.

“In 1521 Bovelles published a bipartite work, one part of which was entitled Aetatum mundi septem supputatio and dealt with the seven ages of the world and traditional themes revolving around that subject, but which nevertheless offered some penetrating insight into the nature of time and duration; the second part of this work was the Responsiones ad novem quaesita which had been composed in 1514” (Joseph M. Victor, in: Charles Bovelles, an intellectual biography, p. 24).

Fine copy in its first binding, uniting four rare first editions by Bouelles.