VIVIANI Vincenzo De locis solidis, secunda divinatio geometrica… Opus conicum.

Riccardi, 629: “Bella et rara ediz.”; Cinti, 167.

First edition of the author’s first work.

Viviani (1622 – 1703) was one of Galileo’s pupils. The plates illustrate the house that Viviani built to his teacher’s honour which was decorated with inscriptions glorifying the scientist.

“Although the Medici court gave him much work, Viviani studied the geometry of the ancients. His accomplishments brought him membership in the Accademia del Cimento, and in 1696 he became a member of the Royal Society of London. In 1699 he was elected one of the eight foreign members of the Académie des Sciences in Paris… Viviani’s first project was an attempted restoration of a work by Aristaeus the Elder, De locis solidis divinatio geometrica, which Viviani undertook when he was twenty-four. Aristaeus’ work is believed to have been the first methodical exposition of the curves discovered by Menaechmus; but since it has been entirely lost, it is difficult to estimate how close Viviani came to the original work” (DSB XIV, p.49).

Good copy, small marginal worming slightly touching the plates.