Inquiry Concerning a 1509 Venetian Edition of Euclid’s Elements with Extant Contemporary Marginalia
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The annotations are recorded within a specimen of:
Euclidis megarensis philosophi acutissimi mathematicorumqʒ omnium sine controuersia principis oᵱa a Campano interprete fidissimo tralata Que cum antea librariorum detestanda culpa mēdis fedissimis adeo deformia eēnt: vt vix Euclidem ipsum agnosceremus. Lucas paciolus theologus insignis: altissima Mathematicaꝝ disciplinarum scientia rarissimus indicio castigatissimo detersit: emendauit. Figuras cētum ᶎ vndetriginta que in alijs codicibus inuerse ᶎ deformate erant: ad rectam symmetriam concīnauit: ᶎ multas necessarias addidit. Eundē quoqʒ plurimis locis intellectu difficilem cōmentariolis sane luculentis ᶎ eruditiss. aperuit: enarrauit: illustrauit Adhec vt elimatior exiret Scipio vegius mediol. vir vtraqʒ līgua: arte medica: sublimioribusqʒ studijs clarissimus diligētiam: ᶎ censurā suā prestitit. A. Paganius Paganinus Characteribus elegantissimis accuratissime imprimebat.
Or, rendered into formal English:
The Works of Euclid of Megara—most acute Philosopher and undisputed Prince of all Mathematicians—as translated by the most faithful interpreter, Campanus. In former times, on account of the execrable negligences of copyists, these Works were so defiled by loathsome errors that one would scarcely have recognized Euclid himself. Luca Pacioli, a distinguished theologian possessing the most profound mastery of the mathematical disciplines, has, with the most rigorous judgment, cleansed and emended the text. The one hundred and twenty-nine figures, which in other manuscripts were transposed or corrupted, he has restored to their proper symmetry and supplemented with many necessary additions. The manifold passages where the text proved obscure he has elucidated and clarified with concise, learned commentaries. To ensure the work was issued in its most refined state, Scipio Vegius of Milan—renowned for his mastery of both languages, the medical arts, and higher studies—has contributed his own diligence and critical review. A. Paganius Paganinus has, with the utmost precision, printed this work with the most elegant typefaces.
The volume consists of 146 leaves, the final leaf of which is blank. It is bound in contemporary vellum, with the title Euclidis Campani inscribed in ink on the upper cover. There are no recorded names of previous owners. The colophon on fol. 145v specifies the place of publication and the date: “Ve.Re.Pu. M.D.VIIII. Klen. xi. Iunii.” (Republic of Venice, June 11, 1509—alternatively calculated as May 22, 1509, in accordance with the Julian to Gregorian conversion).