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Tag Archives: Euclid

Pioneers of Science — Now Online

05 Thursday Oct 2017

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Antoine Lavoisier, Carl Gauss, Charles Darwin, College of Mines and Earth Sciences, College of Science, Euclid, Frontiers of Science, Galileo, Isaac Newton, J. Willard Marriott Library, Johannes Kepler, Louis Pasteur, Luise Poulton, Marie Curie, Michael Faraday, Pioneers of Science, rare books, Scott Beadles, Special Collections, The University of Utah

photograph by Scott Beadles

“A library is as much a scientific instrument as a telescope.” — Luise Poulton

Pioneers of Science: Ten Thousand Pages That Shook the World now online.

Euclid’s Elements of Geometry was first printed in 1482, just as soon as one of the early masters of movable type figured out how to do it. Not only does the Marriott Library have this first edition, but also first editions of books by other pioneers of science: Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, Galileo, Antoine Lavoisier, Carl Gauss, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, and more. Each of these books has its own story to tell. Together they give insight into the communication, conversation, collaboration, and controversy that made science possible: a revolution that has been going on in print for more than five hundred years.

Presented for the 2017/2018 Frontiers of Science lecture series, College of Science and College of Mines and Earth Sciences, The University of Utah

Luise Poulton, Managing Curator, Rare Books, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah

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Join Us Tonight! — Pioneers of Science

28 Thursday Sep 2017

Posted by scott beadles in Events

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Antoine Lavoisier, Carl Gauss, Charles Darwin, College of Mines and Earth Sciences, College of Science, Euclid, Frontiers of Science, Galileo, Isaac Newton, J. Willard Marriott Library, Johannes Kepler, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, Michael Faraday, Pioneers of Science, rare books, Special Collections, The University of Utah

Thursday, September 28, 2017

ASB 220

Pioneers of Science: Ten Thousand Pages That Shook the World

Luise Poulton, Managing Curator, Rare Books, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah

Euclid’s Elements of Geometry was first printed in 1482, just as soon as one of the early masters of movable type figured out how to do it. Not only does the Marriott Library have this first edition, but also first editions of books by other pioneers of science: Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, Galileo, Antoine Lavoisier, Carl Gauss, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, and more. Each of these books has its own story to tell. Together they give insight into the communication, conversation, collaboration, and controversy that made science possible: a revolution that has been going on in print for more than five hundred years.

reception and rare book showing to follow lecture

 

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Rare Science

12 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Events, Recommended Lecture

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Aline W. Skaggs Biology Building, Antoine Lavoisier, Carl Gauss, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, Edmond Halley, Euclid, Frontiers of Science, Galileo, Isaac Newton, J. Willard Marriott Library, James Watson, Johannes Kepler, Louis Pasteur, Michael Faraday, rare books, Rare Books Department, science, The University of Utah, William Gilbert

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The J. Willard Marriott Library has a great collection of seminal science works in its Rare Books Department. Visit level 3 of the library to see images from some of these books. Join us for a lecture on September 28.

Frontiers of Science

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Euclid to James Watson, scientists have put their findings to parchment and paper. Euclid’s Elements of Geometry was first printed in 1482, just as soon as one of the masters of movable type figured out how to do it. It has been in print ever since. Isaac Newton was reluctant to take the time, but his friend Edmond Halley insisted, and so we have Newton’s Principia, printed in 1687. The Marriott Library has first editions of both of these works, and first editions of books by other pioneers of science: William Gilbert, Johannes Kepler, Galileo, Antoine Lavoisier, Carl Gauss, Charles Lyell, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, and more. Each of these books has its own story to tell. Together they give insight into the communication, conversation, collaboration, and controversy that made science possible: a revolution that has been going on in print for more than five hundred years.

“Pioneers of Science: Ten Thousand Pages That Shook the World”
Thursday, September 28, 6:00PM
Aline W. Skaggs Biology Building
The University of Utah

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

FOS Poulton Library Easel Poster

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You Come Too

05 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Events, Recommended Lecture

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Aline W. Skaggs Biology Building, Antoine Lavoisier, Ben Bromley, Carl Gauss, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, College of Science, Dean Henry White, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Edmond Halley, Elements of Geometry, Euclid, Frontiers of Science, Galileo, history, Isaac Newton, James Watson, Johannes Kepler, lecture, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, Marriott Library, Michael Faraday, Pioneers of Science, Principia, rare books, science, The University of Utah, William Gilbert

 

Delighting over the first edition of Isaac Newton's Principia

Delighting over the first edition of Isaac Newton’s Principia

Remember snow? Winter is coming! Last January, Dean Henry White, College of Science, and Ben Bromley, Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, trudged through the snow to Rare Books to look at our first edition of Isaac Newton’s Principia (1687) and other books from our history of science collection.

You come too!

You are invited to “Pioneers of Science: Ten Thousand Pages That Shook the World,” the opening lecture for the College of Science‘s Frontiers of Science lecture series.

Join us for a lecture, reception, and hands-on display of some of our first editions of books that helped make the world what it is today.

From Euclid to James Watson, scientists have put their findings to parchment and paper. Euclid’s Elements of Geometry was first printed in 1482, just as soon as one of the masters of movable type figured out how to do it. It has been in print ever since. Isaac Newton was reluctant to take the time, but his friend Edmond Halley insisted, and so we have Newton’s Principia, printed in 1687. The Marriott Library has first editions of both of these works, and first editions of books by other pioneers of science: William Gilbert, Johannes Kepler, Galileo, Antoine Lavoisier, Carl Gauss, Charles Lyell, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, and more. Each of these books has its own story to tell. Together they give insight into the communication, conversation, collaboration, and controversy that made science possible: a revolution that has been going on in print for more than five hundred years.

Frontiers of Science

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Pioneers of Science: Ten Thousand Pages That Shook the World”
Thursday, September 28, 6:00PM
Aline W. Skaggs Biology Building
The University of Utah

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

FOS Poulton Library Easel Poster

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Book of the Week — He Kaine Diatheke

04 Monday Apr 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Antoine Augereau, Aristotle, astrology, Bible, bibliographer, binding, Book of Hours, calendar, Calvin, Chartres, Christmas Eve, Cicero, classics, cosmology, Demarruello, Estienne, Euclid, France, French, Garamond, Geoffroy Tory, Gothic, Greek, Greek New Testament, Henri Estienne, heresy, heretic, Hesiod, hinges, Hippocrates, Horace, Hore beate marie, indices, initials, italic, Latin, Louvain, Lutheran, New Testament, Ovid, Paris, Paris Parlement, pressed paper boards, printing, proof sheets, Protestant, putti, R. Peter, Renaissance, repair, Robert Estienne I, Roman Catholic, signatures, Simon de Colines, Sophocles, subheadings, Terence, The University of Utah, theological, tools, typeface, typefounder, University of Paris, Virgil, woodcut

Title page

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” — Hebrews 8:11, New King James Version

HE KAINE DIATHEKE
Paris: [Antoine Augereau for] Simon de Colines, [29 November or 22 December] 1534
BS1965 1534

This is the first Greek New Testament printed in France. Simon de Colines edited the text, using printed and manuscript sources. To save his own neck, Colines hid the involvement of the book’s printer, Protestant typefounder Antoine Augereau. Augereau was condemned as a heretic, hung, and then burned at the stake on Christmas Eve 1534, only a few days after finishing the printing of Ha Kaine Kiatheke.

In 1520, Colines married the widow of Henri Estienne, the founder of the distinguished Estienne press, and took charge of that press until Estienne’s son, Robert I, took over in 1526. Colines then set up his own shop nearby. He focused his publishing efforts on Greek and Latin classics – works by Aristotle, Cicero, Sophocles, Hesiod, Horace, Ovid, Virgil, Terence, Euclid, Hippocrates and others – works then considered the literary backbone of the civilized world. He added to the classics publications of anti-Lutheran theological writings and works by the faculty of the University of Paris. In all, Colines’ press produced at least seven hundred and fifty publications. Although not a scholar himself, he used his considerable familiarity with the Estienne publications and extended his own press to include writings on the natural sciences, cosmology, and astrology.

Colines was an important part of the development of book and reading structure in Renaissance printing. It was during this time that chapter headings, subheadings, running heads, page numbers, tables of content, indices and source notes became elemental fixtures in the publication of texts.

Pg210

Colines designed his own italic and Greek fonts and a roman typeface from which Garamond type was derived. He was one of the earliest printers to mix italic fonts with roman typefaces. During at least one of his printing projects, he worked with type designer Geoffroy Tory.

Ha Kaine Kiatheke is the first book printed in Simon de Colines’ second Greek font, including initial guide letters. The University of Utah copy has three lines (possibly an oath) written in an early hand in French and signed by “Demarruello.”

Inscription

It also contains the book plate of Calvin bibliographer R. Peter.

Pastedown

The University of Utah copy bound in contemporary tan calf blind decorated with an outer roll of foxes, winged putti, acanthus leaves and lilies, central rectangle with brazier and foliage tools.

FrontBoard

An earlier repair to the hinges of the binding revealed the following, making up the pressed paper boards: 28 leaves from Les choses co[n]tenues en ce present liure…Le contenu en ceste second partie du nouveau testament, Paris, S. de Colines 10 January 1524; and leaves from Hore beate marie [virgi]nis Secundu[m] vsum insignis ecclesia[?e] Cathedraiis Carnoten[sis]…, Paris, s.n., ca. 1511-1512.

The printed signatures found hidden in the binding appear to be proof sheets for the first Protestant French translation of the New Testament, second edition.

Leaf3

The printing of this edition was completed only months before the Paris Parlement condemned the work as heresy. Yet, the 1524 edition, due to its literary quality and scriptural analysis, served as the basis for nearly all future French versions throughout the century. Ironically, it also served as the 1550 Roman Catholic Louvain Bible.

The leaves from Hore beate…, which also formed part of the binding’s pressed boards, are from an unrecorded Latin-French Book of Hours for the use of Chartres, with a calendar for 1512-1520. The type is Gothic, printed in red and black and includes two-line woodcut initials.

Leaf2

Leaf1

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“Time travel exists” – University of Utah student Mary Royal writes about Rare Books impact

22 Friday May 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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1790, Alison Conner, America, American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin, Civil War, Euclid, First Acts of the First Session of Congress of the United States, Gutenberg Bible, history, John Locke, Luise Poulton, Marriott Library, Mary Alicia Royal, Nathaniel Rochester, New York, printing, rare books, Reformation, Rochester, S. J. Quinney College of Law, Special Collections, University of Utah, War of 1812

Time travel exists. On the fourth floor of the Marriott Library I have sat with the founding fathers as they pondered the questions facing the new nation on the heels of the American Revolution, been astounded at the invention of movable type in the revolution of the printing process, and solved mathematical principles with Euclid. While the famous people who turned the wheels of history are not miraculously hiding out on the U’s campus, the works they created are.

QA31-E86-E5-1482-FirstPage

The rare books collection holds treasures from all corners of the globe that are available to anyone who wishes to uncover the magical milestones in history that helped to shape our present reality. A simple trip to the rare books will undoubtedly inspire and present questions that will lead to more trips back to the collection.

My freshman year at the U I took a class on the Reformation. The syllabus for the course dictated that on a certain day we would gather at the rare books collection at the library. At the time I didn’t know what to expect, and I certainly didn’t realize that this one time excursion out of the classroom and into the library would forever change my experience at the U and my understanding and passion for the study of history.

My class filed into the special collections classroom and were told to wipe our hands with baby wipes. As we cleaned our hands a large hardbound book was set before us. The book was obviously old and as the cover was opened to reveal the pages inside, it was clear it was not of this era. The thickness of the pages, paired with the indentation of the lettering on the page served as clues into a past that was far richer than any normal book in the shelves standing in the library below.

As I stared at the pages, completely enamored by their coloration, markings and engravings, the curator explained that the page sitting before us was an original leaflet of the Gutenberg Bible. Yes, that Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed after the invention of movable type. My heart started racing. I was standing in the same room, feet away from one of the most influential pieces of history in the world. This excitement I felt was multiplied when we were informed that we could come forward and hold it in our hands.


I think I partly expected to have to put on special gloves and admire the copy under glass. But as I moved up in the line, it became clear that I could hold the copy, no gloves, no glass, just me and the book. When the curator put the book in my hands, it was a feeling that I had never felt before. I can only explain it as a mixture of admiration, gratitude, and awe. For those brief moments that I held the leaflet of the Gutenberg Bible in my bare hands, the past and present collided. I was touching the same pages that came off the press nearly 550 years earlier.

I ran my hand over the page and could feel the indentations of the letters, and smell the old fibers of the paper. From this point on my experience at the U was forever changed. It wasn’t long after that trip to the rare books that I made the decision to declare my academic major in history. Every history class I took from that moment until my graduation I would find myself returning to the rare books.

Walking through the doors of the collection, for me, was like taking a step outside of the busy world we live in, to spend a few unadulterated moments with my historical friends. There have been times over the years that I have admittedly been moved to tears at the sight of certain books, and have felt completely unworthy to be in their presence. This happened recently during a project for my Worlds of Benjamin Franklin class.

As a requirement of the course we had to pick a book in the rare books to study and report on. After meeting with Luise Poulton, who was more than willing to sit down with me and explore options for the project, I decided upon the First Acts of the First Session of Congress of the United States. The cover of the book had completely separated from the spine of the book and the pages were old, some of them bent, with writing and notes filling the inside.


As I carefully turned the pages, I was overcome with the sense that I was holding a piece of America. This book is a first edition that was printed in 1790. As I researched the book, I discovered that this particular one was once the property of Nathaniel Rochester, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and the founder of Rochester, New York. As I began to unveil the history lurking behind the signatures on the inside cover I discovered that the book had also gone through the hands of veterans of the War of 1812 and the Civil War as well as influential legal minds in our country’s formative years. And finally, as I sat in the rare books reading room, I became the next person in the storied line of individuals who had the fortune of being part of this book’s history.

As a new graduate of the University of Utah’s History department I’ve spent recent days reflecting on my time at the U. During this reflection I have pondered on both the people that shaped my experiences as well as places that aided in the enrichment of educational pursuits. Although I have encountered multiple people and places that influenced the completion of my degree, I can say, without hesitation, that the rare books collection had the greatest impact on my desire to study history.

While my time in undergrad has come to an end, my relationship with the rare books collection is far from over. As I begin my legal studies at the U’s SJ Quinney College of Law this fall, I know I will find myself visiting a new set of historical friends. I’m confident the writings of John Locke have untold stories and lessons to teach me as I pursue my juris doctorate.


I have told Luise Poulton and Alison Conner, curators in the rare books department, on multiple occasions that I wish I could spend all day in the collection, going through the pages of history that the U has been charged with the immense responsibility of caring for. My wish for future generations of students at the U is that they have the opportunity, to visit the collection and experience the unparalleled feeling and emotion that accompany the opportunity to hold history in your hands. How lucky we are, as students past and present of the U, to have access to such a resource!

Mary Alicia Royal, BA, Class of 2015

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Book of the Week – Elementa Geometriae

04 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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Abelard of Bath, Arabic, Campanus of Novara, Erhardt Ratdolt, Euclid, geometry, Greek, initial, littera moderna, printing, rotunda, Venice, woodblock, woodcut

Euclid, Elementa Geometriae, First, 1482
Euclid, Elementa Geometriae, Arc, 1482
Euclid, Elementa Geometriae, Triangle, 1482

Elementa Geometriae
Euclid
Venice, Erhardt Ratdolt, 1482
QA31 E86 E5 1482

This is the editio princeps, or first printed edition, of Euclid’s Elements of Geometry, the oldest mathematical textbook still in common use today. The Greek mathematician Euclid compiled the work around 300 BC. Its success can be attributed to its simple structure where each theorum follows logically from its predecessor.

In 1482, Erhardt Ratdolt, famous for his beautifully produced scientific books, printed eight works – Euclid’s Elements among them. Ratdolt’s fame largely rests upon this edition of Elements. It is the first printed book to contain geometrical figures. An elegant three-sided woodblock and a white-vine style woodcut initial, several hundred small ornamental capitals, and more than four hundred and twenty carefully designed and perfectly printed marginal diagrams, confirm its standing as a landmark publication.

The page layout, particularly the first page, is an outstanding example of Ratdolt’s consideration of the overall look and readability of his work. Note the closeness of the type to the initial and the close set of the text page. For the text, Ratdolt used a type called “rotunda” or “round-text.” The Italian writing-masters called this littera moderna.

Ratdolt’s book was based on the standard Euclid of the later Middle ages: Abelard of Bath’s twelfth-century translation from the Arabic, revised in the following century by Campanus of Novara (d. 1296). In his dedication to this edition, Ratdolt suggested that the scarcity of printed mathematical works was due to the problems involved in printing the geometrical diagrams.  He then happily announced that he had discovered a method of printing them as easily as the text. He did not elaborate upon this method, but it most likely involved the use of type-metal rule arrangements that could be printed along with the text.

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