Black-and-white photograph showing the bottom of a canyon near a river

Photograph of the Colorado River by William H. Bell

Book illustration titled “Chemistry of Combustion and Illumination; Structure of Flame,” with a large outline of a flame and candle in black and red. The flame is filled with small black squares and surrounded on the outside with squares of black and shades of red, with each color keyed to represent a specific chemical component

Chemical Atlas

Intricate printed type text, with various shapes shown next to it

Photograph by Robert Kato

Euclid (fl. ca. 300 BCE)
Elementa Geometriae (Elements of Geometry)
Venice: Erhard Ratdolt, 1482
Rare Book Division

Elementa Geometriae (Elements of Geometry)

Euclid’s Elementa Geometriae, first published in Venice in 1482, is the oldest mathematical work still in general use and is historically considered to be the most-read book besides the Bible. It is known to have influenced Galileo Galilei, Abraham Lincoln, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Albert Einstein, and countless others. The text derives from Adelard of Bath’s 12th-century translation of an Arabic-language version of the original Greek text, produced around 300 BCE.

In his preface to the book, the printer Erhard Ratdolt attributes the prevailing dearth of mathematical works to the difficulties involved in illustrating geometrical figures—but he notes with marketing savvy that he himself has discovered a method for printing them. Although he does not share the secret of his success, it involved the use of type-metal rules that, having been bent into the desired shape, could be printed alongside the letterpress text and woodcut figures.

Holding Division: Rare Book Division

Catalog Record: View record

Not currently on view

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