TARTAGLIA, QUESITI, ET INVENTIONI DIVERSE. VENICE: VENTURINO RUFFINELLI, 1546

FIRST EDITION, small 4to (201 x 142mm.), woodcut portrait of Tartaglia on title-page, numerous woodcut illustrations of canons and diagrams in text, woodcut initials, and large folding plate, old vellum, old ink annotations (a few trimmed), scattered spotting, small repairs to folding plate, text block cracking at places, binding slightly soiled with minor repaired

"Ex Libris Joannis Caspari Haagn", ink inscription on title; "M.A.", initials on front free endpaper; bought from Martayan Lan, New York, 1994

Tomash & Williams T10; Cockle 660 (calling for folding plate); Edit16 29899; USTC 858100

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

"This work is arranged as a series of questions and answers, many of them with Richard Wentworth, Tartaglia’s English pupil. This work is often considered to be Tartaglia’s most important contribution to mathematics because in the last section he describes his solution for finding the roots of a cubic equation. While being famous for this single description, the work also contains a number of other notable features. The first two sections contain modifications to the ballistic arguments he had earlier published in Nova scientia, and this treatment of military mathematics continues in sections three to six. Included here is a description of his new surveying instrument (like a surveyor’s cross), which he included in the second (1550) edition of his Nova scientia, as well as descriptions of new instruments for aiming guns even when the bore is not properly centered. The last three parts deal with statics and algebra. This volume is unusual in that it contains the plate showing the instruments. Instructions for creating these devices are given in the text, and they include cutting out the pictures in the plate—thus, the plate having survived is extremely rare. Most copies of this work, unlike the present one, do not contain the two leaves of the table of contents—for this reason, the material from these leaves is included in the illustrations" (Tomash & Williams).