Boncompagni, Baldassarre [Editor and Prince]

Bullettino di Bibliografia e di Storia delle Scienze Matematiche e Fisiche [Bullettino]; Socio Ordinario Dell'Accademia Pontifica De'Nouvi Lincei, Suio Corrispondent Dell' Accademia Dell' Istituto Di Bologna, E Delle R. Accademia Delle Scienze Di Torino, E Di Scienze, Lettere Ed Arti Di Modena, E Socio Onorsario De R. Accademia Delle Scienze Di Berlino

Rome, Italy: Bibliografia delle Scienze Matematiche e Fisiche, 1868 - 1887. First Edition. Half parchment with mottled brown paper over boards. Editor's name, Bullettino with abbreviated title, Volume number and year on the spine, separated with four printed bands and punctuated with three fleur-de-lis like devices. 18 of 20 Volumes present, not including V. 3 1870 and V. 5 1872. Bound into each annual volume are twelve [12] monthly issues of the Bullettino and the Annual Index. More than 12,500 pp, 30 cm x 21 cm. Each monthly issue is nestled between light blue, card stock wrappers, with covers printed in black.

In V. 1, the first six issues, Jan - June are inscribed by Boncampagni to Enrico Narducci: "Al Ch[ari]simo Sig Enrico Narducci / omaggio il B. Boncompagni". In the remaining volumes 178 monthly issues, or in some cases combined monthly issues were inscribed by Boncampagni to Prof. Francesco Siacci, all in a similar format: "Al Ch[ari]simo Sig Prof Francesco Siacci / ommagio Il B. Boncompagni". The transcription being; "Dearest... / With Tribute from...".

The Bullettino was the first specialist, independent periodical on the history of mathematical disciplines published in Europe. Previously, there were only occasional articles dedicated to the historical aspects of mathematical disciplines as part of mainstream periodicals or as a supplement in some mathematics journals. However, until the first decade of the 19th century, mathematical research was published through the Proceedings and Memoirs of Scientific Academies and Societies, or broad spectrum journals, for example the Giornale Arcadico di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in Italy, which included articles dedicated to a range of sciences, as well as to literature, art and poetry, etc. The official languages of the Bullettino were Italian, French and Latin, Although there was an established price for the journal, in reality it was sent to leading scholars, libraries and academies who requested it.

Antonio Favaro, the Paduan mathematical historian who edited the complete works of Galileo Galilei and was a frequent contributor to Bullettino wrote: "Only those who had the honour of seeing their works included in this publication and, we must admit, to had been tormented by letters and telegrams from its illustrious Patron daily during the typesetting, can have a real idea of the amount of work that the ephemeris he founded must have cost him…..; so that there was nothing written for the journal that he edited to which he was not an extremely efficient contributor, both by providing copious amounts of material and by adding valuable notes, each one of which contained either a previously unknown biographical fact or news of an unknown manuscript, or a rare work, all characterized by that scrupulous precision which, one can say without the slightest exaggeration, had never been employed by anyone before him."

This near complete set, of which there were only 200 copies printed each month, passed through the hands of Boncompagni closest protégés: Narducci and Siacci. This Italian Mathematics and Physics Journal was at the fulcrum of European Sciences historiography. Of the 200 monthlies only 50 were reserved for Italy, with the rest going through and to the other European capitals of thought: Berlin, Paris, Stockholm, Cairo, et. al. Boncompagni process in editing these rigorous journals was primarily tri-focused:

1. Accumulate all of the world's primary source knowledge in the fields of Mathematics and Physics. With strong emphasis on translating from the Arabic, Middle Eastern foundation of the calculation of numbers, as well the high points of pre-Renaisance thinkers: Copernicus, Fibonacci, Al-Khwarizmi, et. al. and contemporary thought leaders like: Angelo Genocchi, Johann Gauss, and Maximilian Curtze

2. Send trusted staff off to the far-flung corners of the globe to acquire these manuscripts, or make detailed facsimiles if they could not. This personal library of over 20,000 volumes and 1,000's of manuscripts was "open sourced" to all and everyone who desired to organize and elucidate the collection for the furtherance of these scientific disciplines.

3. Publish and distribute the fruits of this collection with a new florilegium of bibliographic process. In this process, Boncompagni acted as the benevolent dictator, as well as the editorial and annalist to the minutia degree of each issue. The incorporation of biographical information, contextual historical period perspective, elevation of hence obscure and undiscovered treatises, and then serialize 1-10 articles monthly with demanding standards of accuracy.

The brilliance and dynamism of this project can only be credited to one man: Prince Baldassare Boncompagni Ludovici (1821–1894). The roots of his royal family extend to Pope Gregory XIII (Ugo Boncampagni), who reformed the Julian calendar in 1584, now memorialized by his name (Gregorian Calendar). His father had the title of Prince of Piombino (a coastal district between Rome and Florence). He studied at Sapienze University in Rome under the guidance of the Abbé Barnaba Tortolini, professor of calcolo sublime (higher calculus) and under the Jesuit astronomer Ignazio Calandrelli. While he published papers at only 19 years old, his own works in this field culminated in collection the works of 13th century mathematician Leonardo Pisano, also known as Fibonacci. The zenith of Boncompagni's early indiviual scholarship included not only the reconstruction of Fibonacci's biography, but the elevation of his previously unpublished works with respect to the scientific importance in the history of mathematics. Moreover, he edited and published the arithmetic of John of Spain and a Latin version of the arithmetic of Al-Khwarizmi (the 9th century Muslim mathematician and astronomer whose major works introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals and the concepts of algebra into European mathematics).

Boncampagni's familial and social means gave him the ability to initiate his own private press in the mid-1860's. The uniqueness of this venture was the availability of typographical characters which could be use to write mathematical formulae in addition to symbols found in ancient manuscripts of Hebrew and Arabic. His home, library and printing venture were co-located throughout his life.

The first six issues in this collection are inscribed by the editor to Enrico Narducci (1832 - 1893). Narducci was a close confidante and collaborator with his Patreon, Boncampagni. His bibliographical prowess resulted in the cataloging of manuscripts in the Alessandrina Library, the Angelica Library, and ultimately in Boncompagni's Library. It was Boncompagni who introduced Narducci to the art of paleography, which he grasped and employed in the cataloging of manuscripts in the Alessandrina Library (1877), the Angelica Library (vol. I, 1893), and the Boncompagni Library (1892).After the end of the papal government he had important tasks for the management of the patrimony of the Roman libraries. He was one of the protagonists of the events that led to the birth of the National Library of Rome and who was the first to propose creating a national collective catalogue. The new kingdom of Italy has him to thank for the design and construction of a national library cataloging system. To prove its possibility he compiled an article on Boccaccio, and showed at one view all the editions of that writer and the place where they are to be found.

Narducci received individual author credit for at least four articles in Bullettino: [1] Vol. IV: An Italian translation of a treatise on Optics by Alhazen, [2] Vol. XIX: Editing the lives of the Italian mathematicians in Baldi's work, [3] Vol. XVII: And perhaps his most important contribution, the biography dedicated to the 13th century astronomer, Bartolomeo of Parma, [4] Also in Vol XVII, including da Parma's Intorno al “Tractatus Sphæræ”.

Upon his death, Narducci was a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Turin, he Italian Geographical Society and of the Accademia Galileiana of Padua and the prestigious Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.

Of the remaining 17 volumes, 166 monthlies and 5 annual indices are inscribed by Boncampagni to Professor Francesco Angelo Siacci (1839 - 1907). Siacci was also an alumni of Sapienze University in Rome in 1860. Having received the first honorary degree in mathematics he apprenticed under Boncampagni for a short period of time before his patriotism drove him to enlist in the military, specifically the Artillery. He had a long and illustrious career in military achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel while on active duty, earning multiple awards and honours and then to rank of Major General in the Reserves just prior to his passing. He also rose through the ranks of academia at the University of Turin from adjunct professor to full professor. When he was appointed Senator of the Kingdom in 1893, he moved to University of Naples as full professor and Dean, which gave him better geographic access to his role in the government. His parliamentary work was directed primarily at issues relating to the military system, railway logistics, clean public water services and the creation of the Polytechnic of Turin.

Siacci's contributions to science and mathematics were primarily in the field of ballistics. His time in the artillery led him to refine the analytical mechanics of rigid bodies (projectiles), and the principles of rational mechanics. Having contributed about 100 papers to the scientific community, his most famous was the constituted method for solving shooting problems using ballistic tables in the treatise Ballistics(1888). Much like Narducci, Siacci was also a member of multiple Academies including: The Academy of Sciences of Turin, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and the Accademia dei XL. Covers are in Good + condition with wear and light tatter at the spine ends, aging and rubs to the spines. Covers have buffs and scratches with an occasional small diameter peal of the paper from the board. However, these covers have served their intended purpose of organizing and protecting the monthly journals from damage, most of which are in VG to near fine condition. Item #3159

Price: $18,000.00