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Release date: 2012

Dimensions: 21 x 30 cm

Pages: 252 of which 60 polyhedra

Illustrations: 305

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The harmony of the universe in a number: De divina proportione (golden ratio). Exclusive reproduction of the manuscript given by Luca Pacioli to Ludovico il Moro.

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A book with a divine title, Pacioli's divine proportion (Golden ratio), divine historic illustrations by Leonardo.

Piergiorgio Odifreddi.

Aboca Edizioni presents a facsimile from the collection of the manuscript De divina proportione, conserved at the Library of the University of Geneva. This is an exclusive reproduction of the specimen that Luca Pacioli donated to Ludovico il Moro and that Leonardo da Vinci illustrated with his own hand in a series of polyhedrons. The work illustrates the applications of the golden ratio, via direct references to knowledge of algebra and geometry of the time and the teaching of Piero della Francesca.

From the introduction by Antonio Pieretti: "As it draws its presence from God in the universe, the divine proportion, according to Pacioli, is not only the language by which man expresses the sciences and the arts, but even more the language by which God himself created the world and gives it its name. The divine proportion, and consequently mathematics, therefore has a fundamental value. First of all it is the metaphysical principle by which each individual is able to understand the world and grasp the laws by which it was created and maintained over time. But it is also the way man was given the possibility to remove himself from the distractions of the world and raise himself to contemplation of God. In its paradoxical nature it therefore represents the way the creature can give thanks to his creator."

As well as clarifying the complex aspects of the De divina proportione, the commentary attached to the volume, entitled Anthology of the Divine Proportion, provides a current re-examination of Luca Pacioli and an illustration of his scientific interests.

The facsimiles from the Aboca Edizioni collection are worthy publications, created with precious materials and avant-garde printing techniques. The pages of the De divina proportione, printed on refined 190 g parchment are hand sewn stitch by stitch with cotton thread and splendidly bound in calf skin that is vegetable tanned on wooden axes. The reproduction and the commentary are contained in a dedicated plexiglass case with gold silk-screen printing.

Notes

Introduction by Valentino Mercati.

Contributions from Antonio Pieretti, Piergiorgio Odifreddi, Duilio Contin.

Other information

There are only two specimens of De divina proportione in the world drafted during the life of Luca Pacioli. One is conserved at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan (ms. 170sup.), the other is in the University library of Geneva (ms. Langues Etrangères 210). A third manuscript, offered to Piero Soderini, is believed to have been lost. The intended recipient of the Geneva manuscript, where the Aboca facsimile comes from was Ludovico il Moro: his coat of arms appears on the first page of the volume, where there is also a written dedication. After having formed part of the Ami Lullin collections, and perhaps Paul Petau's, from 1756 the volume could be found on the shelves of the Geneva University library, initially being classified as no. 210 foreign language manuscript.

Details

Limited run of 500 numbered and certified specimens.