Selected pages from the following documents from the George Arthur Plimpton and David Eugene Smith Collections, Columbia University Libraries, are available here. Click on the name of the document to go to the illustration, where more information is provided. An index that includes not only these "mathematical treasures," but also hundreds of others from a wide array of institutions, museums, and individuals, is available in Convergence as A Collection of Mathematical Treasures - Index.
Author | Title | Date |
Agnesi, Maria Gaetana | Instituzioni analitiche (8 images) | 1748 |
Alberti, Giuseppe | Instruzione per l'Ingenero (1 image) | 1774 |
Al-Khwarizmi, Muhammad | Algebra (1 image) | (Original dates to ~825) |
Al-Tusi, Nasir al-Din | Commentary on Euclid (1 image) | (13th century original) |
Angeli, Stephano degli | Accessionis ad Stereometriam et Mecanicam (2 images) | 1662 |
Anonymous | Antichissimo di algorismo (2 images) | 14th century |
Anonymous | Arithmetica (2 images) | 1577 |
Anonymous | The Art of Numbering (2 images) | 1482 |
Anonymous | Austrian measuring rod (1 image) | 1732 |
Anonymous | Austrian weights (1 image) | 18th century |
Anonymous | English gauger's scale (1 image) | 18th century |
Anonymous | English tally sticks (5 images) | 1296 |
Anonymous | Flemish commercial arithmetic (7 images) | ca 1600 |
Anonymous | German arithmetic (5 images) | ca 1600 |
Anonymous | German protractor (1 image) | 1700 |
Anonymous | Italian armillary sphere (1 image) | 1550 |
Anonymous | Italian compass (1 image) | 15th century |
Anonymous | Jiuzhang suanshu (1 image) | 1603 (original from c. 250 CE) |
Anonymous | Kitab al-Mutawassitat (1 image) | 15th to 18th centuries |
Anonymous | Korean sangi rods (2 images) | 19th century |
Anonymous | Plimpton 322 (1 image) | c. 1850 BCE |
Anonymous | Student notes (3 images) | 17th century |
Anonymous | Treviso Arithmetic (1 image) | 1478 |
Anonymous | Zhoubi suanjing (2 images) | 1603 (original from 100 BCE) |
Apianus, Petrus | Instrumentum primi mobilis (2 images) | 1534 |
Apianus, Petrus | Introductio geographica (1 image) | 1534 |
Bachet, Claude | Latin translation of Arithmetic of Diophantus (3 images) | 1670 (original 1621) |
Barozzi, Francesco | Procli Diadochi (2 images) | 1560 |
Barrow, Isaac | Geometrical Lectures (1 image) | 1735 edition |
Barrow, Isaac | Archimedes, Apollonius (1 image) | 1675 |
Barrow, Isaac | Euclid's Elements (2 images) | 1660 |
Battista, Stefano di | Summa arismetice (1 image) | ca 1522 |
Benedetto da Firenze | Trattato d'arismetriche (3 images) | ca 1460 |
Bernoulli, Jakob | Ars conjectandi (1 image) | 1713 |
Bettini, Mario | Aerarium philosophiae mathematicae (5 images) | 1648 |
Bézout, Etiénne | Cours de mathématiques a l’usage de la marine et de l’artillerie (abridged, 1 image) | 1815 |
Bhaskara | Lilavati (2 images) | 1650 |
Billingsley, Henry | Euclid's Elements (2 images) | 1570 |
Boeschenstein, Johann | Ain neu geordnet Rechenbiechlin (3 images) | 1514 |
Boethius, Anicius Manlius | Arithmetic (2 images) | 1294 manuscript |
Boethius, Anicius Manlius | Liber circuli (1 image) | 1503 |
Bombelli, Rafael | L’Algebra Opera (2 images) | 1579 (original 1572) |
Boole, George | A Treatise on Differential Equations (3 images) | 1865 (original 1859) |
Borghi, Piero | Libro de abacho (3 images) | 1550 (original 1484) |
Bossut, Charles | Traite elementaire de geometrie (6 images) | 1775 |
Boulenger, Jean | La Geometrie Pratique (3 images) | 1691 (original 1624) |
Bowditch, Nathaniel | Celestial Mechanics (5 images) | 1818/1829 |
Brahe, Tycho | Astronomiae instauratae (2 images) | 1602 |
Byrne, Oliver | Elements of Euclid (3 images) | 1847 |
Calandri, Filippo | Trattato di arithmetica (5 images) | 1491 |
Cardano, Gerolamo | Ars magna (1 image) | 1545 |
Cardano, Gerolamo | Practica arithmetice (5 images) | 1539 |
Cauchy, Augustin | Exercices de Mathematiques (3 images) | 1826 |
Cavalieri, Bonaventura | Trigonometria Plana et Sphaerica, Linearis, & Logarithmica (3 images) | 1643 |
Cavalieri, Bonaventura | Geometria indivisibilibus continuorum (3 images) | 1653 (original 1635) |
Clavius, Christopher S.J. | Opera mathematica (2 images) | 1612 |
Clavius, Christopher S.J. | Epitome arithmetica practica (2 images) | 1584 |
Clavius, Christopher S.J. | Edition of Euclid (2 images) | 1574 |
Condorcet, Nicholas de | Essai sur L’Application de L’Analyse a la Probabilité and Élémens du Calcul des Probablities (2 images) | 1785, 1805 |
Daboll, Nathan | Schoolmaster’s Assistant (5 images) | 1829 (original 1799) |
de Ortega, Juan | Suma de arithmetica: ordinate (3 images) | 1515 (original 1512) |
de Texeda, Gaspar | Suma de arithmetica pratica y de todas mercaderias (3 images) | 1546 |
de Witt, Jan | Elements of Curves (5 images) | 1683 |
Deidier, L'Abbé | L’Arithmetique des Géométres (2 images) | 1739 |
Desargues, Girard | Universal Way of Dyaling (1 image) | 1659 |
Descartes, René | Discourse on Method (1 image) | 1637 |
Descartes, René | Geometria à Renato Des Cartes by van Schooten (3 images) | 1649/1683 |
Digges, Leonard | Tectonicon (4 images) | 1556/1634 |
Digges, Thomas | Pantometria (3 images) | 1571 |
Dürer, Albrecht | Treatise on Mensuration (4 images) | 1538 |
Emerson, William | Treatise of Algebra (5 images) | 1764 |
Euclid | Elements: Late 13th-century manuscript (5 images) | 1294 |
Euclid | Elements: Nasir al-Din al-Tusi commentary (1 image) | undated later copy (13th-century original) |
Euclid | Elements: 14th-century manuscript (3 images) | 1390 |
Euclid | Elements: 15th-century German manuscript (2 images) | 1460 |
Euclid | Elements: 16th-century manuscript (3 images) | 1510 |
Euclid | Elements: 16th-century Greek printed edition (3 images) | 1533 |
Euclid | Elements: Henry Billingsley edition (2 images) | 1570 |
Euclid | Elements: Christopher Clavius edition (2 images) | 1574 |
Euclid | Elements: Isaac Barrow ediiton (2 images) | 1660 |
Euclid | Elements: Oliver Byrne's edition (3 images) | 1847 |
Euler, Leonhard | Algebra (in French) (1 image) | 1795 |
Euler, Leonhard | Calculus of Variations (1 image) | 1744 |
Euler, Leonhard | Integral Calculus (3 images) | 1768 |
Euler, Leonhard | Institutiones Calculus Differentialis (2 images) | 1787 |
Euler, Leonhard | Introduction to Analysis of the Infinite (4 images) | 1748 |
Eyre, John | The Exact Surveyor (2 images) | 1654 |
Faulhaber, Johann | Academia algebrae (2 images) | 1631 |
Feliciano, Francisco | Libro di Arithmetica i Geometria (3 images) | 1536 |
Fine, Oronce | Geometry (1 image) | 1530 |
Fine, Oronce | Le sphere du monde (3 images) | 1551 |
Frend, William | The Principles of Algebra and Tangible Arithmetic (3 images) | 1796, 1805 |
Frisius, Gemma | Arithmeticae methodus facilis (3 images) | 1540 |
Galilei, Galileo | Siderius nuncius (2 images) | 1610 |
Galilei, Galileo | Geometrical Compass (2 images) | 1640 |
Ghaligai, Francesco | Practica d'Arithmetica (3 images) | 1552 |
Heuraet, Hendrick van | Rectification of Curves (3 images) | 1659 |
Honoratus | Opus arithmetica (2 images) | c. 1560 |
Huygens, Christiaan | De circuli magnitude inventa (1 image) | 1654 |
Jacob, Simon | Rechenbuch (7 images) | 1565/1599 |
Jordanus de Nemore | Arithmetica (1 image) | (13th-century original) |
Kepler, Johann | Rudolphine Tables (3 images) | 1627 |
Kepler, Johann | Ausszag aud der Uralten messekunst Archimedes (1 image) | 1616 |
Kepler, Johann | Epitome of Copernican Astronomy (2 images) | 1619 |
Kepler, Johann | Chilias logarithmoria (1 image) | 1624 |
Khayyam, Omar | Algebra (1 image) |
12th-century Indian manuscript (Original dates to ca 1100) |
Köbel, Jacob | Rechenbuch (6 images) | 1537 (original 1514) |
Köbel, Jacob | Geometrei (4 images) | 1608 |
Lacroix, Sylvestre | Calculus of Probability (2 images) | 1816 |
Lagrange, Louis | Analytical Mechanics (2 images) | 1788 |
Laplace, Pierre-Simon | Celestial Mechanics (5 images) | 1799/1818/1829 |
Laplace, Pierre-Simon | Théorie Analytique des Probabilités (4 images) | 1812 |
Lincoln, Abraham | Cyphering book (1 image) | 1824 |
Maclaurin, Colin | Geometria Organica (2 images) | 1720 |
Maclaurin, Colin | Treatise of Algebra (6th ed., 4 images) | 1796 (original 1748) |
Marolois, Samuel | Three volumes: Geometria, Fortification, and Perspectiva (3 images) | 1629 |
Mascheroni, Lorenzo | La Geometria del Compasso (3 images) | 1797 |
Maseres, Francis | Doctrine of Permutations and Combinations (3 images) | 1795 |
Maseres, Francis | Resolution of Cubick and Biquadratic Equations (4 images) | 1803 |
Mengoli, Pietro | Geometriae speciosae elementa (1 image) | 1659 |
Mittag-Leffler, Gösta | Acta Mathematica (12 images) | 1882 |
Moore, Jonas | Arithmetick in Four Books (5 images) | 1650/1688 |
Neudörffer, Johann | Rechenbüchlein (4 images) | ca 1530 |
Newton, Isaac | Collected Works (5 images) | 1779 |
Ozanam, Jacques | La Trigonometrie Rectiligne et Spherique (2 images) | 1741 |
Pacioli, Luca | Divine Proportion (2 images) | 1509 |
Pacioli, Luca | Summa (3 images) | 1494 |
Pardies, Ignace Gaston | Short but Plain Elements of Geometry and Plain Trigonometry (9 images) | 1701 (original 1671) |
Peuerbach, Georg von | Arithmetices elementa (1 image) | 1544 |
Pitiscus, Bartholomew | Trigonometry (2 images) | 1600 |
Qadi Zada al-Rumi | Geometry (1 image) | 16th century (original 1412) |
Ramus, Peter | Arithmeticae libri duo: Geometriae septem et viginti (6 images) | 1580 |
Ramus, Peter | The Way to Geometry (2 images) | 1636 |
Recorde, Robert | Pathway to Knowledge (1 image) | 1551 |
Recorde, Robert | Grounde of Artes (4 images) | 1543 |
Recorde, Robert | Whetstone of Witte (6 images) | 1557 |
Regiomontanus | On Triangles (2 images) | 1533 |
Reisch, Gregor | Margarita philosophica (6 images) | 1503 |
Riese, Adam | Rechenbuch (2 images) | 1550 |
Rudolff, Christoff | Die Coss (10 images) | 1553 (original 1525) |
Ruffini, Paolo | Riflessioni intorno alla soluzione delle equazioni algebraiche (2 images) | 1813 |
Sabeus, Bernard | Italian astrolabe (1 image) | 1558 |
Saccheri, Girolamo | Euclides ab omni naevo vindicatus (5 images) | 1733 |
Sacrobosco, Johannes de | Algorismus (1 image) | mid-15th century |
Sault, Richard | New Treatise of Algebra (5 images) | 1694 |
Scheubel, Johann | De numeris (2 images) | 1545 |
Schooten, Frans van | Exercitationes mathematicae (7 images) | 1657 |
Seki Kowa | Essentials of Mathematics (2 images) | 1712 |
Stevin, Simon | L’Arithmetique (3 images) | 1585 |
Stevin, Simon | Oeuvres Mathematiques (5 images) | 1634 |
Stifel, Michael | Arithmetica integra (5 images) | 1544 |
Tacquet, Andre | Cylindrica et annularia (4 images) | 1651 |
Tagliente, Girolamo | Opera che insegna a fare ogni ragione de mercantia (5 images) | 1525 |
Tartaglia, Niccolo | Nova scientia (2 images) | 1537 |
Tartaglia, Nicolo | General Treatise on Number & Measure (2 images) | 1556 |
van Heuraet, Hendrick | Rectification of Curves (3 images) | 1659 |
van Schooten, Frans | Latin translation of Viéte’s works, Opera mathematica (3 images) | 1641 |
van Schooten, Frans | Exercitationes mathematicae (7 images) | 1657 |
Varignon, Pierre | Élémens de Mathématiques (7 images) | 1731 |
Venturini, Antonio | Libro di Conti di me (8 images) | 1686 |
Viéte, François | Opera mathematica (3 images) | 1641 |
Vlacq, Adriaan | Arithmetique Logarithmetique (3 images) | 1628 |
Wallis, John |
De Sectionibus Conicis and Arithmetica Infinitorum (8 images) |
1655, 1656 |
Wallis, John | Treatise of Algebra (4 images) | 1685 |
Ward, John | Compendium of Algebra (3 images) | 1724 |
Widman, Johannes | Behend und hüpsch Rechnung uff [auf] allen Kauffmanschafften (5 images) | 1508 (original 1489) |
Witt, Jan de | Elements of Linear Curves (5 images) | 1683 |
Wolff, Christian | Treatise of Algebra (5 images) | 1765 |
Zubler, Leonhard | Nova instrumentum geometricum (5 images) | 1607 |
These images may be used for instructional and educational purposes; for all other uses, please obtain permission from the Columbia University Libraries.
Index to the Convergence Collection of Mathematical Treasures