The Archimedes Palimpsest 2 Volume Set
Nigel Wilson editor Reviel Netz editor William Noel editor Natalie Tchernetska editor
Format:Set / collection
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Published:24th Nov '11
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Authoritative and fully illustrated account of the ten years of conservation, imaging and scholarship on the world's greatest palimpsest.
The result of a trailblazing project to recover lost texts from the ancient world, these books describe and illustrate the discovery and recovery of erased texts in the Archimedes Palimpsest, the unique source for two treatises by Archimedes, lost speeches by the Athenian orator Hyperides and a commentary on Aristotle's Categories.The Archimedes Palimpsest is the name given to a Byzantine prayer book that was written over a number of earlier manuscripts, including one that contained two unique works by Archimedes, unquestionably the greatest mathematician of antiquity. Sold at auction in 1998, it has since been the subject of a privately funded project to conserve, image, and transcribe its texts. In Volume 1 the scientists, conservators, classicists, and historians involved in the project discuss in full their techniques and their discoveries. These include new speeches by the classical Athenian orator Hyperides, a lost commentary on Aristotle's Categories from the second or third century AD, and substantial re-readings and reinterpretations of the works by Archimedes. Volume 2 contains a complete set of colour images and transcriptions of the most important manuscripts that constitute the Palimpsest. The volumes will be of interest to manuscript scholars, conservators, classicists, and historians of science.
'The imminent massive publication of a complete facsimile and transcription will be a huge gift to the study of ancient mathematics.' Alexander Jones, Wall Street Journal
'There is enormous expectation in the scholarly community about the arrival of the first copies of a new book from Cambridge University Press, which contains full color images of the palimpsest, a technical account of how the images were made and complete transcriptions of the texts. It's too early to say whether this will revolutionize our understanding of Greek mathematics, but it will contain new texts thought to have been lost forever by the Greek orator Hyperides and the most complete versions of several works by Archimedes, including two books which exist only in this manuscript. This is the iceberg in full view, a massive tome that took more than a decade to produce, recovering - perhaps as fully as can ever be hoped - texts that miraculously escaped the oblivion of decay and destruction.' The Washington Post
'For a beautiful classical book - and I mean for the quality of the printed object itself as much as for its contents - first prize goes to the two-volume Archimedes Palimpsest … the amazing images in the book, revealing how the decipherment has been pulled off, are as remarkable as the contents.' Mary Beard, The Times Literary Supplement
'Cambridge University Press have surpassed themselves: these are, quite simply, among the loveliest printed books produced this century. Both volumes contain hundreds of photographs, all in breathtaking full colour; the type is elegant and spacious, and the page proportions of the layout are beautifully harmonious. It is a joy that serious books of such extraordinary art can still be produced.' The Times Literary Supplement
ISBN: 9781107016842
Dimensions: 347mm x 251mm x 78mm
Weight: 5040g
700 pages