Pair of Compasses

Spare a thought for the hundred generations of people who were taught at school to draw circles with a pair of compasses. With computers to do it quicker and smarter, it's a bit pointless nowadays, but in its time it was an essential skill. Recently I noticed Calcidius, writing about 400 CE, boasting he could even draw spirals with his compasses by slowly moving the legs during the turns.

Among the codices just digitized at the Vatican Library is Vat.lat.4571, Gerard of Cremona's Latin translation from Arabic of what appears to be the lost Greek textbook on spheres by Menelaus of Alexandria. This includes several pages of very fine drawings like this, all done by see hand:

Go admire. It is one of 66 new items online in the last week:

1. Ross.5,
2. Ross.81,
3. Ross.84,
4. Ross.91 (Upgraded to HQ), book of  hours?
5. Ross.109,
6. Ross.113,
7. Ross.178,

   #LatestDigitizedManuscripts - Smiling Mary with the Three Wise Men and Job with leprosy in Ross.178: Breviarium Romanum, 14th cent. - https://t.co/SiJAUSCcK9 pic.twitter.com/qx5EWBdIBX

   — Digita Vaticana (@DigitaVaticana) January 15, 2019

8. Ross.257 (Upgraded to HQ),
9. Ross.272,
10. Ross.296,
11. Urb.lat.339,
12. Urb.lat.428,
13. Urb.lat.435,
14. Urb.lat.477, Officium Beatae Mariae Virginis
15. Urb.lat.516,
16. Urb.lat.522,
17. Urb.lat.523,
18. Urb.lat.550,
19. Urb.lat.571,
20. Urb.lat.576,
21. Urb.lat.577,
22. Urb.lat.617,
23. Urb.lat.618,
24. Urb.lat.620,
25. Urb.lat.621,
26. Urb.lat.764,
27. Urb.lat.862,
28. Vat.lat.2395,
29. Vat.lat.2444.pt.1, Nicolai Florentini
30. Vat.lat.4082 (Upgraded to HQ), dated 1401, compilation of 23 works on mathematics and astronomy, see Jordanus and  eTK 
    
31. Vat.lat.4171,
32. Vat.lat.4435,
33. Vat.lat.4446, medical texts including an item by Bertrucius of Bologna, see eTK
34. Vat.lat.4456 (Upgraded to HQ), Gentile da Foligno on science, see eTK

    Gentile da Foligno (end of 13th c.-1348), Italian professor and doctor of #medicine, was one of the first European physicians to perform a dissection on a human being. Some of his works in Vat. lat. 4456 (14th cent.) among the #LatestDigitizedManuscripts👨🏻‍⚕️https://t.co/OhK7ZnPGC8 pic.twitter.com/DHfyts0lgO

    — Digita Vaticana (@DigitaVaticana) January 16, 2019

35. Vat.lat.4462,
36. Vat.lat.4468,

    Guglielmo da Saliceto, the ablest Italian surgeon of the 13th century, was the pioneer for the amalgamation of #surgery and clinical #medicine.
    
    Vat. lat. 4468 (14th c.): Chirurgia, Guillelmus de Saliceto (c. 1210 - c. 1280). #LatestDigitizedManuscripts - https://t.co/nHHhNmCxEC pic.twitter.com/pMA8ItLiBx

    — Digita Vaticana (@DigitaVaticana) January 18, 2019

37. Vat.lat.4481 (Upgraded to HQ), mid 13th century, Latin translations of Avicenna (Mirabile)
38. Vat.lat.4484,
39. Vat.lat.4492,
40. Vat.lat.4500,
41. Vat.lat.4520,
42. Vat.lat.4521,
43. Vat.lat.4525 (Upgraded to HQ),
44. Vat.lat.4531, 
45. Vat.lat.4532,
46. Vat.lat.4534 (Upgraded to HQ), Trabezon's translations of Aristotle, see Mirabile

    Table of content in the hand of George of Trebizond. He did not carry his project to the end, as translations of De celo and De anima are absent from this autograph working copy. H/T @JBPiggin https://t.co/223bNH2BL6 pic.twitter.com/X3aZ5vIA71

    — Pieter Beullens (@LatinAristotle) January 20, 2019

47. Vat.lat.4536 (Upgraded to HQ), 
48. Vat.lat.4537,
49. Vat.lat.4549 (Upgraded to HQ), Averroes on Aristotle, see Mirabile
50. Vat.lat.4550 (Upgraded to HQ), Averroes on Aristotle's Meteorology, from Hebrew. See Mirabile
51. Vat.lat.4551,
52. Vat.lat.4554 (Upgraded to HQ),
53. Vat.lat.4556,
54. Vat.lat.4557,
55. Vat.lat.4559,
56. Vat.lat.4562,
57. Vat.lat.4564 (Upgraded to HQ),
58. Vat.lat.4565,
59. Vat.lat.4568 (Upgraded to HQ), about 1500, William of Morebeke's translation of Proclus.

    Now in HQ @DigitaVaticana. Important humanist MS of three treatises by Proclus translated in 1280 by William of Moerbeke. The Greek was lost, except for the few words that the scribe copied from his model, probably remains from William's autograph MS.https://t.co/3SgCD4n6We pic.twitter.com/x4uIra2g5F

    — Pieter Beullens (@LatinAristotle) January 17, 2019

    Colophon of 2 Proclus translations by William of Moerbeke. Original Greek was lost except for some words in margins.https://t.co/ksfczLiUlb pic.twitter.com/iteXnaNoyC

    — Pieter Beullens (@LatinAristotle) July 10, 2017

60. Vat.lat.4571, Menelaus? (above), however Jordanus gives the work and author as  De figuris spericus by Mileus
61. Vat.lat.4572, Almanach Planetarum ab anno Domini 1243 usque ad 1303, see Jordanus 
    
62. Vat.lat.4573, continuation: almanac from 1306 on, and astronomy, see Jordanus
63. Vat.lat.4578 (Upgraded to HQ), apocryphal texts, 14th century, with Evangelium Nicodemi, ff. 35v-37v Evangelium Thomae de infantia Salvatoris, ff. 37v-44r Liber de ortu beatae Mariae et infantia Salvatoris, ff. 32r-35r (see Mirabile); also includes a mathematical text, see Jordanus
    
64. Vat.lat.4587 (Upgraded to HQ),
65. Vat.lat.4589,
66. Vat.lat.8193.pt.2 (Upgraded to HQ), notes from 1655 in Innocent X's court on papabile

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 192. Thanks to @gundormr for harvesting. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.