‎HILARIO, GEORGIO (HILARIUS, JÖRGEN EILERTSEN)‎
‎Progymnasmatum mathematicorum enchiridion continens... (+) Praecepta Doctrinae Sphaericae - [FIRST DANISH TEXTBOOK ON MATHEMATICS]‎

‎Hafniæ (Copenhagen), Petri MorsingI, 1656. 8vo. In contemporary full vellum. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spine. Wear and soiling to extremities. Inner hinges split, a few quires loose. End-papers annotated in contemporary hand. Last 10 ff with worm-tracts, with loss of lettering. With occassional tears and annotations throughout. (4), 88, (167) pp. ‎

Reference : 61886

‎Exceedingly rare first edition of first Danish textbooks on mathematics and geometry. Magister Jørgen Eilertsen (Georg Hilarius) (1646–72) first attended the Latin school in his hometown Vordingborg where his father, Eiler Jacobsen, was a mayor and customs officer. Later in 1629 he enrolled at Herlufsholm School. In 1654 he also became a professor of Litterae Humaniores (humanities) at the university of Copenhagen, later becoming a professor of mathematics. During his tenure as Rector, the school experienced many difficult and sorrowful years. In July, August, and September of 1652, a severe dysentery outbreak spread, leading to such high mortality that, on one day alone, the school's students assisted with 21 burials. In 1654, a terrible plague struck, claiming the lives of 246 students, and on a single day, the school had to handle over 60 burials. The war years from 1658 to 1662 caused severe economic hardship for both teachers and students. He bequeathed his extensive library of 1409 books to Valkendorf’s College.Provenance: From the library of Valdemar's Castle. Biblioteca Danica II, 7.Not in Thesaurus ‎