File:Euclide Megarense philosopho Solo introduttore delle scientie mathematice 04.jpg

English: First edition in Italian and first edition in a modern language, folio. The translation and commentary is by Niccolo Tartaglia, one of the most noted mathematicians of the 16th century who here has added his own preface, commentary and eulogy on the utility of mathematics. According to Stillman Drake, Galileo at Work, pp. 2-4, it is probably this translation that was used by Galileo. "Tartaglia's Italian translation of Euclid - the first published translation of the Elements into any living language of Europe - was an event of great importance to the progress of mathematics, and indeed of all applied sciences. For the first time the principal treasury of rigorous mathematical reasoning was open to men who knew neither Greek nor Latin. The implications of that event for the science of mechanics were great because literacy in Europe was very high, especially among engineers and artisans" (Drake & Drabkin, Mechanics in Sixteenth Century Italy, pp. 21-22). Adams E-992; Thomas-Stanford, Early Editions of Euclid's Elements, no. 34.