François de Foix de Candalle: Euclidean authorship in the sixteenth century

Abstract

This article discusses the work of François de Foix de Candalle and its importance for the early modern Euclidean tradition. It provides an outline of Foix's life, education and career, and it describes in particular his editions of the Elements published in 1566 and 1578. Those editions made substantial additions to the text, increasing the number of ‘books' from fifteen to eighteen: by far the largest addition to the Euclidean text since late antiquity. The article goes on to discuss Foix's intentions and his practices as an editor, and the reception of Foix's Elements. His book XVI remained in print in various languages well into the eighteenth century, making Foix an important and influential contributor to the early modern tradition of the Elements, whose work helps to illustrate the fluidity of that tradition as well as the character of early modern mathematical editorship more generally.