I just came across this recent news story regarding magic history: And that's renaissance magic...

"After lying almost untouched in the vaults of an Italian university for 500 years, a book on the magic arts written by Leonardo da Vinci's best friend and teacher has been translated into English for the first time.

The world's oldest magic text, De viribus quantitatis (On The Powers Of Numbers) was penned by Luca Pacioli, a Franciscan monk who shared lodgings with Da Vinci and is believed to have helped the artist with The Last Supper."

Just thought everyone should know.

I ask peoples what card tricks inside "De viribus quantitatis", but nobody help me. I find place with all pages, but still need number of pages...

This article is very misleading.

1) It isn't the world's oldest magic book.

2) It was reprinted in 1997 in Italian, so it hasn't been "lying untouched."

3) Was Pacioli really daVinci's best friend?

Not to mention that the claim by David Singmaster (I pretty sure he's the one who made the claim) to the effect that this book is the foundation for magic is neither supported nor very logical.

Still, it is wonderful to see public discussion of early books (arguably) having conjuring content.

Yes, that claim in itself is B.S. I have read through the copy on Conjuring Arts and there are many things that are not addressed at all.

Was the English translation of this book ever published?

I have been unsuccessful in locating any information on it using World.Cat and the internet beyond these announcements.

Thanks,

HLT

I have ascertained that it was translated into English by Lori Pieper in 2007. Unfortunately it is apparently unpublished as it is listed as a "draft" at the Conjuration Arts Research Center.

A commentary on Pacioli is at http://repositorio.ul.pt/bitstream/10451/18435/1/ulfc113829_tm_Tiago_Hirth.pdf.

The great news is that it is comprehensive. But unfortunately it is only a commentary, and the 46 mathematical magic tricks are explained in terms only mathematicians can understand, ie. complex algebraic equations. The good news is that there are a few of these tricks in Prevost which are easily figured out.

HLT