Luca Pacioli's 1494 book on business, accounting could fetch $1.5M at auction
A copy of 15th century Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli’s famous book “Summa de arithmetica,” which included the first-ever description of the practice of double-entry book-keeping, is expected to sell for at least $1 million at auction this summer, according to Christie’s.
First published in 1494, Pacioli’s book “codified the mathematical foundations of our modern and technological world,” Christie’s said in a press release. The encyclopedia laid out foundational principles and methods for conducting modern business and led Pacioli to be known to many as the “father of modern accounting.”
“Pacioli’s achievement is one of the great untold stories of the Renaissance,” said Christina Geiger, Christie’s head of books and manuscripts. “As Leonardo and others made revolutionary strides in art, and Machiavelli did for politics, so too did Pacioli for business. From double-entry bookkeeping to probability theory and computing, the mathematical principles of the most vital features of contemporary finance are all present in the Summa de arithmetica.”
The “Summa de arithmetica” will be displayed during stops in London, New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong in the coming months. It is set to be sold at auction on June 12 in New York, where it is expected to fetch anywhere from $1 million to $1.5 million.
While Pacioli endeavored to include “all of the mathematical knowledge available at the close of the 15th century” in his book, according to Christie’s, the “Summa de arithmetica” is best known for its section on double-entry accounting, which is still used in modern business.
"You could itemize the profits in each account, so you knew which products you were doing well in and which you weren't. Then you could start to think about how you would change your business activities. It was just a whole revolution in the way of thinking about business and trade,” Jane Gleeson-White, author of “Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern Finance, told NPR in 2012.
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A contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci, Pacioli shared a home with the famed artist and inventor for several years in Milan.