De quinque corporibus regularibus

De quinque corporibus regularibus (sometimes called Libellus de quinque corporibus regularibus) is a book on the geometry of polyhedra written in the 1480s or early 1490s by Italian painter and mathematician Piero della Francesca. It is a manuscript, in the Latin language; its title means [the little book] on the five regular solids. It is one of three books known to have been written by della Francesca.

Along with the Platonic solids, De quinque corporibus regularibus includes descriptions of five of the thirteen Archimedean solids, and of several other irregular polyhedra coming from architectural applications. It was the first of what would become many books connecting mathematics to art through the construction and perspective drawing of polyhedra,^[1] including Luca Pacioli's 1509 Divina proportione (which incorporated without credit an Italian translation of della Francesca's work).

Lost for many years, De quinque corporibus regularibus was rediscovered in the 19th century in the Vatican Library^[2] and the Vatican copy has since been republished in facsimile.^[3]