18
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BASSANTIN [or BASSENDYNE], JAMES.
Astronomia, opus absolutissi-
mum.
Numerous woodcut diagrams, including 17 full-page (none with volvelles). [4], 262
pages. Folio, 427x290 mm, contemporary vellum boards, covers slightly warped, with lower
outer corners damaged, bottom spine compartment off; moderate to heavy foxing
throughout, worming in blank margins at beginning and end, light marginal dampstaining
at end. Bookplate of the New York Historical Society (Samuel Verplanck Hoffman
bequest).
[Geneva]: Jean II de Tournes, 1599
[1,000/2,000]
FIRST EDITION IN LATIN
of the author’s 1557 Astronomique Discours, his major work, “an
elaborately illustrated book with movable diagrams which describes the basic elements of astron-
omy and planetary motion based on the monumental Astronomicum Caesareum of Peter
Apian” (ODNB). Bassantin was a Scottish astronomer (d. 1568) who taught for many years
in France. Harvard/Mortimer-French 47; Warner, The Sky Explored, page 17 (both citing the
original edition); Cartier 704; GLN 4032; Shaaber B315 (this edition).
