203
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WING, VINCENT.
Astronomia Britannica: in qua per novam concin-
nioremq[ue] methodum hi quinq[ue] tractatus traduntur. I. Logistica
astronomia . . . II. Trigonometria . . . III. Doctrina sphaerica . . . IV. Theoria
planetarum . . . V. Tabulae novae astronomicae . . . cui accessunt observationum
astronomicarum synopsis compendiaria.
Woodcut text diagrams. [20], 244, [2]; 192,
[2], 193-366, [2], 367-69 pages, including engraved frontispiece portrait of the author and
blank 3A4. Folio, 315x200 mm, contemporary panelled calf, worn, spine ends damaged,
joints cracked at top and bottom; dampstaining in upper inner corners at beginning and
end, few scattered rust holes generally not impairing legibility. Early ownership inscription
of John Reynolds, student of medicine, astronomy, and astrology; 19th-century Jesuit
stamps (École Sainte-Geneviève, Paris, and Maison Saint-Louis, Jersey) on portrait and
title.
London: John Macock for George Sawbridge, 1669
[4,000/6,000]
FIRST EDITION
.
“Wing’s last and most important work, Astronomia Britannica . . . was a
large-scale Latin treatise on the size, distance, and motions of the planets according to the
Copernican system, documented by numerous observations by Tycho Brahe, Bullialdus,
Gassendus, and other continental astronomers, and by Wing himself and a group of English
astronomers . . . This volume, aimed at a European as well as English readership, was the most
significant English astronomical work of its time and made a considerable impact both in
England and on the continent” (ODNB). BEA, page 1129; DSB XIV, 446; Houzeau &
Lancaster 9232; Wing W2986.
