56

Caspar Peucer (1525-1602)

Hypotyposes Orbium Coelestium.

Strasbourg: Excudebat Theodosius Rihelius, [1568].
First edition, octavo, published anonymously and reprinted with Peucer's name in 1571 under the title, Hypotheses Astronomicae, woodcut printer's mark to title; illustrated with text diagrams; bound in 17th century French sprinkled sheep with gilt-tooled spine (worm damage to bottom of spine resulting in the loss of leather to the bottom two spine panels); very rare at auction; 6 3/4 x 4 in.

"In a particularly influential and representative source of the Wittenberg viewpoint, Peucer's Hypotyposes Orbium Coelestium, it was suggested that Copernicus's precessional model could be 'transferred,' in principle, to a geostatic reference frame if ninth and tenth spheres were added. [...] Although Peucer does not take the trouble to work out the details of his proposed inversion of the Copernican precessional model, it is clear what tacit assumption he has made--namely, that the hypotheses of Ptolemy and Copernicus are geometrically equivalent." (Quoted from Robert S. Westman's "The Melanchthon Circle, Rheticus, and the Wittenberg Interpretation of the Copernican Theory," as published in the journal Isis, Vol. 66, no. 2, June 1975.)

  • Notes: Ex libris Professor, Astronomer, Historian & Bibliophile Owen Gingerich.
  • Condition: a7 (lacking a8 ?blank), A-Z8, Aa-Kk8, Ll7 (lackingLl8 final ?blank).

    Ex libris Professor, Astronomer, Historian & Bibliophile Owen Gingerich.

    Please contact us to request a condition report:
    Devon Eastland, Senior Specialist: [email protected]
    Grace Meschery-McCormack, Cataloguer: [email protected]


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April 23, 2026 10:30 AM EDT
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