69

Johannes de Sacrobosco (1195-1256)

De Sphaera Emendata. A Sammelband of Astronomy & Geometry.

Paris: Apud Gulielmum Cavellat, 1556.
Octavo, numerous contemporary marginal annotations to text; title inscribed by 4 early owners: Thomas Dufossé; de Bernieres; Thomae; and J. Gilley; illustrated with woodcut text diagrams; lacking volvelles;

[Bound with] Hartmann Beyer's (1516-1577) Quaestiones Novae in Libellum de Sphaera, Paris: Cavellat, 1552; illustrated with text woodcuts;

[And] Euclid's Elementorum Geometricorum Libri Sex, [Leipzig]: Experimente Valentino Papa, 1549; edited by Rheticus; translated by Camerarius; woodcut of obelisk to title page;  the three titles bound in full contemporary continental calf ruled in blind with restrained gilt tooling on boards and spine; 6 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.

As promised, Beyer's Questions is a series of basic queries scholars learning the little work on the sphere by Sacrobosco may ask. Beginning with simple concepts like: Quid est Logica? and Quid est Physica?, he then proceeds in a logical (and Aristotelian) fashion. Quid est mundus? Quid est Ecliptica? He takes students into more complex concepts, answering questions along the way, eventually providing his readers with Rheticus's tables, and detailed instructions about calculations. (For more see Valleriani, Federau & Nicolaeva's "The Hidden Praeceptor: How Georg Rheticus Taught Geocentric Cosmology to Europe," published in Perspectives on Science, 2022.)

  • Condition: Sacrobosco: a-n8 (n8 blank & present); Beyer: A-H8, I10; Euclid: A-H8, I4.

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

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