111

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

Ad Epistolam Sethi Calvisij Chronologi Responsio.

Frankfurt: Apud Godofredum Tampachium, typis Erasmi Kempfferi, 1614.
First edition, quarto, woodcut ornament to title page; bound in limp paper boards, pages toned with some minor marginal damage; very rare; RBH lists two copies offered at Sotheby's in the 1930s and one other that sold in 2011; 8 x 6 1/4 in.

Kepler corresponded with musical theorist and astronomer Seth Calvisius (1553-1617) concerning the Gregorian calendar's important dates in religious history. "[C]hronologers, like so many other Republicans of letters, were hypersensitive to slights. Any letter that showed insufficient respect, any publication of a fact or utterance of a word that might reflect badly on them, and they turned on discussion partners and rent them--even when, as Kepler haplessly tried to convince Seth Calvisius, the offended party had simply misunderstood the offender's use of German." (Quoted from Anthony Grafton's "A Sketch Map of a Lost Continent: The Republic of Letters," as published in vol. 1 issue one of Republics of Letters: https://shc.stanford.edu/arcade/publications/rofl/issues/volume-1-issue-1/sketch-map-lost-continent-republic-letters).

  • Notes: Ex libris Professor, Astronomer, Historian & Bibliophile Owen Gingerich.
  • Condition: A-B4, C2.

    Please contact us to request a condition report:
    Devon Eastland, Senior Specialist: [email protected]
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