81

Luca Gaurico (1476-1558)

Ephemerides Recognitae et ad Unguem Castigatae.

Venice: Ab Iunta Typographus, 1533.
First edition, quarto, illustrated with text woodcut diagrams; covering the years 1534 through 1551; bound in full contemporary blind-tooled leather over wooden boards by Wolf Conradus, bookbinder at Tubingen, with a distinctive roll-tool depicting soldiers and bearing his initials and the date 1534 on the front board; with catches intact, lacking clasps; endleaves covered with contemporary marginal notes, spine ends mended nicely; inside pastedowns of boards consumed with long German inscriptions from the 1530s and '40s; lacking bottom endband; 8 3/4 x 6 1/4 in.

Gaurico was Catherine de' Medici's court astrologer, using his knowledge of astronomy to make predictions about important political and sensitive personal matters for the Queen, a dangerous occupation.

  • Notes: Ex libris Professor, Astronomer, Historian & Bibliophile Owen Gingerich.
  • Condition: †8, ††8, †††8, *8, **8, ***8, ****8, a-r14, s16 (s16 blank but for printer's device present).

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


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