135

Nicholas Mercator (1620-1687)

Institutionum Astronomicarum Libri Duo.

London: Gulielmi Godbid, Samuelis Simpson, 1676.
First edition, octavo, dedicated to Cambridge University, which Mercator calls his "alma mater"; illustrated with text diagrams throughout; ex libris Dr. Offterdinger [?] with signature dated 1832 on front flyleaf and one marginal note in the same hand; released by the Folger Shakespeare Library with bookplate and release stamp inside back board; bound in modern full sheep, antique style, rubbed; 6 3/4 x 4 1/4 in.

ESTC R14893.

"The earliest version of Newton's libration theory appeared in the Appendix to Nicholas Mercator's Institutionum Astronomicarum, which was published in 1676. There Mercator presented the explanatory model for lunar libration that Newton explained to him in a letter and perhaps also verbally either in Cambridge or during one of Newton's visits to London for Royal Society meetings. [...] The occasion for Mercator's presentation of the theory was his inclusion of the phenomena of lunar libration among things 'quae novissimis temporibus coelitus innotuerunt,' which included also new stars, sunspots and solar rotation, the rotations of Mars and Jupiter, the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, the phases of Mercury and Venus, and comets." (Quoted from Alan Gabbey's "Innovation and Continuity in the History of Astronomy: The Case of the Rotating Moon," as published in Revolution and Continuity, ed. Peter Barker & Roger Ariew, ed., CUA Press, 2018.)

  • Notes: Ex libris Professor, Astronomer, Historian & Bibliophile Owen Gingerich.
  • Condition: A-T8, A-D8.

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    Grace Meschery-McCormack, Cataloguer: [email protected]


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