Milestones of Science Books

CLAVIUS, Christophorus.

Gnomonices libri octo.

Rome: Francesco Zanetti, 1581.

1st Edition. Soft cover. Very Good. Item #002880

Folio (321 x 228 mm). [16], 654, [2] pp. Signatures: [cross]⁸ A-E⁶ F⁸ G-GGg⁶ HHh⁸. Engraved title, several woodcut diagrams and tables in text, decorated and historiated woodcut initials. Colophon and printer's woodcut device on final leaf 3H8r. Contemporary limp vellum, manuscript title on spine (vellum soiled and browned, closed tear across spine, label removed from lower part of spine). Occasional minor spotting of text, dent at upper right margin through the first 130 pages well outside text area, top corner of leaf Kk6 torn not affecting text, few pages with light browning and foxing, but generally quite clean and bright. Provenance: Turin, Minorites of St. Thomas (library stamps on first page of dedication and inscription on free front endpaper). A very good, unstained and unmarked copy in untouched original binding. ----

Adams C-2098; BL/STC Italian p. 126; Houzeau-Lancaster 11383; Lalande p 112; Zinner, Astronom. Instrumente, 281. Honeyman 706; De Backer-S. II, 1220, 3; DSB III, 311. - FIRST EDITION of this masterwork on the theory and construction of sundials. Clavius considers the astronomical background, the geometrical theory and the various construction methods of the sundial, a topic which occupied many mathematicians in this period. The problems of sundial construction were related to those of the studies of perspective and shadows, which were also of interest to painters such as Albrecht Dürer. The Latin name Christopher Clavius is the only name known of this Jesuit mathematician and astronomer, whose given name in German has been lost to time. He was born in Bamberg, and joined the Jesuit order in 1555. He studied at the Collegio Romano, and in 1579 was assigned the task of determining a way to adjust the calendar to keep it in line with the actual seasons of the year. The result, built on the work of Erasmus Reinhold and Aloysius Lillius, was a reformed calendar that was endorsed by Pope Gregory XIII. Adopted in 1582, the Gregorian Calendar is still in use as the common calendar of the Western world today. "Sums up all that was known on gnomonics" (Honeyman), "le plus grand ouvrage existant sur la gnomonique" (Houzeau and Lancaster).
Erste Ausgabe. - Hauptwerk des Christoph Clavius (1538-1612) über die Sonnenuhren, in dem der "Euklid seines Zeitalters" seine astronomischen Forschungen über den Sonnenstand und die daraus resultierende Zeitmessung und Kalenderrechnung darlegt sowie Anleitungen zur Konstruktion von Sonnenuhren gibt. "Er trat in den Jesuitenorden, studirte in Coimbra (wo er 1596 eine Sonnenfinsterniss beobachtete, bei der nach seiner Angabe die Dunkelheit so gross war, dass er seine Schritte nicht hat sehen können), war 14 Jahre Lehrer der Mathematik am Collegium seines Ordens in Rom, stand wegen seiner Gelehrsamkeit in hohem Ansehen und stieg bis zum Cardinal empor. Er wurde ... vom Papst Gregor XIII zur Kalenderverbesserung berufen ... und (hat) über die Verbesserung einen erbitterten Streit mit Scaliger, Calvisius und Maestlin geführt" (ADB IV, 298). - Die zahlreichen Textholzschnitte zeigen Sonnenuhren, Sonnenräder, Messtabellen und Instrumente, Schemen zu Planetenbahnen, Strahlenreflexionen und vieles mehr. - Visit our website for additional images and information.

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