Milestones of Science Books

CUNITZ, Maria [CUNITIA, Maria].

Urania propitia sive Tabulae astronomicae mirè faciles, vim hypothesium physicarum à Kepplero proditarum complexae; facillimo calculandi compendio, sine ullâ logarithmorum mentione, phaenomenis satisfacientes. Quarum usum pro tempore praesente, . . . duplici idiomate, Latino & vernaculo . . . communicat Maria Cunitia. Das ist: Newe und Langgewünschete leichte Astronomische Tabelln durch derer vermittelung auff eine sonders behende Arth aller Planeten Bewegung nach der länge, breite, und andern Zufällen auff alle vergangene, gegenwertige, und künfftige Zeits-Puncten fürgestellet wird. Den kunstliebenden Deutcher Nation zu gutt berfürgegeben.

Oelsna Silesiorum: Johann Seyffert, 1650.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002889

Two parts in two volumes. Oelsna Silesiorum: Johann Seyffert, 1650. Folio (315 x 192 mm). [24], 1-144 [i.e. 146], [2], 147-264, [2]; 268, [2] pp., including half-title, title printed in red and black, 3 errata leaves, and 2 (of 3) folding letterpress tables, lacking table "Tabula sexagenaria". Signatures: ):(-2):(⁶ A-M⁶ N², ²A-K⁶, ³A-V⁶ W-Z⁶. Colophon: "Olsnae Silesiorum, Ex Officinà Typographica Johann: Seyfferti. Anno M. DC. L." on Z6v. Latin text in roman and italic typeface on p. [1-24] and 1-145 (first sequence of part I); German text in blackletter on p. 147-264 (second sequence of part I). Errata leaf for the Latin text after p.146 and for the German text after p.264 in first part; errata for tables on final leaf Z6r in part II, bifolium 2H2/5 bound in twice, leaf I3 misbound after I1 in part II. Bound in contemporary full vellum with yapp edges, spines ink lettered (ties gone, vellum on spines partly chipped and cracked). Text with light uniform browning, minor occasional faint spotting, second table loosley inserted. Except for the missing table an excellent fresh and clean copy. ----

Houzeau & Lancaster 12767; Caspar 91. - FIRST EDITION. A remarkable and very rare work by Maria Cunitz, an early female scientist, on the Rudolphine tables. Her husband, Elias von Leuwen (d. 1661), a physician, wrote the preface to this work, in which he was at pains to stress that the work was indeed by his wife rather than him. Her tables are accompanied by a description of their use in both Latin and German. Maria Cunitz and her husband corresponded with Hevelius, Ismael Boulliau, the French astronomer, and Pierre Desnoyers, amongst others. All her letters to and from these people were destroyed in a fire on 25 May 1656, in which her home, library and equipment, as well as some 200 astronomical observations were also lost.
"Maria Cunitz's Beneficent Urania, published in 1650, has the distinction of being the earliest surviving scientific work by a woman on the highest technical level of its age, for its purpose was to provide solutions to difficulties in the most advanced science of the age, the mathematical astronomy of Kepler's Rudolphine Tables. Her work is at once original and the product of a long history." (Swerdlow N., In: Buchwald J. (eds) A Master of Science History. Springer, Dordrecht, 2011, pp. 81-121).
"Urania Propitia is a remarkable volume for many reasons. Published in 1650, this work of astronomy demonstrates a command of high-level mathematics and astronomical calculation. It also reveals a deep understanding of Keplerian astronomy; its author both simplified and corrected Kepler's math for locating planetary positions. Finally, the book was written in German as well as Latin, which helped to both establish German as a language of science and make the tables accessible outside of the university." (L. McNeill, www.smithsonianmag.com, March 2017). - Visit our website for additional images and information.

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