Milestones of Science Books

BARTHOLIN, Caspar.

Astrologia Seu De Stellarum Natura, affectionibus, & effectionibus. Exercitatio : Qua difficultates praecipuae, de Stellarum Definitione, caußis, Ordine, ... succincte & nervose ecpediuntur; Cum Indice Quaestionum. Editio Septima Correctior mendos a tertia & melior ... / Enchiridion Metaphysicum. Editio octava. / Enchiridion Ethicum Seu Epitome Philosophiae Moralis : Praecepta breviter ... & facili explicata exhibens.

Wittenberg: Casparus Heiden, 1624.

Hardcover. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. Very Good. Item #002999

Sammelband including three works. Astrologia Seu De Stellarum Natura, affectionibus, & effectionibus. Exercitatio : Qua difficultates praecipuae, de Stellarum Definitione, caußis, Ordine, . . . succincte & nervose ecpediuntur; Cum Indice Quaestionum. Editio Septima Correctior mendos a tertia & melior . . . [Wittenberg]: Casparus Heiden, 1624. [24], 260, [26] pp. Signatures: A-N¹². Woodcut ornaments, substantial browning, title-page with inscription of Jesuit College member (partially erased with small holes not affecting text) dated 1659, final blank. [Bound with] Enchiridion Metaphysicum. Editio octava. [Wittenberg]: Casparus Heiden, 1621. [6], 40, [2] pp. Signatures: A-B¹². Woodcut headpieces (one shaved), substantial browning, margins trimmed close. [Bound with] Enchiridion Ethicum Seu Epitome Philosophiae Moralis : Praecepta breviter ... & facili explicata exhibens. [Rostock]: Joan Hallervord, 1622. [2], 117 [1] pp. Signatures: A-E¹². Decorated woodcut initial and tailpiece, substantial browning, inscription of Jesuit College member (partially erased) dated 1654 to p.117. Three works in one volume. 12mo (119 x 70 mm). Bound in contemporary vellum, yapp edges, shelfmark label to spine, upper hinge partially split, minor chipping of spine head. Provenance: Giancarlo Beltrame Library. ----

I. VD17 23:296423Z. 7th edition of Bartholin's treatise on astrology in which he widely follows Melanchton's and Niels Hemmingsen's triple divisions of astrology (infallible, probable and false predictions). Example for the first (necessaria) is the prediction of a solar eclipse, the second (probalia) concerns the weather forecasts of rain and drought, etc., and for the last (false) the forbidden predictions, or the 'chaldean superstition', as Bartholin calls it. Bartholin himself does believe that his astrological art falls into the third category, and emphasizes that the art of astrological prediction is subject to certain but crucial constraints. It is the same discussion Tycho Brahe and Hemmingsen had conducted. The stars influence the whole nature, the body and the organs, and thus also the soul, for 'when the body is fast, it goes well', as Bartholin says. (see M. Fink-Jensen, Fornuften under troens lydighed: naturfilosofi, medicin og teologi i Danmark 1536-1636. Museum Tusculanum Press, 2004, pp. 320-21).
II. VD17 1:066033V. 8th edition of Bartholin's metaphysical tratise.
III. VD17 1:066015X. Early, probably 6th, edition of Bartholin's treatise on moral philosophy and ethics.
Caspar Bartholin the elder (1585-1629) was a Danish polymath. His precocity was extraordinary; at three years of age he was able to read, and in his 13th year he composed Greek and Latin orations and delivered them in public. When he was about 18 he went to the University of Copenhagen and afterwards studied at Rostock and Wittenberg. In 1613 he became professor of medicine at the University of Copenhagen and later taught theology at the same university. - Visit our website for additional images and information.

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