Milestones of Science Books

CLAVIUS, Christopher.

In Sphaeram Ioannis de Sacro Bosco commentarius nunc quinto ab ipso auctore recognitus . . . accessit Geometrica . . . de crepusculis tractatio.

Rome: Luigi Zanetti for Paulo Gellio, 1607.

Soft cover. Very Good. Item #003021

4to (220 x 162 mm). [8], 669 (i.e. 639) [1], [48] pp., title printed in red and black and with large woodcut vignette of the celestial spheres (repeated on p. 24), woodcut initials and tailpieces, colophon and printer's device on leaf f3 recto, several astronomical and mathematical diagrams in text, index bound at end, final blank f4 present. Signatures: [cross]4 (A-4L)4, (a-f)4. Contemporary limp vellum, spine lettered in manuscript, inscription on covers in contemporary hand (inner joints split, rear cover restored). Some uneven browning and foxing to text, small wormtracks in blank margins, slight marginal dampstaining to few leaves, first leaves little frayed at fore-edge, two others loose, rear free endpaper repaired. Provenance: Giancarlo Beltrame Library. Still very good copy in original binding, collated complete. ----

Houzeau-Lancaster 2678 - LATER EDITION of Clavius' commentaries on Sacrobosco's Sphaera (first 1570). The basic text of this book, Joannes de Sacrobosco's (fl. ca. 1230) Sphaera was the most widely used astronomical resource of the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period and went through literally hundreds of editions inspiring many commentaries. "Although the end of the Ptolemaic era was marked by Copernicus's revolutionary work, De revolutionibus (1543), it was not until the publication of Kepler's Astronomis nova (1609) and Galileo's Sidereus nuncius (1610) that the heliocentric theory began to achieve broader acknowledgement. The period between 1543 and 1610, as a result, is a particularly fascinating one. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) still represented a geo-heliocentric system and Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) and Galileo began his observations and researches continuing the work of Copernicus. Christoph Clavius (1538-1612), meanwhile, was the most compelling astronomical voice in support of geocentricism. He was perhaps the most distinguished mathematics professor of his generation at the Collegio Romano, the principal Jesuit seminary and college. He produced two extremely popular textbooks and he also served on the papal commission on calendar reform that would produce the Georgian calendar. After Galileo visited Clavius in Rome in 1587 they corresponded and Clavius, cautiously though, but mentioned in the later editions of his commentaries on the Sphaera, the new invention, the telescope. He also described there some of the observations Galileo made with the telescope, such as about the 'roughness' of the surface of the Moon, and the moons ('stars') of the Jupiter. Clavius's edition of the Sphaera was an extremely important book, and according to modern historians is the 'greatest of all Sphere commentaries' (Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo, p. 37)" (L. Robinson, In sphaeram Ioannis de Sacro Bosco commentarius, Smithsonian Libraries, 2012). "C'est le meilleur commentaire de l'astronomie de Sacrobosco; mais l'auteur a evite de parler du systeme de Copernic" (Houzeau). - Visit our website for additional images and information.

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