From the library of Antonio Favaro

XIMENES, Leonardo.

Del vecchio e nuovo gnomone fiorentino, e delle osservazioni astronomiche, fisiche ed architettoniche.

Florence: Stamperia Imperiale, 1757.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003294

8vo (252 x 180 mm). [8], cxxiv, 336, [2] pp. Signatures: [cross]⁴ a-g⁸ h⁶, A-X⁸ [chi]¹. Title-page printed in red and black and with engraved vignette, 14 engraved plates (including 2 tables, 13 folding), final errata leaf, woodcut initials and tailpieces. Early 19th-century half mottled calf over marbled boards, flat spine with black morocco label lettered in gilt (little rubbing of extremities and minor wear of corners), blue-dyed edges. Text and plates exceptionally crisp and clean, light brown-staining at top margin of first few pages including title. Provenance: Antonio Favaro, professor of mathematics at Padua, science historian and editor of the Works of Galileo (his bookplate to front pastedown). A very fine copy. ----

Riccardi II 634-635; Brunet V, 1503. VERY RARE FIRST EDITION of the important study by the great Sicilian scientist Leonardo Ximenes, geographer and engineer of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Ximenes restored the great sundial of the Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. At this occasion he performed a series of astronomical and physical observations of great importance, and marked the meridian line on the floor of the transept of the Croce del Duomo. The present work also contains a compendium of the history of astronomy in Tuscany including a detailed bibliography, where many astronomical works by Tuscan authors are recorded along with some news about their life (see Riccardi).
Lo scienzato Leonardo Ximenes restauro il grande gnomone della Cupola di Santa Maria del Fiore, che utilizzo per compiere una serie di rilevazioni astronomiche e fisiche di grande importanza, e installo la linea meridiana sul pavimento del transetto della Croce del Duomo. L'opera contiene anche un compendio della storia dell'astronomia in Toscana: '...abbiamo inoltre dovuto piuvolte citare la erudita introduzione di quest'opera, ove sono registrate molte opere astronomiche d'autori toscani, e non poche notizie intorno alla loro vita' (Riccardi).

Price: 3,000 €  *  convert currency