SACROBOSCO, Johannes de. [with] REGIOMONTANUS, Johannes. [and] PURBACH, Georg.

£19,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

Very good, well-margined and handsomely illustrated copy of the first edition of this important collection on Ptolemaic astronomy intended for students, and the most widely used of the early modern period. Johannes de Sacrobosco (or Holywood, 1195-1256) was a monk and astronomer who taught at Paris. His ground-breaking works were extremely influential in the medieval period; they focused on astronomy and mathematics including the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, a study of the shortcomings of the Julian calendar (anticipating C16 debates) and his treatise ‘Sphaera mundi’. First published in 1472, it was reprinted dozens of times in Europe throughout the C15. It discusses the earth in relation to the geocentric Ptolemaic universe, touching on subjects including its physical composition, geometrical realization, its (as it were) sphericity, the revolution of the heavens and the zodiac in relation to sunrise and sunset, the meaning of zenith and climate zones. Johannes Regiomontanus (Müller von Königsberg, 1436-76) studied at Leipzig and Vienna, devoting himself to commentaries on ancient texts on arithmetic and astronomy. He established the first astronomical observatory in Nuremberg. His work argues against the ‘deliramenta’ of Gherardus Cremonensis’s Ptolemaic ‘Theorica Planetarum’, written in the C12 and the most important manual of astronomy used in Faculties of Arts. Structured as a dialogue between two scholars, it concerns calculations relating to very specific points of the

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.