DE SACROBOSCO, Johannes.

by Johannes De Sacrobosco

£5,250 · Offered by Sokol Books

First edition printed in Spain of this important early modern astronomy textbook, which includes a critique of the then-used Julian calendar as well as a recommended solution remarkably similar to today s Gregorian calendar. Johannes de Sacrobosco (c. 1195-1256) was a scholar, monk and astronomer who in this publication gives a readable account of the Ptolemaic universe. His Anglicised name is John Hollywood; he was an exceptional early English forerunner in the sciences prior to the likes of Bacon and Newton. Ptolemy s (updated) Almagest had been translated into Latin in 1175 by Gerard of Cremona from the Arabic translation held in Toledo and copies quickly found their way to Paris. Sacrobosco s sphere was the imaginary backdrop of the stars in the sky, which was the meaning of the word world at that time, not the earth as we know it. Sacrobosco quotes the Greek astronomer Theodosius when stating it is a solid body. Through principally about the heavens it also contains a clear description of the Earth as a sphere. In fact, the Earth was perceived as a sphere widely during the higher Middle Ages. Sacrobosco s Sphaera went on to become required reading by students in all Western European universities for the next four centuries. The text is divided into four chapters. The first discusses the general structure of the universe, and second the circles of the celestial sphere, the third the daily rotation of the heavens and the climates of the Earth, and the fourth planetary move

• Binding: Hardcover

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