PTOLOMAEUS, Claudius. [Bourdin de Villennes, Nicolas.]

£2,750 · Offered by Sokol Books

A remarkable authorial presentation copy of this rare first edition of the first French translation of Ptolemy s Tetrabiblos, finely bound with the authors arms and a long manuscript presentation letter to Monsieur de Saint L éger of Avignon. Little is known about Nicolas Bourdin, except that he was born around 1583 to a Berry family, was a prot ég é of Gaston d Orleans and died governor of Vitry-le-François in 1676. His controversies with Jean-Baptiste Morin (1583-1656), another Ptolemaic astrologer, probably derived from Morin s status as the prot ég é of Richelieu. The ms. dedication is most interesting as he refers to the nature of his translation and to the marginal notes he has made, stating that they are not made for the scholarly St. Andre, who already has a copy of the Basle edition in his collection, and who could have undoubtedly make better notes than the author. Ptolemy (c.100-170AD) was a Roman geographer, mathematician and astronomer from Alexandria. His extant works, all written in Greek, influenced Western knowledge for centuries. Tetrabiblos four books , also known in Latin as Quadripartitum Four Parts , is a text on the philosophy and practice of astrology. Ptolemy s Almagest was an authoritative text on astronomy for more than a thousand years, and the Tetrabiblos, its companion volume, was equally influential in astrology, the study of the effects of astronomical cycles on earthly matters. But whilst the Almagest as an astronomical authority was supersede

• Binding: Hardcover

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