astronomy - 17 titles

Author:  Joannes Regiomontanus (1436-1476)
Title/Imprint: Epitoma in Almagestum Ptolemei
[216] p. : ill., port. ; 30 cm. in box 32 cm. (fol.); Johannes Hamman: Venice , 1496

This abridgement of Ptolemy's Almagest provided astronomers with the basic information they needed to understand the standard model of planetary motion.
The Epitoma was begun by Georg von Peurbach and finished by Regiomontanus (also known as Johann Müller); the editors for this edition were Giovanni Abiosi, Caspar Grossch and Stephanus Roemer.
The incipit (leaf a2 recto) reads: Cl. Ptolemei Alexandrini Astronomo[rum] principis [Is megalin sintaxin] id est In magnam constructione[m].
The colophon (leaf p7 verso) reads: Explicit Magne compositionis astronomicon epitoma .... Opera quoq[ue] [et] arte impressionis mirifica viri solertis Iohannis Ha[m]man de Landoia, dictus Hertzog, felicibus astris expletum. ... In hemispherio Ueneto, anno salutis 1496 currente, pridie calen[das] Septembris Uenetijs ...
According to Goff, "Some copies contain the text of a 2-leaf letter of Johannes Baptista Abiosus, dated 15 Aug. 1496, and inserted between a1 and a2" ; this letter is not present in the Dibner Library copy.
In our copy, leaf a3 is reversed and misbound before leaf a2. It has extensive manuscript annotations with mathematical diagrams throughout, in an old hand. An excised leaf from an old printed ecclesiastical text is used as the front free endpaper. Our copy is bound in an old limp vellum binding.
Collation: a10 b-n8/6 o6 p8. Cited/Indexed in: Goff R-111 ; Hain-Copinger, *13806 ; Polain 2793 bis ; Proctor 5197
Full title: Epytoma Ioa[n]nis de Mo[n]te Regio in Almagestu[m] Ptolomei.

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Author:  Georg Joachim Rhäticus (1514-1576)
Title/Imprint: Ad clarissimum virum D. Ioannem Schonerum, De libris revolutionu[m] ... Doctoris Nicolai Copernici ... / / per quendam Iuuenem, mathematicæ studio sum Narratio prima
[38] leaves ; 22 cm.; Franciscum Rhodum: Gdansk , 1540

Known generally as the Narratio prima, this was the first appearance in print of Copernicus's revolutionary idea of placing the Sun at the center of the solar system. Only some two dozen copies are known to exist and only five of them are in America.
Rhäticus's name is inscribed on the title page in the Dibner Library's copy. It is bound together with 9 other tracts by Schöner, Stoeffler, Dryander, Arzachel, Regiomontanus, and Abū Bakr ibn al-Khasīl. They are all bound together in contemporary stout white pigskin, blind-tooled with clasps. Bern Dibner believed that this was Schöner's personal copy.
Collation: A-I4 [chi]2.

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Author:  Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)
Title/Imprint: De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
[7], 196 leaves ; 29 cm. (8vo); Ioh. Petreium: Nuremberg , 1543

This is the first edition of one of the most remarkable works in the history of science. By moving the Earth away from the center of the solar system and orbiting it around the Sun, Copernicus created a major shift in the way we understand the universe.
This copy contains the rare leaf of errata, but it was added in as leaf 7 of the first sequence from another source and is not original to this copy.
Collation: pi6 (pi6+chi1) a-z4 A-2C4. Leaf 52 is misnumbered as 49.
Full title: Nicolai Copernici Torinensis De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. libri VI. : habes in hoc opere iam recens nato, & ædito, studiose lector, motus stellarum, tam fixarum, quàm erraticarum, cum ex ueteribus tum etiam ex recentibus observationibus restitutos; & nouis insuper ac admirabilibus hypothesibus ornatos : habes etiam tabulas expeditissimas, ex quibus eosdem ad quoduis tempus quàm facillime calculare poteris : igitur eme, lege, fruere.

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Author:  Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
Title/Imprint: Epistolarum astronomicarum libri (Collected letters on astronomy)
[40], 309, [2] p. : ill., map, plans ; 24 cm. (4to); Ex officinâ Typographicâ Authoris: Uraniborg , 1596

This work contains the early correspondence of Tycho with William of Hesse containing detailed instructions about Tycho's marvelous astronomical instruments. Once believed by Bern Dibner to be Tycho's personal copy, this is now thought to be one of a number of copies Tycho prepared for presentation to VIPs.
Our copy is "extra-illustrated" in that Tycho's hand colored portrait was added on the verso of p. [2]. Pages [7-8] of the preliminary matter is misbound before p. [3-4]. The first four leaves are on stubs. It has a bookplate: "Zach. Conr. ab Uffenbach."
Collation: *4 (:)4 ):(4 (*)4 )*(4 A-2Q4.
Full title: Tychonis Brahe Dani Epistolarvm astronomicarvm libri. / / Quorum primvs hic illvstriss: et lavdatiss: principis Gvlielmi Hassiae Landtgravii ac ipsius mathematici literas, vnaq; responsa ad singulas complectitur.

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Author:  Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
Title/Imprint: Astronomia nova aitiologetos [romanized] : seu physica coelestis, tradita commentariis de motibus stellæ Martis, ex observationibus G. V. Tychonis Brahe
337 p., 1 fold. leaf of plates : diagrs. ; 38 cm.; G. Voegelinus: Heidelberg , 1609

Kepler's work on the observations of Mars by Tycho enabled him to reach the conclusions he published here, namely that planets travel around the Sun in elliptical orbits and that their speed increases as they are nearer the Sun.
Full title: Astronomia nova aitiologetos [romanized] : sev physica coelestis, tradita commentariis de motibvs stellæ Martis, ex observationibus G. V. Tychonis Brahe ; jussu & sumptibus Rvdolphi II ... plurimum annorum pertinaci studio elaborata Pragæ
Our copy was formerly owned by the noted book collector, John, Earl of Bute.

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Author:  Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
Title/Imprint: Harmonices mundi libri V
4 p. l., 66, 255 p., 5 pl. diagrs. 28 cm.; G. Tampachii, excudebat I. Plancvs: Linz , 1619

In this work, Kepler was able to announce his third law of planetary motion, that the square of the orbital period of a planet is equal to the cube of its mean distance from the Sun.
Full title: Ioannis Keppleri Harmonices mvndi libri v. ... Appendix habet comparationem huius operis cum Harmonices Cl. Ptolemæi libro III, cumque Roberti de Fluctibus, dicti Flud. medici oxoniensis speculationibus harmonicis, operi de Macrocosmo & microcosmo insertis. Accessit nvnc propter cognationem materiæ eiusdem authoris liber ante 23. annos editus Tubingæ, cui titulus Prodromus, seu Mysterium cosmographicum, de causis coelorum numeri, proportionis motuumque periodicorum, ex quinque corporibus regularibus

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Author:  Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Title/Imprint: Sidereus nuncius magna (The great starry messenger)
28 [i.e. 30] numb. l. illus. 24 cm.; T. Baglionum: Venice , 1610

Galileo first turned the newly invented telescope to the heavens and this is his first printed account of his new discoveries: mountains and valleys on the face of the moon, four satellites of Jupiter, the countless stars of the Milky Way, earthshine, etc.
Collation: A-D4 [*]2 E-G4.
Full title: Siderevs nvncivs magna, longeqve admirabilia spectacula pandens, suspiciendaque proponens vnicuique, præsertim verò philosophis, atq astronomis, quæ à Galileo Galileo ... perspicilli nuper à se reperti beneficio sunt obseruata in lvnæ facie, fixis innvmeris, lacteo circvlo, stellis nebvlosis, apprime verò in qvatvor planetis circa Iovis stellam disparibus interuallis, atque periodis, celeritate mirabili circumuolutis; quos, nemini in hanc vsque diem cognitos, nouissimè author depræhendit primus; atque Medicea sidera nvncvpandos decrevit.

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Author:  Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Title/Imprint: Dialogo ... sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo tolemaico, e copernicano (Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems)
5 p. l., 458, [32] p. diagrs. 24 cm.; Gio. Battista Landini: Florence , 1632

Galileo argues on physical grounds why the Copernican (Sun-centered) universe was superior to the Ptolemaic (Earth-centered) version. Galileo set the Dialogo as a conversation among three people about the problems and merits of the classical Earth-centered model of the solar system versus the newer Sun-centered one. Galileo’s endorsement of the latter arrangement so infuriated papal authorities that he was kept under house arrest for the remainder of his life.
Our copy has the added title page with the engraved illustration.
Full title: Dialogo di Galileo Galilei Linceo matematico sopraordinario dello stvdio di Pisa. E filosofo, e matematico primario del serenissimo gr. dvca di Toscana. Doue ne i congressi di quattro giornate si discorre sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo tolemaico, e copernicano; proponendo indeterminatamente le ragioni filosofiche, e naturali tanto per l'vna, quanto per l'altra parte.

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Author:  Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695)
Title/Imprint: Systema Saturnium; sive, De causis mirandorum Saturni phænomenôn, et comite ejus planeta nova (Saturnian system)
6 p.l., 84 p. illus., fold. plate. 20 cm.; A. Vlacq: The Hague , 1659

Huygens discovers the reason why Saturn had a peculiar appearance in early telescopes: it is surrounded by a ring! He describes the ring and explains why it sometimes seems to disappear.
Collation: ()4 [pi]B2 A-K4 L2.

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Author:  Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687)
Title/Imprint: Machinæ coelestis pars prior [-posterior]. (Celestial machines, or astronomical instruments)
2 v. illus., 75 plates on 73 l., port. 39 cm.; S. Reiniger: Gdansk , 1673-79

These two volumes describe Hevelius's observatory, the best in Europe, and the observations he made there. A fire in 1679 burned all but a few dozen copies of volume 2, making this complete set quite rare.
Our copy was previously owned by G. Shuckburgh Evelyn,1796 and later by the noted book collector, Herbert McLean Evans. The full polished calf binding of our copy is said to be by Roger Payne. It is lacking the half-title in vol. 1.

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Author:  Sir Issac Newton (1642-1727)
Title/Imprint: Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica
4 p. l., 383, 400-510 p., 1 l. fold. plates, diagrs. 26 cm.; Joseph Streater: London , 1687

Perhaps the most significant book in the history of science, it describes Newton's theory of universal gravitation which put the new discoveries of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo on sold physical grounds.
Our copy is of the First edition and first issue, as described in item number 10 of the Babson Collection's descriptive catalogue.
Collation: A-Zz4, ***4, Aaa-Ooo4(-Ooo4blank). There is 1 leaf of errata; H2 is signed G2 and Ll2 is signed Kk2. P4 is a cancel. The second and third books were apparently printed by different printers as indicated by the different type in the headings and the break in paging between the two books.

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Author:  Edmond Halley (1656-1742)
Title/Imprint: A synopsis of the astronomy of comets
[2], 24 p. ; 20 cm. (8vo.); John Senex: London , 1705

This is the English translation of Halley's discovery that the comets of 1531, 1607, and 1682 were one and the same. He predicted its return in 1758 and it became known as Halley's Comet.
This work originally appeared in Latin in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London the same year (volume 24, 1705, pages 1882-99). The Dibner Library also has this work, but Bern Dibner selected the English translation as the Herald of Science.
Collation: pi1 A-C4. Our copy is bound with a later translation (by a "G. T.") of the same work: A compendious view of the astronomy of comets / written in Latin by Edmund Halley ; ... London : Printed for J. Millan ..., 1757. Our copy was formerly owned by F. Baumgardt.
Full title: A synopsis of the astronomy of comets / by Edmund Halley, Savilian Professor of geometry, at Oxford; and Fellow of the Royal Society ; translated from the original, printed at Oxford.

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Author:  William Herschel (1738-1822)
Title/Imprint: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London
p. 492-501, [3] folded leaves of plates : ill. ; 25 cm.; London , 1781

Herschel describes his observations of what he thought was a comet, but it turned out to be a new planet, later named Uranus, the first to be discovered in modern times.
Our copy is bound in as part of a set of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.
Full title: Account of a comet / / by Mr. Herschel, F.R.S. ; communicated by Dr. Watson, Jun., of Bath, F.R.S. ; read April 26, 1781.

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Author:  Pierre Simon, Marquis de Laplace (1749-1827)
Title/Imprint: Traité de mécanique céleste
5 v., [1] folded leaf of plates : diagrs. on fold. pl. ; 26 cm.; J.B.M. Duprat: Paris , 1798-1827

Laplace's work was a major step in the development of celestial mechanics.
Our set is bound in 6 separate volumes (the supplement to vol. 5 makes up the sixth volume). The arms of Brasenose College are stamped on the front and back covers of each volume. Inscribed on the half-title of tome 1 is "John Gordon. Presented to him by the fellows and tutor of Brasenose College, Xmas, 1839." Also inscribed is: "Hugh Gordon from his affec. father, May, 1898."
On the title page of tome 4: "Par M. Laplace ... Paris : Chez Courcier, an XIII, 1805"; t. 5: "Par M. le marquisde Laplace ... Paris : Bachelier (successeur de Mme. ve Courcier), 1825"; [t.6] (half title only) "Supplément au 5e volume du Traité de mechanique céleste / par M. le marquis de Laplace (imprimé sur le manuscrit trouvé dans ses papiers). [S.l. : s.n.], 1827."
Contents: t. 1. livre I. Des loix générales de l'équilibre et du mouvement. livre II. De la loi de la pesanteur universelle, et du mouvement des centres de gravité des corps célestes -- t. 2. livre III. De la figure des corps célestes. livre IV. Des oscillations de la mer et de l'atmosphère. livre V. Des mouvemens des corps célestes, autour de leurs propres centres de gravité -- t. 3. livreVI. Théorie des mouvemens planétaires. livre VII. Théorie de la lune. Supplément au IIIe volu me présente an Bureau des longitudes, le 17 aoùt 1808 -- t. 4. livre VIII. Théorie des satellites de Jupiter, de Saturne et d'Uranus. livre IX. Théorie des comètes. livre X. Sur différens points relatifs au système du monde. Supplément au Xe livre: Sur l'action capillaire. Supplément à la théorie de l'action capillaire -- t. 5. livre XI. De la figure et de la rotation de la terre. livre XII. De l'attraction et de la répulsion des sphères et des lois de l'équilibre et du mouvement des fluides élastiques. livre XIII. Des oscillations des fluides qui recouvrent les planètes. livre XIV. Des mouvemens des corps célestes autour de leur centre de gravité. livre XV. Du mouvement des planètes et des comètes. livre XVI. Du mouvement des satellites -- [t . 6] Supplément au 5e volume du Traité de méchanique céleste.

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Author:  Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
Title/Imprint: The new American practical navigator
xvi, 17-246, [286], 533-589, [11] p., [9] leaves of plates (1 folded) : ill., maps ; 23 cm. (8vo); Edmund M. Blunt, for Cushing and Appleton, Salem: Newburyport, Massachusetts , 1802

A critical text for the use of navigators, this work is an excellent example of the practical uses of astronomy.
Another issue of the "First edition" has the imprint: Newburyport, Mass., Printed by E.M. Blunt for W.R. Wilder, Newport, 1802.
Collation: pi1 chi1 [A]2 B-T4 T4 X-2H4 A-B4 A-K4 L6 M-U4 W4 X-2R4 [2S]2.
Our copy has a Bookplate noting: "Gift of Marvin Lee." On the front paste down is attached a photograph of Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Nathaniel Bowditch. On the verso of the 1st folded leaf is a manuscript note in ink: "William Mansise[?] Co."
Full title: The new American practical navigator : being an epitome of navigation, containing all the tables necessary ... / / by Nathaniel Bowditch ... ; illustrated with copperplates.

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Author:  John Couch Adams (1819-1892)
Title/Imprint: An explanation of the observed irregularities in the motion of Uranus : on the hypothesis of disturbances caused by a more distant planet
31, [1] p. ; 23 cm.; W. Clowes & Sons: London , 1846

The discovery of the planet Neptune was occassioned by its prediction in this pamphlet by Adams. The French astronomer, Leverrier, independently predicted the planet as well.
This work also appeared as the Appendix to the Nautical almanac for the year 1851.

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Author:  Léon Foucault (1819-1868)
Title/Imprint: Sur divers signes sensibles du mouvement diurne de la terre
11, [1] p. ; 27 cm.; Mallet-Bachelier: Paris , 1852

Foucault demonstrated the rotation of the earth through the use of the now-famous Foucault pendulum experiment. This copy is one of a few specially printed for presentation by the author. It is inscribed by the author to an "M. Barnard."
The work is extracted from the "Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des sciences, tome XXXII, séance du 3 aoùt 1851; et tome XXXV, séance du 27 septembre 1852." The date of the first séance has been corrected in pencil by Foucault as "3 Février [sic]."

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