1534 SACROBOSCO: THE EARTH IS A «SPHERE», THE FIRST PRINTED ASTRONOMICAL BOOK

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1534sacrobosco’s Sphaera: the first printed astronomical book a cornerstone of early astronomy and the basic text of pre-copernican astronomy the first description of the Earth as a sphere extremely scarce early edition, illustrated with 35 wonderful woodcuts representing the globe in all its aspects a scarce complete copy with Melanchton’s preface De Sacrobosco, Johannes . Liber Ioannis de Sacro Busto De Sphaera. Addita est praefatio in eundem librum Philippi Mel. ad Simonem Grineum . [at colophon:] Venetiis, apud Ioan. Ant. De Nicolinis De Sabio, Sumptu & requisitione D. Melchioris Sesse, Anno domini M D X X X IIII, mense Iulij. [Venice: Sabio and Sessa, July 1534]. 8vo (mm), later paperboards with paper laber and handwritten title on spine, ff. [ 40 ] = pp. 80 . Latin text, Italic and Romanic type. Beautiful woodcut title-page of Sessa, coloured by an ancient hand. In most of the copies, it lacks the first leaves containing the preface (dated August 1531) of the unacceptable Melanchton, which works were put in the Index of Forbidden Books . On the contrary, in the present copy the preface is present , even if the name of Melanchton is crossed out, and the copy is absolutely Complete . 35 wonderful and neatly inked woodcuts, representing the globe in all its aspects , its measures, the equinoxes, zodiacs, colors, weather, zones, poles, solar and lunar eclipses, rising and setting of the planets . Two woodcuts containing a globe with america. very scarce early edition (the second one printed in Italy) of Sacrobosco’s de Sphaera Mundi (« On the Sphere of the World» , sometimes rendered « The Sphere of the Cosmos ») the first printed astronomical book and a cornerstone of early astronomy and the basic text of pre-copernican astronomy. * John of Holywood (c. 1195 – c. 1256) better known as Johannes de Sacrobosco or Sacro Bosco or Sacro Busto was a scholar, monk, and astronomer (probably English, but possibly Irish or Scottish) who taught at the University of Paris and wrote the authoritative medieval astronomy text Tractatus de Sphaera . Although described as English, his birthplace is unknown because Sacrobosco is an otherwise unknown town or region. The belief on his nationality is based on a 1271 statement by Robertus Anglicus . Traditional theories were based on suggestions of antiquarians, without documentary proof. The story that he was educated at the University of Oxford is no more documented than the stories on his origin. According to a seventeenth century account, he arrived at the University of Paris on June 5, 1221, but whether as an arts student or as a licentiate (one having a Master of Arts degree from another university and thus qualified to teach) is unclear. In due course , he began to teach the mathematical disciplines at the University of Paris . About 1230, his best known work, Tractatus de Sphaera , began to circulate as manuscript, and was printed for the first time in 1472. In his masterpiece, Sacrobosco gives a readable account of the Ptolemaic universe : this text was required reading by students in all Western European universities for the next four centuries . Though principally about the heavens, it contains a clear description of the Earth as a sphere and its popularity shows the nineteenth-century opinion that medieval scholars after this date thought the Earth was flat as a fabrication. It was the most frequently printed astronomical work , some 30 incunable editions alone being published, and an even greater number of sixteenth-century editions. * Philip Schwarzerdt (1497–1560), better known with the latinized name of Philippus Melanchthon was a was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems. He devoted himself also to the study of jurisprudence, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, and even of medicin... read more

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