1541 SACROBOSCO'S «THE EARTH IS A SPHERE»: THE FIRST PRINTED ASTRONOMICAL BOOK

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1541sacrobosco’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 the copy of Latino Latini, Paolo Manuzio’s proofreader, with his signature and his annotations De Sacrobosco, Johannes (and Philippus Melanchthon , editor) . 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 X I, mense Iulij. [Venice: Sabio and Sessa, July 1541]. 8vo (154x104 mm), later paperboards with handwritten title on spine, ff. [27]. As in most of the copies, it lacks the ff. A3-A6 containing the preface of the “unacceptable” Melanchton, which works were put in the Index of Forbidden Books . Similarly, the upper half of the second leaf (A2) is cut and the lower half is pasted at verso of title-page, in order to hide the name of Melanchton. Latin text, Italic and Romanic type. The text of Sacrobosco is 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 . very scarce early edition (the second 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, 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 actual origins are mysterious because Sacrobosco is unknown both as a town and 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 . Around 1230, his best known work, Tractatus de Sphaera , began to circulate as a 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 a compulsory reading for students in all Western European universities during the following four centuries . Though principally about the heavens, it contains a clear description of the Earth as a sphere and its popularity demonstrates 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 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 medicine. He stands... read more

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