REGIOMONTANUS (Johannes MÜLLER, 1436-76) and Georgius PURBACHIUS (1423-61). Epitoma in Almagestum Ptolemaei. Edited by Caspar Grosch and Stephan Römer. Venice: Johannes Hamman for the editors, 31 August 1496.
REGIOMONTANUS (Johannes MÜLLER, 1436-76) and Georgius PURBACHIUS (1423-61). Epitoma in Almagestum Ptolemaei. Edited by Caspar Grosch and Stephan Römer. Venice: Johannes Hamman for the editors, 31 August 1496.
First edition and the first appearance in print of Ptolemy's Almagest in any form. From the16th-century library of Francis Babington, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and Master of Balliol and Lincoln Colleges. The Almagest, or Mathematical syntaxis, was the chief astronomical work from its composition in the 2nd century A.D. until the end of the 16th century. It was largely known in the Western Middle Ages through the 12th-century Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona, but neither Gerard's version nor the original Greek were printed until 1515 and 1538, respectively. Cardinal Bessarion, then papal legate to the Holy Roman Empire, persuaded the Austrian astronomer Georg Peurbach to compose this epitome of Ptolemy's great work as part of his publishing programme to promote anew the writings of ancient Greek authors in the Latin West. Peurbach died in 1461, only one year after beginning work on the Epitome and after completing book VI; his friend and colleague Regiomontanus took over the work, dedicating the completed manuscript (which survives at the Institut de France) to Bessarion before 28 April 1463. The work was inexplicably not published until 1496, although, as a surviving printed advertisement makes clear (H *13807), Regiomontanus had intended to publish it himself at his short-lived Nuremberg press (active 1473-1475). Valuable as making Ptolemy's Almagest accessible to Renaissance astronomers, the Peurbach-Regiomontanus Epitome is also important for the 'observations, revised computations, and critical reflections' made by its compilers. This edition was almost certainly the text which provided Copernicus with his knowledge of the Ptolemaic system, since he had largely completed writing De revolutionibus before publication of the next edition in 1515 (Gingerich, Eye of Heaven p.164). One of Peurbach-Regiomontanus's corrections sparked Copernicus to question the Ptolemaic system, which had formed the basis of astronomy for more than one millennium, and to 'lay the foundations of modern astronomy with his revolutionary heliocentric system' (DSB 11, p.349).
The early owner of this book, Francis Babington, was a noted scholar and university administrator, who held Catholic sympathies even while professing Protestant allegiance. After a brilliant career at Oxford, suspicions about his religious leanings sent him into exile on the continent at the end of his life. He left behind a scholarly library that included mathematical works as well as theology; some survive at Lincoln College and others migrated to the Jesuit college of the Immaculate Conception (ODNB). HC *13806; BMC V, 427; CIBN R-60; BSB-Ink R-67; Bod-inc R-040; IGI 5326; Klebs 841.1; Essling 895; Sander 6399; Stillwell Science, 103; Dibner Heralds 1; Grolier/Horblit 89; Schäfer/Arnim 192; PMM 40; Goff R-111.
Super-chancery folio (314 x 218mm). Gothic and some Greek types. 107 leaves of 108 (without final blank; without the bifolium containing Johannes Baptista Abiosus's letter dated 15 August 1496, inserted in a minority of copies between a1 and 2). Xylographic title, full-page woodcut of an armillary sphere with Ptolemy and Regiomontanus studying below, 279 woodcut marginal diagrams (including repeats), woodcut ornamental initials in several sizes, printer's device (Kristeller 231) (second and third leaves supplied and wholly remargined, first and final leaves with some pinhole worming and minor repair, gently washed, occasional spotting). 16th-century French calf, sides with gilt fillet border and gilt arabesque centre-pieces, spine gilt (skilfully restored, some pinhole worming); modern morocco box. Provenance: Francis Babington (d.1569; title inscribed ‘Babington’ and dated 1560) – Jesuit College of the Immaculate Conception (late 17th-century title inscription).
Special Notice
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
View it on
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
REGIOMONTANUS (Johannes MÜLLER, 1436-76) and Georgius PURBACHIUS (1423-61). Epitoma in Almagestum Ptolemaei. Edited by Caspar Grosch and Stephan Römer. Venice: Johannes Hamman for the editors, 31 August 1496.
First edition and the first appearance in print of Ptolemy's Almagest in any form. From the16th-century library of Francis Babington, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and Master of Balliol and Lincoln Colleges. The Almagest, or Mathematical syntaxis, was the chief astronomical work from its composition in the 2nd century A.D. until the end of the 16th century. It was largely known in the Western Middle Ages through the 12th-century Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona, but neither Gerard's version nor the original Greek were printed until 1515 and 1538, respectively. Cardinal Bessarion, then papal legate to the Holy Roman Empire, persuaded the Austrian astronomer Georg Peurbach to compose this epitome of Ptolemy's great work as part of his publishing programme to promote anew the writings of ancient Greek authors in the Latin West. Peurbach died in 1461, only one year after beginning work on the Epitome and after completing book VI; his friend and colleague Regiomontanus took over the work, dedicating the completed manuscript (which survives at the Institut de France) to Bessarion before 28 April 1463. The work was inexplicably not published until 1496, although, as a surviving printed advertisement makes clear (H *13807), Regiomontanus had intended to publish it himself at his short-lived Nuremberg press (active 1473-1475). Valuable as making Ptolemy's Almagest accessible to Renaissance astronomers, the Peurbach-Regiomontanus Epitome is also important for the 'observations, revised computations, and critical reflections' made by its compilers. This edition was almost certainly the text which provided Copernicus with his knowledge of the Ptolemaic system, since he had largely completed writing De revolutionibus before publication of the next edition in 1515 (Gingerich, Eye of Heaven p.164). One of Peurbach-Regiomontanus's corrections sparked Copernicus to question the Ptolemaic system, which had formed the basis of astronomy for more than one millennium, and to 'lay the foundations of modern astronomy with his revolutionary heliocentric system' (DSB 11, p.349).
The early owner of this book, Francis Babington, was a noted scholar and university administrator, who held Catholic sympathies even while professing Protestant allegiance. After a brilliant career at Oxford, suspicions about his religious leanings sent him into exile on the continent at the end of his life. He left behind a scholarly library that included mathematical works as well as theology; some survive at Lincoln College and others migrated to the Jesuit college of the Immaculate Conception (ODNB). HC *13806; BMC V, 427; CIBN R-60; BSB-Ink R-67; Bod-inc R-040; IGI 5326; Klebs 841.1; Essling 895; Sander 6399; Stillwell Science, 103; Dibner Heralds 1; Grolier/Horblit 89; Schäfer/Arnim 192; PMM 40; Goff R-111.
Super-chancery folio (314 x 218mm). Gothic and some Greek types. 107 leaves of 108 (without final blank; without the bifolium containing Johannes Baptista Abiosus's letter dated 15 August 1496, inserted in a minority of copies between a1 and 2). Xylographic title, full-page woodcut of an armillary sphere with Ptolemy and Regiomontanus studying below, 279 woodcut marginal diagrams (including repeats), woodcut ornamental initials in several sizes, printer's device (Kristeller 231) (second and third leaves supplied and wholly remargined, first and final leaves with some pinhole worming and minor repair, gently washed, occasional spotting). 16th-century French calf, sides with gilt fillet border and gilt arabesque centre-pieces, spine gilt (skilfully restored, some pinhole worming); modern morocco box. Provenance: Francis Babington (d.1569; title inscribed ‘Babington’ and dated 1560) – Jesuit College of the Immaculate Conception (late 17th-century title inscription).
Special Notice
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
