BIANCANI, Giuseppe.
Sphaera mundi, seu cosmographia demonstrativa, ac facili methodo tradita: in qua totius mundi fabrica, una cum novis, Tychonis, Kepleri, Galilaei, aliorumq[ue] astronomorum adinventis continetur.
Modena, Andrea & Girolamo Cassiani, 1653. With a large folding diagram, a woodcut diagram on an inserted half-page slip, numerous woodcut diagrams and other illustrations in text, letterpress tables.
With: (2) BIANCANI, Giuseppe. Constructio instrumenti ad horologia solaria describenda peropportuni. ... Opus posthumum.
Modena, Andrea Cassiani, 1654. With a woodcut astronomical dial on the title-page, 18 numbered engraved figures printed from 12 copper plates and a large folding letterpress table. 2 works in 1 volume. Folio. Contemporary sheepskin parchment, rebacked. [6], 232; 24, [5] pp.
€ 8,500
The two most important works of the famous Jesuit mathematician Giuseppe Biancani (1566-1624). Here the third edition of his Sphaera mundi, with the second edition of his Constructio instrumenti. The former presents a summary of the recent progress in astronomy from discoveries made with the telescope by famous scientists like Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Galileo and Copernicus. Biancani never gave up the geocentric view of the universe, noting that Copernicus's heliocentric view was forbidden by the Church, but he ascribes tides to the influence of the moon, discusses the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, refers readers to the work of Tycho and Kepler, discusses sonic echoes, and even anticipated Halley in suggesting that comets might be periodic. The second work, devoted to the construction and use of sundials, includes precisely drafted diagrams and clear illustrations that allow one to construct a sundial exactly as Biancani did shortly before his 1624 death.
With an 1891 owner's inscription and several leaves with library stamp (and a deaccession stamp). With 1 bifolium browned (and with a marginal tear repaired with tape) and another badly foxed, a stain on one leaf running into the text, but further in good condition, with only minor and mostly marginal stains and small tears. Binding rebacked and with some stains, but otherwise good. De Backer & Sommervogel I, col. 1437; Houzeau-Lancaster 11445; ICCU CAGE018725; Riccardi I, col. 128 (Bianchi 2.4).
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