first edition
1635-1636 · Strasbourg
by Galilei, Galileo.
Strasbourg: Daniel Elzevir and David Hautt, 1635-1636. First Latin edition of Systema Cosmicum and first edition of Nov-antiqua. Very Good. Three works in one volume. Quarto (22 cm); Systema cosmicum: [16], 495, [24] pages, including engraved title page, portrait and illustrations, Augustae Treboc[corum] [i.e., Strasbourg] : impensis Elzeviriorum, typis Davidis Hautti, 1635; Nov-antiqua: [8], 60 [4] pages, text printed in Latin and Italian in parallel columns, Augustae Treboc [corum], impensis Elzevirorum, typis Davidis Huatti, 1636; Tractatus: [8], 104 pages [lacks plate], Argentorati, typis Davidis Hautti, 1635. In early19th-century scarlet-dyed sheep uniquely embossed across the grain with rows of a toothed pattern, with gilt scroll border composed of interlocking fleurons and spine decorated and titled direct in gilt. Preserved in red cloth chemise and red cloth slipcase with 1/4 polished leather titled in gilt. Bookplate of Joannis De Bizzaro, and a manuscript note in Italian on first blank, "edizione rarissima..." that records the purchase at the Libreria Pisani sale in Venice (1810) and the price paid, 80 lire. (The volume was not yet bound at the time of the note.) The Systema cosmicum is slightly browned, with occasional marginal notes in a contemporary hand; the other two works are quite browned, as usual. Partially unopened. Red gilt morocco bookplate of Robert Honeyman IV. References: Honeyman IV, 1409 (this copy); Systema cosmicum: CInti, 96; Riccardi I, 52; Willems 426 (noting poor quality of paper stock). Nov-Antiqua: Cinti, 98; Riccardi, I,515; Willems, 441 ("Pièce rare). Tractatus: Riccardi, I, 507.
First Latin edition of Galileo's epochal (and powerfully suppressed) Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems. Even as the book was being banned in Rome (in 1633), Galileo's friends were planning an international edition in Latin, the lingua franca of the scientific community. A copy was effectively smuggled out of Italy to Strasbourg, home of the translator Matthias Bernegger. The mighty firm of Daniel Elzevir underwrote the publication, which was printed in Strasbourg by David Hautt. There was a rush to get it out, and the pressing began while the translator was still finishing up with the text. 600 copies were printed, a relatively large press run for the time. A new frontispiece was designed, based on the Italian edition but changed to show Copernicus as a young man, representing a young science in contrast to the two ancients, Aristotle and Ptolemy.
The Systema Cosmicum is Galileo's Summa, involving his entire body of research. It is a stunning defense of the (outlawed) heliocentric cosmology described by Copernicus, and a biting invective against the acceptance of received scientific authority without further observation or experimentation.
The next title in the collection, the Nov-antiqua sanctissimorum patrum..., appears here in its first edition. It is the famous letter Galileo sent to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Christine de Lorraine, in 1615, discussing the boundaries between science and religion, and trying to reconcile the Copernican system with Christian scripture. (Arthur Koestler called it "a superb manifesto of the freedom of thought," and quoted it extensively in his Sleepwalkers.) Like the Systema cosmicum, it could only be published outside the hegemony of the Church. The edition was tiny and it was suppressed in Catholic countries. Only a few copies are supposed to have escaped destruction.
The Tractatus de proportionum instrumento is the second Latin edition of describing Galileo's "proportion compass," the first important device to perform arithmetical calculations by mechanical means. First published in Italian in 1606, Galileo's compass was a great improvement over earlier German models.
The "Appendix gemina" comprises: Perioche ex Introductione in Martem Johannis Kepleri, p. 459-464, and with special title page: Epistola Pauli Antonii Foscarini ... circa pythagoricorum, & Copernici opinionem de mobilitate terrae, et stabilitate solis: et de novo systemate seu constitutione mundi: in qua Sacrae Scripturae autoritates, & theologiae propositiones, communiter adversus hanc opinionem adductae conciliantur ..., p. 465-495. (Inventory #: 6322)
First Latin edition of Galileo's epochal (and powerfully suppressed) Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems. Even as the book was being banned in Rome (in 1633), Galileo's friends were planning an international edition in Latin, the lingua franca of the scientific community. A copy was effectively smuggled out of Italy to Strasbourg, home of the translator Matthias Bernegger. The mighty firm of Daniel Elzevir underwrote the publication, which was printed in Strasbourg by David Hautt. There was a rush to get it out, and the pressing began while the translator was still finishing up with the text. 600 copies were printed, a relatively large press run for the time. A new frontispiece was designed, based on the Italian edition but changed to show Copernicus as a young man, representing a young science in contrast to the two ancients, Aristotle and Ptolemy.
The Systema Cosmicum is Galileo's Summa, involving his entire body of research. It is a stunning defense of the (outlawed) heliocentric cosmology described by Copernicus, and a biting invective against the acceptance of received scientific authority without further observation or experimentation.
The next title in the collection, the Nov-antiqua sanctissimorum patrum..., appears here in its first edition. It is the famous letter Galileo sent to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Christine de Lorraine, in 1615, discussing the boundaries between science and religion, and trying to reconcile the Copernican system with Christian scripture. (Arthur Koestler called it "a superb manifesto of the freedom of thought," and quoted it extensively in his Sleepwalkers.) Like the Systema cosmicum, it could only be published outside the hegemony of the Church. The edition was tiny and it was suppressed in Catholic countries. Only a few copies are supposed to have escaped destruction.
The Tractatus de proportionum instrumento is the second Latin edition of describing Galileo's "proportion compass," the first important device to perform arithmetical calculations by mechanical means. First published in Italian in 1606, Galileo's compass was a great improvement over earlier German models.
The "Appendix gemina" comprises: Perioche ex Introductione in Martem Johannis Kepleri, p. 459-464, and with special title page: Epistola Pauli Antonii Foscarini ... circa pythagoricorum, & Copernici opinionem de mobilitate terrae, et stabilitate solis: et de novo systemate seu constitutione mundi: in qua Sacrae Scripturae autoritates, & theologiae propositiones, communiter adversus hanc opinionem adductae conciliantur ..., p. 465-495. (Inventory #: 6322)
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