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Peurbach, Georg von (1423-1461) Theoricarum Novarum Textus.
Paris: Jean Petit, 1515.
Small folio, first separate Paris edition with commentary by Francesco Capuano and Silvestro Mazzolinie, and text on planetary theory by Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples; woodcut Petit device on title page and woodcut text diagrams by Oronce Fine throughout, including full-page woodcut featuring a large armillary sphere; bound in full 18th century calf boards, rebacked, corners quite worn, new endpapers; ex libris Joannes Securis and Thomas Hewitt, with their signatures on the title page (wormholes in title page neatly patched); ex libris Israel Lyons Junior, whit his signature dated 1764 on front pastedown; ex libris J. Eliot Hodgkin, with bookplate; some marginal annotations, a few diagrams lightly colored (worming, some stains, other paper repairs and signs of use); 10 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.
Mortimer French 432.
Peurbach's textbook of Ptolemaic planetary theory incorporates elements from Arab astronomy, and was originally published circa 1474. It is "of great importance because his models remained the canonical physical description of the structure of the heavens until Tycho disproved the existence of solid spheres. Even Copernicus was to a large extent under their influence, and the original motivation for his planetary theory was apparently to correct a number of physical impossibilities in Peurbach's models relating to nonuniform rotation of solid spheres. Since the Theoricae Novae was intended as an elementary work, much of it is devoted to definitions of technical terms [...] it helped to establish the technical terminology of astronomy through the early seventeenth century." (Quoted from the Dictionary of Scientific Biography.) This copy was clearly employed as a textbook, seemingly for more than 200 years, as evidenced by the many ownership annotations, occasional marginal notes, and wear it has sustained.
Ex libris Professor, Astronomer, Historian & Bibliophile Owen Gingerich.
