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Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 10,000
Riccioli, Giovanni Battista (1598-1671) Almagestum Novum.
Bologna: Haeredis Victorii Benatii, 1651.
First edition, two folio volumes; engraved frontispieces by Francesco Curti in each volume, dedication leaves with engraved arms; illustrated with numerous text illustrations throughout and two large folding lunar maps after Francesco Maria Grimaldi by Domenico Fontana bound in the first volume; the two bound in uniform early 19th century half purple morocco and marbled paper boards with spines ruled and lettered in gilt; 13 1/2 x 9 1/4 in. (2)
Houzeau & Lancaster 9223; Norman 1826.
"Riccioli's scientific career epitomized the conflict between the old astronomy and the new: as a Jesuit committed to church doctrine, Riccioli was among the most vehement opponents of Copernican and Galilean theory, but as an astronomer, Riccioli recognized that Copernican theory provided the simplest and best mathematical model of the solar system." (Quoted from The Haskell F. Norman Library of Science & Medicine catalogue, San Francisco: Jeremy Norman & Co., 1991.)
"The frontispiece is one of the masterpieces of Baroque book illustration, drawn by Francesco Curti under the guidance of Riccioli. It depicts two standing figures who are performing a weighing of world systems. [...] The two world systems hanging from the balance are easy to identify. The one on the left is the Copernican system, with the Sun at the center and the Earth as a planet. The cosmology on the right is a modified Tychonic system, with the Earth at the center, the inner planets orbiting the Sun, and the outer planets orbiting the Earth. The results of the weighing are apparent; the modified Tychonic system is more substantial and to be preferred." (Quoted from Dr. William B. Ashworth Jr.'s "Scientist of the Day" on Riccioli: https://www.lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/giovanni-battista-riccioli-2/)
Ex libris Professor, Astronomer, Historian & Bibliophile Owen Gingerich.
