DANTI, Egnazio Primo volume dell’uso et fabbrica dell’astrolabio et del planisferio. Con aggiunta dell’uso, & fabbrica di nove altri istromenti astronomici. Novamenta ristampata. Florence Giunta 1578
Second augmented and improved edition of the first important book on the astrolabe and planisphere in the Italian language. Encouraged to become an instrument-maker by his reading of the work of Roias, Danti described many instruments and their use for the first time in this work. Augmented from the first edition of 1569, additional subjects discussed here include the armillary spheres of Ptolemy, the dioptric of Hipparchus, the astronomical gnomon, the vertical anemoscope, and most importantly, Danti’s own armillary sphere and astronomical quadrant. Also added is Danti’s account of how by constructing an equinoctial armillary on the side of the Church of Santa Maria Novella he was able to observe the vernal equinox of 1574 and thereby correct the (by then) eleven-day discrepancy between the length of the year according to the Julian calendar and the true course of the sun.Danti (1537-1586) was the leading Italian authority on the mathematical instruments of his age. He spent the greater part of his life in the service of Cosimo de’ Medici, for whom he formed a map collection and fabricated a great terrestrial globe. When Cosimo died in 1574, Danti failed to win the favor of his successor Francesco, and was swiftly transferred to Bologna. This possibly motivates the somewhat unusual dedication by the publishers, the Giunti brothers, to the recalcitrant Francesco de’ Medici.
* DSB IV.558-559; Riccardi I.389; Houzeau & Lancaster 3288; Gamba 1342; Gunther, Astrolabes of the World, pp. 566, 581
$US4850
This item is listed on Bibliopoly by Martayan Lan, Inc.; click here for further details.