REGIOMONTANUS, Johannes (1436-76) & Georgius PEURBACH (1423-61) Epitome, in Cl. Ptolemai... Almagestum... - Basel, apud Henricum Petrum, (1543).
Small folio. Contemp. limp vellum, title lettered in ink on spine; extremities slightly worn. Printer's device (twice) and numerous woodcut diagrams in the text. (16), 267, (1) pp.; quite a good copy; occasional foxing and light damp-stains (pronounced on a few leaves).
Rare second edition (1st 1496) of this abbreviated Latin translation from the Greek of Ptolemy’s Almagest, «an encyclopaedia of astronomical knowledge which established astronomy as a mathematical discipline» (PMM 40). This new and more reliable version facilitated the understanding of the Almagest which «had been known since the late 1100s only thru a poor Arabic translation until Cardinal Bessarion charged the eminent Georgius Peuerbach with the task of properly editing the text... in Latin, a language all learned man could read» (Dibner, Heralds of Science, 1). The work was finished by Peurbach’s pupil Regiomontanus; «… by providing easier access to Ptolomy’s complex masterpiece, the Peuerbach-Regiomontanus Epitome contributed to current scientific research rather than to improved understanding of the past» (DSB). Cf. Norman 1565. Sotheran, 2nd suppl., 3747: «rare».
Euro7000
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