Libellus de Sphaera

Johannes de Sacrobosco (c. 1195-1256). Libellus de Sphaera. Wittenberg: Excudebat Johannes Crato, 1561. Octavo, illustrated with text woodcuts moving parts of 4 volvelles supplied in facsimile; two folding tables bound after the text.

[Bound with] Caspar Peucer's Elementa Doctrinae de Circulis Coelestibus et Primo Motu, Wittenberg: Crato, 1558, illustrated with woodcut text diagrams, including 4 volvelles with moving parts supplied in facsimile and 7 folding typographical tables (one illustrated with a woodcut of the globe); bound in full contemporary German alum-tawed pigskin over boards dated 1562 with the initials HBT, blind tooled with portrait plates of Lucretia (signed C.K. in the plate) and Justice on front and back board; lacking clasps, catches present, somewhat worn, pastedowns and flyleaves removed, first title toned; with contemporary marginalia; 6 1/4 x 4 in.

Libellus de Sphaera is Sacrabosco’s greatest astronomy book but also importantly describes the earth as a sphere.

Provenance: Owen Gingerich. Astronomer, Professor, Historian and Bibliophile