De aequinoctiorum anticipatione diatriba. Nunc primum edita.Paris, Jérôme Drouart, 1613. 4to. With 5 woodcuts with astronomical diagrams in the text, a woodcut headpiece (pus 1 repeat) and 2 woodcut decorated initials (2 different series, the larger containing a portrait of an astronomer). Contemporary flexible sheepskin parchment,
by SCALIGER, Josephus Justus
- Used
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
t Goy, Netherlands
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
[8], 96 pp.First edition, posthumously published, of a rare work on the shifting of the equinoxes due to the precession of the earths axis, written by the famous Leiden professor Josephus Justus Scaliger (1540-1609), edited by his student Janus Rutgersius (1589-1625), who lived in Paris until 1613 and who dedicated this work to Pierre Dupuy, one of the Paris scholars with whom Rutgersius was on friendly terms. His dedicatory letter on ã2r-3v is dated from Paris, 23 May 1613. After Scaliger's work follows an excerpt of his letter to David Rivaldus, dated Leiden, 16 April 1604, on pp. 91-96. The larger of the two initials shows (inside the letter Q) what appears to be a hunchbacked astronomer with two globes, a book and other items.Scaliger put the study of ancient chronology on a scholarly footing by studying not only Christian, Greek and Roman chronology, but also Jewish, Islamic, Babylonian and Egyptian chronology and comparing them, culminating in his most famous work, De emendatione temporum (1583). This helped to correct Christian chronology and supported the new Gregorian calendar introduced in the previous year. Even in the corrected calendar, however, the dates of the equinoxes had shifted by several days since the birth of Christ due to the precession of the earths axis, so that in Jesuss time the winter solstice would have been on or near 25 December, possibly the reason that date was later chosen to celebrate his birth.Manuscript owner's inscription on the title-page: Ex Bibl. Guil. DeWal(?). Very good and clean copy.l Bernays, Joseph Justus Scaliger (1855), item XXXIII (p. 301); Picarta (1 copy: Leiden UL); Smitskamp, Scaliger collection 162 (extremely rare); USTC 6016345.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- Asher Rare Books (NL)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 19037
- Title
- De aequinoctiorum anticipatione diatriba. Nunc primum edita.Paris, Jérôme Drouart, 1613. 4to. With 5 woodcuts with astronomical diagrams in the text, a woodcut headpiece (pus 1 repeat) and 2 woodcut decorated initials (2 different series, the larger containing a portrait of an astronomer). Contemporary flexible sheepskin parchment,
- Author
- SCALIGER, Josephus Justus
- Book Condition
- Used
- Keywords
- [E51AD6E3D609] SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY|[E51AD6E3D609] SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY -> [A03733D4D802] Astronomy & Mathematics|[E51AD6E3D609] SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY -> [G24EHYED2GIG] Science|
Terms of Sale
Asher Rare Books
14 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Asher Rare Books
Biblio member since 2020
t Goy
About Asher Rare Books
Dealers in rare books and manuscripts since 1830. Located in 't Goy, near Utrecht in the Netherlands.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...