Tabvlae posi=tionvm pro variis ac di=versis poli elevationibvs, ad directiones necessario pertinentes, sum=ma fide, cura & diligentia sup=putatae, atq(ue) nunc pri=mum in lucem editae. Per Cypriavm Leouitium à Leonicia.

Augsburg, Philip Ulhard, October 1551. Diagrams showing eclipses and celestial positions in the format of astrological squares. [346] leaves (author's name crossed out on title). 4to. Contemporary vellum. Augsburg, Philip Ulhard, October 1551. First edition of a little known work by Cyprian Leowitz (1524-1574). The celebrated Bohemian astronomer was professor of astronomy and appointed mathematician to Elector Palatine Otho Henry (German: Ottheinrich, 1502-1559) and acquired a high reputation at the time of the reception of the Copernican theory. It is well known that the cosmological elements of the Copernican theory, i.e., the "centrality" of the Sun and the Earth's revolution about it, were not widely accepted for nearly a century after the publication of the "De Revolutionibus". Leowitz played a central role in facilitating conjunctionist theory, and the actual contents of the "Tabulae" are in line with those by Stöffler. From the end of the 15th century onwards many editions of the tables of Regiomontanus were produced with commentaries and additions, i.e. by Erasmsus Reinhold, Luca Gaurico, Leowitz (with participation of Melanchthon), etc. The present huge work by Ciprian Leowitz appeared without introduction and without explanation. It contains so-called position plates for the places from the 33rd to the 60th latitude, the pole height of the places (gradus latitudinis). A final short "secundes pars" with plates up to the 66th latitude appeared in November 1551 and is not present here as in a microfiche copy stored in the Herzogin Anna Amanlia Bibliothek, Weimar. . "Position" is not be taken here in the sense of modern astronomy. It is well known that the cosmological elements of the Copernican theory was not widely accepted for a long time after the publication of the "De Revolutionibus" (see Burmeister, Magister Rhecicus, 2015). A current subject of investigation is the variety in response to the theory in the various countries of Europe. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) visited Cyprian Leowitz in 1569. According to Tycho, Leowitz told him that in his opinion the predictions of Copernicus agreed better with observations of the superior planets and solar eclipses, while Ptolemy's predictions were more accurate for lunar eclipses and the positions of the inferior planets. Leowitz was correct about the relative superiority of the two theories in predicting the longitudes of the planets.- Good copy. _ _ - Adams L-520; Zinner 2018; NBG 30, 814; not in Houzeau & Lancaster; cf. VD 16 L 1276. SCIENCE:ASTRONOMY & ASTROLOGY ;