973J Peuerbach,Georg von (1423-1461) Reinhold,Erasmus; (1511-1553) Peucer, Kaspar, (1525-1602.)

THEORICÆ NOVÆ PLANETARVM GEORGII PVRBACHII Germani, ab Erasmo Reinholdo Salueldensi pluribus figuris auctae, & illustratae scholijs … Recens editae et auctae nouis scholijs in Theoria Solis ab ipso autore. Inserta item methodica tractatio de illuminatione Lunae

VVitebergae: excudebant hæredes Iohannis Cratonis, 1580. Price $3,900

Octavo 17X 9.5 cm. Signatures: A-Z⁸ Aa-Ii⁸ (Ii8 blank). [2] folded leaves of plates. and about 60 woodcut diagrams in the text and 2 leaves of parts and instructions of the Volvells: ƒol 60 and ƒol 91. Prefaces dated 1535, 1542, and 1553./ “Excudebat Ioannes Lufft 1580″Colophon.   Bound in full contemporary limp parchment, worn; ex libris the library at Hopetoun House with armorial bookplate pasted inside front board; some water staining, mainly at the end; Ex libris Professor, Astronomer, Historian & Bibliophile Owen Gingerich.

Following upon Sacrobosco’s De sphaera, Peuerbach’s Theoricae novae planetarum formed the essential next stage in astronomical education, introducing students to the geometric and mechanical models underlying planetary motion. This Wittenberg edition, expanded by Erasmus Reinhold, preserves instructions for constructing a working lunar volvelle, allowing the reader not only to learn but to physically model celestial phenomena.

This illustrated sixteenth-century reworking of Peuerbach’s Theoricae novae planetarum by Erasmus Reinhold, professor of mathematics at Wittenberg and later author of the Copernican-based Prutenic Tables. Reinhold’s interventions are pedagogical: he expands the original text with additional diagrams and explanatory scholia, and, most significantly, introduces a methodical treatment of lunar illumination accompanied by instructions for the construction of two working volvelles.

Edited after Reinhold’s death by Kaspar Peucer. (Cf. leaf 57r.) The edition thus captures a critical moment in the history of astronomy, in which traditional Ptolemaic frameworks were retained even as new mathematical approaches began to reshape the discipline.

Adams, P2279: VD16 P 2067
https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10998800?page=206,207

Here are the plate for the volvelles and the instructions for the Binder.

Volvelle Fol 60

Volvelle Fol 91


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