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Astronomia - Calendario - Regiomontanus, Johannes (Müller, Johann, of Königsberg)
Kalendarium, 1483
Estimate
€ 5.000 - 7.000
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€ 6.390
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Information
Venice, Erhard Ratdolt, 13 September 1483. In 4°, 205 x 150 mm. 30 leaves, a10 b-c8 [d4], first page with rubric/title in red, within an elegant frame decorated with intertwined elements, and verses in praise of the work by Jacobus Sentinus, verses to the reader in praise of Ratdolt by by J. L. Santritter on the reverse of the first card, tabula regionum, table of conjunctions and oppositions, calendar, colored tables of eclipses 1483-1530, text and tables on the golden number, etc., four INSTRUMENT DIAGRAMS full page printed only on one side of the final issue, volvelle missing, delicate restoration on the upper margin of the first leaf and some slight marginal redness, otherwise a perfect copy, 19th century full brown morocco binding, title on the spine in gold, spine with losses and abrasions.
Specialist Notes
The Calendarium was an epochal work: the first application of advanced methods of calculation and astronomical observation for the production of a perpetual calendar (including the calculation of Easter) and the accurate prediction of eclipses. Each eclipse is represented by a different woodcut to portray the extent of the darkening, with the bright part of the disk in the case of partial eclipses represented in red. At the end of the book are four full-page woodcuts of astronomical instruments: the Instrumentum Horarum inaequalium, the Instrumentum veri motus lunae, the Quadrante horologii horizontalis and the Quadratum horarium Generale.
H 13778*; Goff R-95; Redgrave 35; Essling 251; Sander 6404; Klebs 836.4; not in BMC.