Leopoldus, 9 January 1489

LEOPOLDUS (fl. 13th century). Compilatio de astrorum scientia. Augsburg: Erhard Ratdolt, 9 January 1489.

First and only incunable edition of a rare astronomy work, with some of the earliest color illustrations printed in Europe. Primarily a work of astrology based on the writings of Albumasar, the sixth book concerns meteorology both from a theoretical and a practical point of view, and includes folkloric methods of weather prediction and general descriptions of winds, thunder etc. The Compilatio is divided into ten treatises; the first and second concern the spheres and their motion, and there is a dissertation on the comets at the end of the fifth book. Ratdolt also printed the astronomical works of Albumasar and Hyginus, and his woodcuts for those works are among the earliest known printed figures of constellations; the same blocks were used for the present work at his Augsburg workshop and here constitute some of the earliest bicolor printed illustrations. H 10042; BMC II 382; Goff L-185; Klebs 601.1; BSB-Ink L-130; Bod-inc L-098; Caillet 6636 (incunable de toute rarité); Brunet III 1033 (“édition rare”); Honeyman V 1989; Cantamessa II 4422 ("Imponente e importante trattato in 10 libri"); Houzeau-Lancaster 4702 (“fort rare”); ISTC il00185000.

Chancery quarto (197 × 140mm). 109 leaves (of 110, without final blank). Woodcut celestial diagrams including two printed in black and red (bifolium i2/7 bound in reverse, some stains).19th-century double-ruled calf, edges marbled (rebacked). Provenance: contemporary rubric annotation including manicules – later pagination with inscription on flyleaf providing spurious biographical information on the author – David P. Wheatland (bookplate) – Owen Gingerich (bookplate).