Regiomontanus and Georg Peuerbach, 1543

REGIOMONTANUS (1436-1476) and PEUERBACH, Georg (1423-1461). Epitome in Cl. Ptolemaei magnam compositionem. Basel: Heinrich Petri, 1543.

Third printing of Ptolemy’s treatise on the geocentric model of the universe, in contemporary vellum with early Parmesan ownership. Valuable for making Ptolemy’s Almagest accessible to Renaissance astronomers, the Peuerbach-Regiomontanus Epitome is also important for the “observations, revised computations, and critical reflections” made by its compilers. It was the text which provided Copernicus with his knowledge of the Ptolemaic system (Gingerich, Eye of Heaven p.164). One of Peuerbach-Regiomontanus’s corrections sparked Copernicus to question the Ptolemaic system, which had formed the basis of astronomy for more than one millennium, and to “lay the foundations of modern astronomy with his revolutionary heliocentric system” (DSB 11, p. 349).

Ptolemy’s Almagest, completed in the 2nd century, was the chief astronomical work from its inception until the end of the 16th century. It constituted a pillar of the 15th-century Byzantine humanist Cardinal Bessarion's program of printing Greek authors to reintroduce their works to the West.

Octavo (278 × 193mm). Woodcut device on title-page and verso of final leaf, geometric woodcuts throughout (light marginal dampstain in quires F–I, occasional toned leaves and spotting). Contemporary limp vellum and endpapers, manuscript title on spine (few stains and scrapes, slight worming on upper cover). Provenance: Giacomo Antonio Biggi of Parma (16th-cenutry ownership inscription in Italian and Latin on upper cover and flyleaf “Questo libro é di me Giacomo Antonio Biggi | Hic Liber est meas Giacomus Antonius de Biggis Civis parme[n]sis […]”) – defaced stamp on title-page – Owen Gingerich (bookplate).