Giovanni Antonio Roffeni, c.1619

GREAT COMET OF 1618 – ROFFENI, Giovanni Antonio, (1580-1643). Manuscript signed ("Andrea Francesco Antonio Giovanni"), entitled "Discorso del Trave e Cometa che apparisce dell'anno 1618 nel mese di Novembre e Dicembre," [Bologna, c.1619].

15 pages in Italian, 197 x 134mm, of which 14 pages done in a neat hand with 4 astronomical drawings in text, final page bearing a prayer in Latin in a different hand (some ink bleeding, light dampstaining, some ink erosion on later pages). Near contemporary red morocco, gilt stamping.

A manuscript of Roffeni's work on astronomical observations including observations of the Great Comet of 1618, was first observed by Kepler in Vienna on 29 November and which was visible in the night sky through January (now catalogued as C/1618 W1). The manuscript includes an illustration of the path of the comet and it appears to relate to several of Roffeni's published works including a series of almanacs from between 1609 and 1644, and in this instance, his edition for 1619 (Discorso Astrologico della Mutazione de' Tempi), in which the final three pages are devoted to the Great Comet of 1618. He has signed the final page before the Latin prayer, "Andrea Francesco Antonio Giovanni."