3 parts in 1 volume, comprising Books I-VII (complete). Continuous pagination. [28], 417, [1]; [2], 419-622, [2]; [12], 641-932, [16] pp. Illustrated with woodcuts, diagrams, spheres, etc.; folding table. (8vo) 6¼x3½, period vellum. First Edition, 2nd issue of Part II.
Fine copy of this rare and important work, which became the most influential introduction to heliocentric astronomy, restating Kepler's three laws of planetary motion. The book was banned after the first part came out in 1618, contributing to its great scarcity today. The first part comprises Books 1-3, Doctrina sphaerica; the second part Book 4, Physica coelestis; the third part Books 5-7, Doctrina theorica. The second book is here in its second issue, as is the norm for this work - originally issued with the same imprint as the first book, the title-page was reprinted with the imprint "Lentiis ad Danubium, impensis G. Tampachii excud. J. Plancus, 1622," perhaps in an attempt to avoid the censors, and a preface added. Only a few dozen, or perhaps fewer, of the first issue were produced. The new title-page and preface are on paper slightly inferior to the remainder of Part II, conforming rather to the paper of the third part.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), mathematician and astronomer, studied at the Protestant university of Tübingen, where he was a student of Michael Maestlin, one of the earliest astronomers to subscribe to Copernicus's heliocentric theory. In 1600 he moved to Prague to become Tycho Brahe's assistant, and following the latter's death in 1601 became his successor as Imperial Mathematician, the most prestigious appointment in mathematics in Europe. In 1609 he published his Astronomia Nova ("New Astronomy"), which contained his first two laws (planets move in elliptical orbits with the sun as one of the foci, and a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times). In 1619 he published Harmonice Mundi ("Harmony of the World"), in which we find his third law, relating the periods of the planets to their mean orbital radii. The present volume, the rarest of all major Kepler titles, is important as restating and combining these three crucial contributions to astronomy.
Condition:
Some abrasions and discoloration to vellum, ties lacking; old seminary rubberstamp to title, ink notation at top, a little edge wear; occasional minor foxing, leaf T2 (pp. 291-2) with lower corner replaced with a few letters restored, folding table at p.820 with lower 2" restored, 2 lines of text replaced in expert facsimile; overall in fine condition, a rare and important work from the great age of astronomy, when the heliocentric theory of planetary motion replaced the geocentric teachings of Ptolemy.