Three parts in one volume. (50), 568, (8); (12), 536, (8), 220, (8), 364 pp. Engraved portrait, engraved vignettes; plus his Uranologion. (Thick folio) 42x25 cm (16½x9¾") period full vellum, stamped in blind on covers, spine lettered in an early hand, edges speckled red. Best edition.
Best edition of a celebrated work of staggering dimensions on sidereal astronomy and the calculations of the calendar. First published in far less detailed fashion in 1627, the first part deals with the calendars of the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Macedonians, Persians, Hebrews, and others. The second part examines different historical eras, celebrated eclipses, a chronology of the reigns of the Caesars, and the birth of Christ. The Uranologian contains Greek astronomical and chronological texts with Latin translations. Included are the commentaries of Geminus, Achillis Tatios, and Hlpparchus on Aratus; Eratosthenes’ life of Aratus; Ptolemy on appearances, Theodore of Gaza on the months, and the Computuses of Maximus, Isaac of Argyros and St. Andrew of Crete. Also included is an elaborate examination of classical conceptions and calculations of time. The work is considered to have surpassed Scaliger’s earlier landmark on the subject, De Emendatione Temporum, of 1537. The work also contains his Epistolarum, his correspondence with many of the leading thinkers in Europe at the time. “C’est la meilleure edition, qui contient aussi l’Uranologion, qui n’est past dans la prem. ed. publiee a Paris, Cramoisy, 1627.” -- Graesse, V, 218. Houzeau & Lancaster, 12840.