MAGINI G. - Ephemerides Coelestivm Motvvm. 1599.

MAGINI [Giovanni] Antonio - Ephemerides Coelestivm Motvvm Io. Antonii Magini Patavini, Ab Anno Domini 1598. vsque ad Annum 1610. secundum Copernici obseruationes accuratissime supputatae & correctae; Ad longitudinem inclytae Venetiarum Vrbis. Eiusdem Tractatus quatuor absolutissimi, nempe Isagoge in Astrologiam. De vsu Ephemeridum. De annuis reuolutionibus. & De Stellis fixis, denuo correcti, & insigniter aucti. Accedit huic secundae editioni Compendium Directionum eiusdem Auctoris [...]. Venetiis 1599. apud Damianum Zenarium. 4, p. [6], 393. period perg. binding.
Slight traces of dampstaining, browning of some pages, good condition. Title handwritten on the spine (inscription slightly obliterated) and on the lower border. Mistaken folios in several places (after pp. 85, 129, 135 and 188). According to the information on the title page, the book should contain two plates, but there are only a few pieces known equipped with these additions; bibliographies describing the contents of this edition generally omit the plates. "Ephemerides" are data on the course of future astronomical phenomena. Given most often in the form of tables, they allow, among other things, to determine the position of celestial bodies at a certain time and place, to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon. They are a basic instrument indispensable in all astronomical research and observations. The author of the "Ephemerides" presented here, Giovanni Antonio Magini (1555-1617) was an Italian astronomer, mathematician and cartographer. He competed - successfully - with Galileo when applying for the chair of mathematics at the University of Bologna. He adhered to the Ptolemaic view of the structure of the universe, calling Copernicus' heliocentric system "an absurd hypothesis." Nevertheless, using the precise calculations of the astronomer from Frombork and the tables of the German scholar Erasmus Reinhold ("Prutenicae Tabulae") and making his own corrections, he published "Ephemerides" in 1582, which contained a comprehensive astronomical treatise and the most accurate data on the position of the heavenly bodies available at the end of the 16th century.They were also the first ephemerides calculated according to the Gregorian calendar, which had just been introduced. Magini's work perfectly shows how astronomers used the calculations and tables made by Copernicus while rejecting his cosmological theory. A second, enlarged and revised edition of Magini's "Ephemerides" - presented here - was published in 1599. The main text, which consists of four astronomical treatises, is followed by ephemeris tables for the years 1598-1610. Rare.