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Details
GREGORIAN CALENDAR
Kalendarion Gregorianon, in Greek. Translated by Giovanni Battista Gabia. Rome: Francesco Zanetti, 1583. 4° (240 x 161mm). Printed in red and black. Woodcut papal arms on title, historiated and ornamental initials. (Occasional browning and spotting, heavier in about 6 leaves.) 18th-century vellum over thin pasteboard.
SIR THOMAS PHILLIPPS'S COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION OF THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR IN GREEK. The miscalculation of the length of the year in the Julian calendar resulted in an ever-widening divergence between the true equinoxes and the dates of the year, so that by the middle of the 16th century, the vernal equinox occurred on March 11th rather than March 21st. Various attempts were made to reform the calendar, but it remained to Luigi Lilio Ghiraldi (and, on his death, Clavius) under Pope Gregory XIII to reform the calendar which continues in use today. Its adoption was first promulgated in a papal bull in 1582, and editions of a perpetual calendar appeared in Latin at Rome and Venice that year, and in Italian, Greek and French the following year. Interestingly, the Greek Orthodox Church did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1923. RARE. Ascarelli p.151; Houzeau & Lancaster 14198bis; Riccardi I, 636.
Kalendarion Gregorianon, in Greek. Translated by Giovanni Battista Gabia. Rome: Francesco Zanetti, 1583. 4° (240 x 161mm). Printed in red and black. Woodcut papal arms on title, historiated and ornamental initials. (Occasional browning and spotting, heavier in about 6 leaves.) 18th-century vellum over thin pasteboard.
SIR THOMAS PHILLIPPS'S COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION OF THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR IN GREEK. The miscalculation of the length of the year in the Julian calendar resulted in an ever-widening divergence between the true equinoxes and the dates of the year, so that by the middle of the 16th century, the vernal equinox occurred on March 11th rather than March 21st. Various attempts were made to reform the calendar, but it remained to Luigi Lilio Ghiraldi (and, on his death, Clavius) under Pope Gregory XIII to reform the calendar which continues in use today. Its adoption was first promulgated in a papal bull in 1582, and editions of a perpetual calendar appeared in Latin at Rome and Venice that year, and in Italian, Greek and French the following year. Interestingly, the Greek Orthodox Church did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1923. RARE. Ascarelli p.151; Houzeau & Lancaster 14198bis; Riccardi I, 636.
Provenance
Cardinal Mario Marefoschi (18th-century engraved bookplate).
Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872, shelfmark on upper pastedown).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 5-6 May 1988, lot 12 (to Dreesmann). Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. Y-38).
Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872, shelfmark on upper pastedown).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 5-6 May 1988, lot 12 (to Dreesmann). Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. Y-38).
Special notice
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