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GALILEI, Galileo (1564-1642). Nov-antiqua sanctissimorum patrum, & probatorum theologorum doctrina, de sacrae scripturae testimoniis, in conclusionibus mere naturalibus, quae sensatâ experientiâ, & necessariis demonstrationibus evinci possunt, temere non usurpandis. Strasbourg: Elzevir, 1636.
4° (200 x 145mm). Small woodcut on title and woodcut tailpiece to final verso. (Some browning and staining, title and final leaf with heavier stains, gathering H shorter and probably supplied.) Later vellum, manuscript title on spine. Provenance: inscription offset on verso of G4 — inscription probably erased from final leaf.
FIRST EDITION OF GALILEO'S CELEBRATED STATEMENT OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF SCIENTIFIC ENQUIRY, generally known as the Letter to Christina. 'In December 1613 it had happened that theological objections to Copernicanism were raised, in Galileo's absence, at a court dinner, where Galileo's part was upheld by Benedetto Castelli. Learning of this, Galileo wrote a long letter to Castelli concerning the inadmissibility of theological interference in purely scientific questions... Galileo argued that neither the Bible nor nature could speak falsely and that the investigation of nature was the province of the scientist, while the reconciliation of scientific facts with the language of the Bible was that of the theologian' (DSB V 242). Galileo further expanded the text in 1615, but under the circumstances it is hardly surprising that it remained unpublished until this 1636 Strasbourg edition, in Latin, translated by Elia Diodati (under the pseudonym Robertus Robertinus). Carli-Favaro 155; Cinti 98; Riccardi I 515 ('rarissimo').
4° (200 x 145mm). Small woodcut on title and woodcut tailpiece to final verso. (Some browning and staining, title and final leaf with heavier stains, gathering H shorter and probably supplied.) Later vellum, manuscript title on spine. Provenance: inscription offset on verso of G4 — inscription probably erased from final leaf.
FIRST EDITION OF GALILEO'S CELEBRATED STATEMENT OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF SCIENTIFIC ENQUIRY, generally known as the Letter to Christina. 'In December 1613 it had happened that theological objections to Copernicanism were raised, in Galileo's absence, at a court dinner, where Galileo's part was upheld by Benedetto Castelli. Learning of this, Galileo wrote a long letter to Castelli concerning the inadmissibility of theological interference in purely scientific questions... Galileo argued that neither the Bible nor nature could speak falsely and that the investigation of nature was the province of the scientist, while the reconciliation of scientific facts with the language of the Bible was that of the theologian' (DSB V 242). Galileo further expanded the text in 1615, but under the circumstances it is hardly surprising that it remained unpublished until this 1636 Strasbourg edition, in Latin, translated by Elia Diodati (under the pseudonym Robertus Robertinus). Carli-Favaro 155; Cinti 98; Riccardi I 515 ('rarissimo').
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