![[PICCOLOMINI, Alessandro (1508-1578)]. De la sfera del mondo. Libri quattro ... De le stelle fisse. Libro uno. Venice: Giovanni Antonio and Domenico Volpini for Andrea Arrivabene, 1540.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_17700_0316_001(piccolomini_alessandro_de_la_sfera_del_mondo_libri_quattro_de_le_stell124129).jpg?w=1)
![[PICCOLOMINI, Alessandro (1508-1578)]. De la sfera del mondo. Libri quattro ... De le stelle fisse. Libro uno. Venice: Giovanni Antonio and Domenico Volpini for Andrea Arrivabene, 1540.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_17700_0316_000(piccolomini_alessandro_de_la_sfera_del_mondo_libri_quattro_de_le_stell121148).jpg?w=1)
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[PICCOLOMINI, Alessandro (1508-1578)]. De la sfera del mondo. Libri quattro ... De le stelle fisse. Libro uno. Venice: Giovanni Antonio and Domenico Volpini for Andrea Arrivabene, 1540.
First edition of the first star atlas published in the West. De la sfera del mondo is a traditional Ptolemaic-Aristotelian geocentric cosmography, but its appendix, De le stelle fisse, 'represents the first printed star atlas, containing maps of the stars as opposed to simple pictures of constellations, and introducing the practice of identifying stars by letter, a method later adopted and expanded by Bayer' (Norman). Houzeau and Lancaster 2491; Riccardi I(ii) 269.
Quarto (209 x 150mm). Woodcut device on titles, 47 woodcut star maps, numerous woodcut diagrams, a composite copy joining the 2 parts (occasional faint marginal waterstains, a few tiny marginal wormholes and associated repairs). Modern vellum, spine lettered in gilt. Provenance: early inscription on second title.
First edition of the first star atlas published in the West. De la sfera del mondo is a traditional Ptolemaic-Aristotelian geocentric cosmography, but its appendix, De le stelle fisse, 'represents the first printed star atlas, containing maps of the stars as opposed to simple pictures of constellations, and introducing the practice of identifying stars by letter, a method later adopted and expanded by Bayer' (Norman). Houzeau and Lancaster 2491; Riccardi I(ii) 269.
Quarto (209 x 150mm). Woodcut device on titles, 47 woodcut star maps, numerous woodcut diagrams, a composite copy joining the 2 parts (occasional faint marginal waterstains, a few tiny marginal wormholes and associated repairs). Modern vellum, spine lettered in gilt. Provenance: early inscription on second title.
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