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Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari e loro accidenti. Rome: Giacomo Mascardi, 1613.
Details
GALILEI, Galileo (1564-1642)
Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari e loro accidenti. Rome: Giacomo Mascardi, 1613.
First edition of a significant endorsement of the Copernican model; ‘export’ issue, without the supplement of Scheiner's letters to Welser.
Galileo’s observations of sunspots directly challenged the Aristotelian view of an unblemished, immutable Sun. He found that they moved across the solar disk and changed shape—evidence that the heavens were not perfect and unchanging. The Istoria e dimostrazioni takes the form of letters to scholar Marcus Welser of Augsburg, which also include Galileo's first written account of his observations of the phases of Venus and the mysteries of Saturn. His specific endorsement of the Copernican model foreshadowed many of his later theories and their political and religious consequences: ‘I tell you that this planet also, perhaps no less than horned Venus, agrees admirably with the great Copernican system on which propitious winds now universally are seen to blow...’ (Stillman Drake's translation). The issues with and without Scheiner's letters were published simultaneously; evidently one was for the Italian market where there would be no copyright dispute, and the other issue for export. Since Scheiner was then teaching at Ingolstadt, the printer Mascardi felt free to publish his letters in Italy, but north of the Alps privileges would be infringed. Cinti 43; Dawson 2587; Carli and Favaro 60; Riccardi I, 509 (‘Raro’); Stillman Drake, Galileo at Work 198; Waller 12046.
Quarto (220 x 155mm). Printer's woodcut device on title, engraved portrait of Galileo, 38 full-page engravings of sunspots, 5 full-page engravings of Jovian satellites, one engraving and 8 woodcut and typographic diagrams in text (some spots, T3-4 slightly short). Modern vellum. Provenance: trace of removed stamp at lower margin of title.
Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari e loro accidenti. Rome: Giacomo Mascardi, 1613.
First edition of a significant endorsement of the Copernican model; ‘export’ issue, without the supplement of Scheiner's letters to Welser.
Galileo’s observations of sunspots directly challenged the Aristotelian view of an unblemished, immutable Sun. He found that they moved across the solar disk and changed shape—evidence that the heavens were not perfect and unchanging. The Istoria e dimostrazioni takes the form of letters to scholar Marcus Welser of Augsburg, which also include Galileo's first written account of his observations of the phases of Venus and the mysteries of Saturn. His specific endorsement of the Copernican model foreshadowed many of his later theories and their political and religious consequences: ‘I tell you that this planet also, perhaps no less than horned Venus, agrees admirably with the great Copernican system on which propitious winds now universally are seen to blow...’ (Stillman Drake's translation). The issues with and without Scheiner's letters were published simultaneously; evidently one was for the Italian market where there would be no copyright dispute, and the other issue for export. Since Scheiner was then teaching at Ingolstadt, the printer Mascardi felt free to publish his letters in Italy, but north of the Alps privileges would be infringed. Cinti 43; Dawson 2587; Carli and Favaro 60; Riccardi I, 509 (‘Raro’); Stillman Drake, Galileo at Work 198; Waller 12046.
Quarto (220 x 155mm). Printer's woodcut device on title, engraved portrait of Galileo, 38 full-page engravings of sunspots, 5 full-page engravings of Jovian satellites, one engraving and 8 woodcut and typographic diagrams in text (some spots, T3-4 slightly short). Modern vellum. Provenance: trace of removed stamp at lower margin of title.
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