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GEMMA, Cornelius (1535-1578). De prodigiosa specie, naturaq. cometae, qui nobis effulsit altior lunae sedibus, insolita prorsus figura, ac magnitudine, anno 1577 plus septimannis 10. Apodeixis tum physica tum mathematica. Antwerp: Plantin, 1578.

8° (154 x 95mm). 2 folding woodcut plates and one full-page woodcut text-illustration. (Lacking the last 2 leaves comprising the licence and final blank, trimmed close into image of second plate and into some side notes.) Modern vellum.

VERY RARE work on the Great Comet of 1577 (official designation: C/1577 V1), which Gemma first observed on 14 November of that year. Along with Tycho Brahe, he was one of the few astronomers who identified the comet as superlunary (i.e. beyond the moon). Gemma, son of Reiner Gemma Frisius (see lot xxx), had his life cut short the following year by plague. Adams G-375.

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