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Original fileTitle page of “Pantometrum Kircherianum”, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Library 01
About This Work
This printed title page features Baroque-era typography announcing a new geometric instrument invented by the Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher. The text credits Kircher's student, Gaspar Schott, with explaining the device across ten books of practical geometry. It includes publication details for the city of Würzburg, citing the printer Jobus Hertz and the heirs of Johann Gottfried Schönwetter.
Athanasius Kircher was a towering figure in 17th-century natural philosophy and Western esotericism, known for his attempts to decode the 'hieroglyphic' nature of the universe. This work reflects the period's fascination with universal instruments that could quantify and reveal the mathematical harmonies of the created world.
Inscriptions(Latin)
PANTOMETRUM KIRCHERIANUM, HOC EST, Instrumentum Geometricum novum, à Celeberrimo Viro P. ATHANASIO KIRCHERO ante hac inventum, nunc decem Libris, universam paenè Pra- cticam Geometriam complectentibus explicatum, perspi- cuisque demonstrationibus illustratum à R. P. GASPARE SCHOTTO Regiscuriano è Societate JESU, olim in Panor- mitano Siciliae, nunc in Herbipolitano Franconiae ejuf- dem Societatis Jesu Gymnasio Matheseos Professore. AD SERENISSIMUM PRINCIPEM CHRISTIA- NUM, DUCEM MEGAPOLITANUM. HOC INSTRUMENTO, Quidquid alii variis organis, intricatissimis demonstra- tionibus, laboriosissimis calculationibus praestant ad Geome- triam practicam spectans, summâ facilitate, brevitate, ac certitudine perficitur. Cum Figuris aeri incisis, & Privilegio. Sumptibus Haeredum JOANNIS GODEFRI DI SCHÖN- WETTERI Bibliopol. Francofurtens. HERBIPOLI Excudebat JOBUS HERTZ Typographus Herbipolensis. ANNO M. DC. LX.