On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

first edition.

COPERNICUS (NICOLAUS) 1473–1543.

566. Six Books on the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, by Nicolaus Copernicus. original: "Nicolai Copernici de Reuolutionibus Orbium cœlestium, Libri VI." This is the foundation of modern astronomy, proposing that the Earth revolves around the Sun. In this newly born and published work, diligent reader, you have the motions of the stars, both fixed and wandering, restored from both ancient and recent observations; and furthermore, adorned with new and wonderful hypotheses. You also have most convenient Tables, from which you can calculate these motions with the greatest ease for any time. Therefore, buy, read, and enjoy... small folio. Nuremberg, published by Johannes Petreius, 1543. W. A. S. These initials likely refer to a bibliographical assistant or a previous owner.

Woodcut figures and initials. Page of errors errata; a list of corrected printing errors at the end, with the catchword; a word at the bottom of a page that matches the first word of the next page to ensure correct order 'Nicolai' (apparently intended to precede the title-page). Hebrew inscription on the title-page (with a translation on the flyleaf: 'God the Lord—God shall be my lord'); also an inscription 'Library of Marischal College' (see below). Inserted: A manuscript translation of the preliminary matter by Miss E. G. Parker.

The anonymous preface was 'slipped in' by Andreas Osiander; a Lutheran theologian who oversaw the book's printing and added an unauthorized preface claiming the sun-centered system was just a mathematical tool, not physical reality, with the object of avoiding theological criticism.

This original edition has become rare. I missed the only copy sold in London (at auction) in the past twelve years (£22). This one came from Heffer (a bookstore in Cambridge) for £18. It was formerly in Marischal College, and there is no mark indicating it was a duplicate; but I have resisted the prickings of conscience which suggest asking how it got out of the library! For the benefit of the ordinary student, I have had the preface and introduction translated.

Equally in the history of science and of medicine, 1543 is a starred year marked by a revolution in our knowledge alike of the Macrocosm The "Great World," or the universe at large. and the Microcosm The "Little World," or the human body; referring here to Andreas Vesalius's "De fabrica," the foundation of modern anatomy, also published in 1543.. In Frauenburg, the town physician and a canon; a member of a cathedral's administrative clergy, now nearing the Psalmist's limit; a reference to Psalm 90:10, suggesting a human lifespan of 70 or 80 years, and his end, had sent to the press the studies of a lifetime—On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres. It was no new thought, no new demonstration that Copernicus thus gave to his generation. Centuries before, men of the keenest scientific minds from Pythagoras on had worked out a heliocentric theory; the model where the Sun is at the center of the universe, fully promulgated by Aristarchus, and very generally accepted by the

brilliant investigators of the Alexandrian school; but in the long interval, lapped in oriental lethargy, man had been content to acknowledge that the heavens declare the glory of God and that the firmament shows his handiwork. There had been great astronomers before Copernicus. In the fifteenth century, Nicolas of Cusa and Regiomontanus had hinted at the heliocentric theory; but 1543 marks an epoch in the history of science, since for all time Copernicus put the problem in a way that compelled acquiescence ... We can imagine the touching scene in the little town when his friend Osiander brought the first copy of the precious volume hot from the press, a well enough printed book. Already on his deathbed, stricken with a long illness, the old man must have had doubts (expressed in the preface) how his work would be received, though years before Pope Clement VII had sent him encouraging words. Fortunately, death saved him from the 'rending' Violent criticism or persecution. which is the portion of so many innovators and discoverers ... The church was too much involved in the Ptolemaic system The older model where the Earth is the stationary center of the universe. to accept any change, and it was not until 1822 that the works of Copernicus were removed from the Index. (Compare entry no. 6259, pages 144–145.) In the 1667 Index [entry no. 7125], page 93, may be seen the title of the book with the words after it 'unless it be corrected according to the decree of 1620.' original: "nisi corrigatur juxta decretum 1620." In 1620, the Church allowed the book to be read only if certain passages were altered to present the theory as a mere hypothesis. [W. O.]

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