The Emperor's Astronomy

Apianus (originally named Bienewitz), Petrus. Astronomicum Caesareum The Emperor's Astronomy. Ingolstadt, P. Apianus, 1540. Title page in woodcut within a wide border, below which is a large round woodcut (a dragon); a woodcut featuring the Imperial Holy Roman Empire and the Royal Bohemian-Hungarian coats of arms; one full-page and two smaller coats of arms. Apian’s 38 full-page woodcut figures, partially provided with movable pieces volvelles|paper wheel charts used for astronomical calculations, and many woodcuts within the text, all likely by Michael Ostendorfer, most of them neatly colored; many lovely figurative initial letters by Hans Brosamer. 61 leaves. Large-folio. Contemporary parchment binding.

Brunet I, 342. Van Ortroy No. 112. Dodgson II, 242, 4; 386, 7. This is the exceptionally rare first and only edition of the famous and magnificently produced Astronomicum Caesareum, which Apian dedicated to his student, Emperor Charles V. In return, the Emperor rewarded him with a title of nobility and 3,000 ducats. Van Ortroy identifies only 30 copies in total across major libraries; entirely complete copies like this one seem hardly to exist anymore. This copy contains, for example, the two leaves G II (a) and G VII. Leaf G II (a) is a duplicate of leaf G II, which is also present, but it contains a different version of the text "Exemplum Caroli Caesaris" Example of Emperor Charles found on that leaf (see the conclusion for details). G VII, the final leaf, shows the "Insignia P. Apiani..." The Insignia of Petrus Apianus with Apian’s earlier and later coats of arms and a printing of the 1541 Imperial Privilege a 16th-century form of copyright granted to Apian. These two leaves are missing from almost all other copies. The colophon|a statement at the end of a book giving publication details on the back of leaf G V is printed in mirror-writing. Regarding various differences between individual copies of this edition, see Van Ortroy. In several copies, Apian’s later coat of arms is signed with "M.O.", the monogram of Michael Ostendorfer, which is why the various figures in the book are attributed to this artist. The charming large initials, however, which mostly depict geometric and spherical figures with astronomers and land-surveyors set in delicate ornaments, were likely made specifically for this book and are, according to Dodgson, by Hans Brosamer. — In the title page, a section in the center has been repaired through very skillful and completely imperceptible restoration; otherwise, the copy is in very good condition, aside from some water and finger stains. Some of the movable pieces are loose, but all parts are present. — Leaf G II contains on the front a full-page woodcut: "Distantia Planetarum" Distance of the Planets, and on the back, in addition to the continuous text, a two-column "Tabula mediarum coniunctionum" Table of mean conjunctions, the bottom row of numbers of which reads as follows: 7000//3 11 o// 15 21 3// 7000// 24 22 37// 21 14 27//. The duplicate leaf G II (a) is the earlier version; it still contains the printing error "Centela" instead of "Cautela" Latin for 'caution' or 'precaution' and a partially different text. The last row of numbers in the table on the duplicate reads: 7000//2 11 o/ 14 21 3// 7000//) 23 22 37// 20 14 27//. The upper decorative piece of the woodcut on the duplicate shows a fist holding a ring but ending in a grotesque face, while the newer leaf G II shows only a ring and two putti|cherub-like figures.