On the Nature of Metals (1556) - Page 2

£42.0.0 This represents a past sale price of 42 pounds sterling written by a book dealer.

133 An inventory or catalog number.

6 leaves + 502 pages + 37 leaves 2 plates This is a collation note. It describes the physical makeup of the book. "Leaves" refers to the individual sheets of paper, which are distinct from numbered pages.

The Dibner Library

of the History of

Science and Technology

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES

A rectangular bookplate features a woodcut style illustration of a kneeling male figure, likely the Titan Atlas, supporting a large armillary sphere on his shoulders. The sphere is a model of objects in the sky. It consists of several intersecting rings with labels translated here from the original Latin: Solstitial colure, Meridian, Arctic Circle, Tropic of Cancer, Axis, Colure, Zodiac, Oblique horizon, Tropic of Capricorn, World axis, Equator, and Antarctic Circle. The figure is bearded, wearing a simple loincloth, and kneels on grassy ground with small plants.

£ 11 An earlier price mark, suggesting the book was once valued at 11 pounds.

Dibner Library: A major collection of rare books and manuscripts in the history of science, now part of the Smithsonian Institution.
Armillary sphere: A model of the celestial globe consisting of a spherical framework of rings. It represents the principal circles of the heavens.
Atlas: A figure from Greek mythology condemned to hold up the celestial heavens for eternity.