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Christmas Special / Antique Books, Autographs and Prints

Thursday 11 December 2025 e Friday 12 December 2025, 03:00 PM • Rome

272

Scienze

Clavius, Cristophorus

Astrolabe, 1593

Estimate

€ 500 - 800

Sold

€ 1.097

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

Rome, Printed by Bartolomeo Grassi, formerly Gabiana, 1593. In 4°. 3 parts in one volume. Large woodcut vignette depicting an astrolabe with the motto "Sic luditur Astris," numerous illustrations, including full-page ones, restoration on the title page, some light browning on some leaves, a few small stains, contemporary loose parchment binding, traces of binding, handwritten title on the spine, small tears on the spine, minor defects. Fading owner's stamp on the title page and owner's signature.

Specialist Notes

An extremely rare first edition of this treatise on the astrolabe, divided into three books: the first contains practical geometry lemmas, the second illustrates the projection circles drawn on the astrolabe plane using stereographic projection, and the third presents a series of rules and instructions illustrating the instrument's many uses with the aid of ruler and compass. This last book contains the first known example of the multiplication method based on circular functions, later called prostaffèresis (Houzeau-Lancaster).

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