A survey of Apian's Astronomicum Caesareum.
Abstract
The Astronomicum Caesareum, from the private press of Petrus Apianus in Ingolstadt, is one of the greatest masterpieces of sixteenth-century printing. Designed for Charles V and his brother Ferdinand, the volume was in every way a luxurious and princely production. In this large folio volume the paper instrument found its supreme realization in a series of intricate volvelles, with five or even six layers of movable paper disks. Published in 1540, the book graphically displayed Ptolemaic astronomy in a fashion fit for a monarch's eyes. The author's survey has shown that perfectly preserved copies, having not only all the moving parts but also all the threads and the dozen small sliding pearls, are rather rare.
- Publication:
-
Astronomie, Kosmographie und Mathematik am Beginn der Neuzeit
- Pub Date:
- 1995
- Bibcode:
- 1995akmb.conf..113G
- Keywords:
-
- History of Astronomy