[THREE WORKS BOUND AS ONE] SPECULUM URANICUM AQUILAE ROMANAE SACRUM DAS IST HIM[M]ELS SPIEGEL










Book Description
darinnen ausser denen ordentlichen auch die ungewöhnlichen Erscheinungen des Himmels mit gebührenden Anfüuhrungen abgebildet. Vornehmlich abder der im gestirne des Adlers jüngsthin entstandene Comet [etc.] (Verzeichnis dere Cometen so vor und nach Christi geburt... beobachtet worden...).
ff. [4], 42, [12]pp. Illustrated with an additional engraved title page and frontispiece, 4 woodcut astronomical plates, and 2 illustrations in text (white on black).
2). Ibid. Fortsetzung des Him[m]els Spiegels darinnen ausser dem andern Theil der teutschen Himmels-Kunst vornehmlich der zu Ende des 1664sten Jahres entstandene und bis zum Anfang des 1665 sten fortscheinenden grosse Comet. beschrieben, [etc.]. Jena: S. Krebs for T.M. Goetze, [1665]. [6], 126, [2]pp. Illustrated with an engraved frontispiece and folding leaf with woodcut diagrams on both sides at p.13.
3). Ibid. Speculum terrae, das ist Erd-Speigel darinnen der Erd Creiss nach seiner Eigenschaften an Land und Wasser: nach denen Völckern und Winwohnern seiner Länder. in gewissen Zonen und Climen: sampt andern geographischen Anmerckungen abgebildet und zugleich der helleuctende neue Comet welcher in Merz und April desd 1665sten Jahrs erschienen. beschrieben wird. Jena: S. Krebs etc., 1665. [6], 100pp. Illustrated with an engraved frontispiece world map.
First editions. Three works bound as one. Quarto (185 x 130mm). Handsomely bound in full English eighteenth-century mottled calf. The spine with five raised bands, compartments with decorative floral devices in gilt, and gilt morocco title label. Blue marbling to page edges. Nineteenth-century armorial bookplate to the front pastedown and armorial blindstamps to the frontispiece and title pages of the first work. A very good copy indeed, the binding square and firm with just a touch of minor rubbing to the extremities. The contents with the frontispiece and title page of the second work trimmed to the foot, with loss to the imprint on the title page, are otherwise excellent throughout.
Dealer Notes
Three uncommon works by the astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher, Erhard Weigel (1625-1699). Professor of mathematics at the University of Jena from 1653 until his death, Weigel was an important figure in German intellectual life in the second half of the seventeenth century, authoring an impressive number of books, and working to make science more widely accessible to the public. Perhaps most notably, he was a teacher of the famous polymath, mathematician, philosopher and scientist Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), on whom Weigel’s influence was to have far-reaching effects. Indeed, through him, Leibnitz began to understand the importance of the method of mathematical proof for subjects such as logic and philosophy, grounded in Weigel’s belief that number was the fundamental concept of the universe. Through Leibniz, Weigel has also been recognised as the intellectual forebear of a long tradition of mathematicians and mathematical physicists, with the Mathematics Genealogy Project listing more than 50,000 intellectual “descendants” of Weigel.
The present works form some of Weigel’s better known astronomical and geographical treatises, with the first concerning the relation of the heavens to the Holy Roman Empire. All have a particular emphasis on the analysis of comets, especially those famously observed in Northern Europe in 1664 and 1665.
Provenance: Earls of Macclesfield, Shilburn Castle.
The present works form some of Weigel’s better known astronomical and geographical treatises, with the first concerning the relation of the heavens to the Holy Roman Empire. All have a particular emphasis on the analysis of comets, especially those famously observed in Northern Europe in 1664 and 1665.
Provenance: Earls of Macclesfield, Shilburn Castle.
Author
[ASTRONOMY]; [COMETS]; WEIGEL, Erhard:
Date
1661
Publisher
Frankfurt: Thomas M. Goetze, (Jena: printed by S. Krebs).
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