Updates December - #1
UPDATES DECEMBER - #1 - Maps, - Archives on Egypt and Istanbul, - Africa, - Slavica, - Turcica, - Music, - The Balkans, - Decorative Printing, - Music, - and Much More... www.pahor.de 1. ASTRONOMY - GIOVANNI RIZZI-ZANNONI - ROGER BOSCOVICH – LATITUDE OF ISTANBUL A unique, previously unrecorded letter by the Italian cartographer and scientist Giovanni Rizzi- Zannoni with his measurements of the latitude of Istanbul, based on the suggestions personally received from a Dalmatian geographer Roger Boscovich during his stay in Istanbul to observe the Transit of Venus in 1761. Author: Giovanni RIZZI-ZANNONI (1736 - 1814). Place and Year: Constantinople, February 30, 1763. Technique: Large 4°: manuscript in French language in brown ink on both sides of fine laid paper with a watermark (soft horizontal fold, margins slightly age-toned with small tears, some old water stains, affecting some words, otherwise in a good condition). Code: 67621 This unique, previously unrecorded letter was written by an Italian cartographer Giovanni Rizzi-Zannoni to a Venetian Ambassador, Piero Correr, in Istanbul on February 30, 1863, and includes his recent measurements of the latitude of Istanbul, based on the latest advice he received from his colleague, the geographer Roger Boscovich. According to the letter, Rizzi-Zannoni, who at the time lived in Istanbul, met Boscovich, when this Dalmatia-born scientist visited the city to observe the Transit of Venus at the behest of the Royal Society, in 1761. Boscovich arrived to the city too late for observations and spent most of his time in Istanbul ill. According to the letter, Boscovich suggested Rizzi-Zannoni to precisely measure the meridian of Constantinople, and the positions of the eclipses of Moons of Jupiter, the so-called Jovian method.
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