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Catalogue 03-2019 Rare and Valuable Astronomical Books, mostly new arrivals To access our website for more images, click on the author's name! General Astronomy: ................................ 2, 7, 9, 13, 18, 19, 24, 26, 31, 32, 35, 37, 39, 40 Astrology: .................................................................................................... 5, 6, 10, 36, 38 Astronomical Tables: ....................................................................................... 3, 10, 33, 41 Celestial mechanics: .................................... 1, 7, 11, 14, 15, 17, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34 Comets:............................................................................................................................ 11 Cosmogony & Cosmology: ................................................................ 16, 20, 21, 25, 43, 44 Sundials, Instruments & Telescopes: .......................................................................... 4, 12 Selenography: .................................................................................................................. 23 Star Atlases: ..................................................................................................................... 42 Telescopic observations: ................................................................................................... 9 PMM: ............................................................................................................................... 37 Norman: ................................................................................. 1, 3, 9, 11, 30, 33, 37, 39, 44 Dibner / Horblit: ................................................................................................................. 1 Milestones of Science Books phone +49 (0) 421 1754235 www.milestone-books.de . [email protected] Member of ILAB and VDA Catalogue 03-2019 Copyright © 2019 Milestones of Science Books. All rights reserved Page 2 of 37 Announcing the discovery of Neptune 1 ADAMS, John Couch. An Explanation of the Observed Irregularities in the Motion of Uranus on the Hypothesis of Disturbances Caused by a More Distant Planet; with a determination of the mass, orbit, and position of the disturbing body. Offprint from the Appendix of the Nautical Almanac for the Year 1851. London: W. Clowes & Sons, 1846. 8vo (232 x 146 mm). [3] 4-31 [1] pp. Original printed self-wrappers as issued, stitched, pages partially unopened and uncut. Very little age-toned, faint offsetting on title-page. A clean, crisp and completely unsophisticated copy. (#002884) € 7,500 Dibner 16; Sparrow 1; Norman 7; Evans 24; DSB I, pp. 53-4; Ley, Watchers, pp. 407-14. EXCEPTIONALLY RARE FIRST SEPARATE EDITION of the work that announced the discovery of Neptune and finally confirmed Newton's theory of gravitation. Adams began his investigation of Uranus in mid- 1843, and in 1845 sent his calculations and observations to the Astronomer Royal, George Biddell Airey, who failed to recognise the importance of the paper. In 1846, Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier published his own research and reached the same conclusion, leading to the immediate identification of Neptune by J.G. Galle. Only then was Adams' work published, leading to a bitter dispute over priority (Norman 7). "In retrospect Adams' many mathematical and astronomical achievements pale in comparison to his analysis of the orbit Uranus and his prediction of the existence and position of Neptune at the age of twenty-four. Much of his later work has been superseded, but as the co-discoverer of Neptune he occupies a special, undiminished place in the history of science." (DSB I, p.54). ...among the most excellent in Islamic astronomy 2 AL BATTANI, Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Jabir [Albategnius]. [Kitab al-Zij]. Mahometis Albatenii de Scientia Stellarum Liber cum aliquot additionibus Joannis Regiomontani ex Bibliotheca Vaticana transcriptus. Bologna: Typis Haeredis Victorii Benatii, 1645. 4to (223 x 160 mm). [16], 228, [4] pp., including half-title, fine engraved frontispiece with Medici arms by Coriolano, errata and imprimatur/colophon leaves at end, the latter with large printer's device. Numerous woodcut astronomical diagrams in text. Text within ruled borders throughout. Contemporary full vellum, spine titled in manuscript (covers faintly bowed). Internally very clean and crisp with no signs of spotting or markings. Provenance: Lieutenant Rafe? (illegible inscription to front pastedown, dated 1817). An outstanding copy of a rare and important work. (#002254) € 18,000 DSB I, pp.507-16; Riccardi II, 288. First separate edition of al-Battani's "great work on astronomy, ... among the most excellent in Islamic astronomy" (DSB). Al-Battani (858-929 A.D.) holds a place of honour among Islamic astronomers and historians. This is his principal work, the Kitab al-Zij, translated into Latin as De Scientia Stellarum by Plato of Tivoli in the first half of the twelfth century, on which his fame in both the East and West rests. He tested many of Ptolemy's results by fresh observations, and obtained more accurate values of the obliquity of the ecliptic and of precession. He improved the moon's mean motion in longitude, used signs and cosines, and introduced new and elegant solutions into spherical trigonometry. He measured the apparent Catalogue 03-2019 Copyright © 2019 Milestones of Science Books. All rights reserved Page 3 of 37 diameters of the sun and moon and their variation, and concluded that annular solar eclipses must be possible. The indebtedness of Copernicus to al- Battani is well known, he is frequently quoted by Tycho Brahe and Riccioli, and his observations were of interest to Kepler and Galileo. The De Scientia Stellarum was first published in 1537 with Alfragani's Rudimenta astronomica. The present edition was the only other edition until Nallino's superb scholarly edition of 1899. Editio princeps of the Alfonsine Tables 3 ALFONSO X, King of Castile and Leon (ALFONSIUS). Tabulae astronomicae - Johannes DANCK (fl. first half 14th century). Canones in tabulas Alphonsi. [Venice:] Erhard Ratdolt, 4 July 1483. 4to (214 x 157 mm). 93 unfoliated leaves (of 94, without initial blank). Collation: a-l8 m6 (-a1, a2r incipit, text of the Canons of John of Saxony, b3v supplement to the Canons of John of Saxony, c1r astronomical tables, m3r explanation of figure of solar eclipse, m3v woodcut diagram of solar eclipse, m4r explanation of figure of lunar eclipse, m4v diagram of lunar eclipse, m5r table of the latitude and longitude of principal European and North African cities, m6r colophon, m6v blank). Text in 40 to 43 lines, gothic type 4:76G, white-on-black woodcut floriated initials with fine hand-coloring, incipit printed in red, smaller lombard initials, woodcut diagrams in text, red paraphs and initial-strokes. Modern polished and speckled calf, spine with 4 raised bands and gilt lettering, customized folding cloth box. Old hand lettering to upper edge. Text pages with light brown staining at upper and lower edges (stronger at bottom margin of leaf d7 only), but generally clean and crisp. Provenance: Cesare Malfatti, armorial bookplate (pasted into new binding); Erwin Tomash (bought from Martayan Lan, 1989). A fine, wide-margined copy. (#003073) € 25,000 Catalogue 03-2019 Copyright © 2019 Milestones of Science Books. All rights reserved Page 4 of 37 Tomash & Williams A59 (this copy); Norman 36; ISTC ia00534000; Crone Library 1; Redgrave, Ratdolt 34; Stillwell Science 14; DSB I, p.122. - RARE FIRST EDITION of the Toledan Tables of the Cordoban astronomer al- Zarqali (c.1029-c.1087), commonly known as the Alphonsine tables after the patron who commissioned their translation. This Latin version, which circulated widely in the Middle Ages, was translated from an earlier Spanish version that is now lost. It is the most famous of numerous translations commissioned by Alfonso X, 'el Sabio,' of Arabic scientific, legal, and magical treatises. Although the translation contains new observations, made from 1262 and 1272, it follows the overall format of al-Zarqali's compilation and adheres to the Ptolemaic system for explaining celestial motion. The present text follows a revised version of the tables completed in the early 14th century; Ratdolt prefaced it with the first appearance of John (Danck) of Saxony's almost equally popular canons, written in 1327, which completed the Alphonsine tables in several areas, including supplementary tables of the eclipses and several chapters on the latitudes of the planets. "Alfonso had a keen interest in astronomy and had many Arabic manuscripts on the subject translated. He also ordered that a new calculation of the Toledan astronomical tables be made to replace those compiled by the Cordoban astronomer al-Zarquli some two hundred years earlier. These new Tablas Alfonsinas, also done in Toledo, were completed by Judah ben Moses (a Spanish/Jewish physician and astronomer) and Isaac ibn Sid (a Spanish/Jewish astronomer and collector of instruments) about 1272. No original copies of these Alphonsine tables are extant; however, they were translated from Spanish into Latin in the first part of the fourteenth century and in this form remained a major influence on European astronomy for the next three hundred years. During the translation from Spanish to Latin, a number of changes were introduced into the tables (differences in the date of the epoch upon which they are based and also differences in the latitude of Toledo). The resulting tables remained in general use until superseded
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