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Auktionsarchiv: Los-Nr. 15

BRAHE, Tycho (1546-1601). Astronomiae instauratae mechanica . Wandsbeck: Philipp von Ohr for the author, 1598.

Auction 10.12.1999
10.12.1999
Schätzpreis
190.000 $ - 220.000 $
Zuschlagspreis:
222.500 $
Auktionsarchiv: Los-Nr. 15

BRAHE, Tycho (1546-1601). Astronomiae instauratae mechanica . Wandsbeck: Philipp von Ohr for the author, 1598.

Auction 10.12.1999
10.12.1999
Schätzpreis
190.000 $ - 220.000 $
Zuschlagspreis:
222.500 $
Beschreibung:

BRAHE, Tycho (1546-1601). Astronomiae instauratae mechanica . Wandsbeck: Philipp von Ohr for the author, 1598. Super-royal 4 o (320 x 236 mm). Collation: )::( 4 A 6 B-F 4 G-H 6. 42 leaves. Roman, Greek and italic types. Title printed in red and black. 22 illustrations of Brahe's astronomical instruments (4 engraved and 18 woodcut), 9 woodcut plans and diagrams including a map of Hven, title and final verso with two different woodcut versions of the author's large allegorical device, woodcut head- and tail-pieces and ornamental initials, type-ornament page borders throughout (including blank verso of title), ALL ILLUSTRATIONS, DIAGRAMS AND ORNAMENTS FINELY COLORED AND ILLUMINATED BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND, the initials colored mainly in red, page-borders all in green. The imperfectly printed headline on G3r completed, as in most copies, in manuscript, possibly by the author. (A few tears to lower fore-corner of title-leaf, tape-repair on verso obscuring a portion of page-border, small neatly repaired tears to lower corners of last four leaves slightly affecting borders, last leaf a bit stained and with another small repair affecting three letters on recto, occasional cracking or small holes to paper along page-borders from acidic green pigment, first leaf of dedication with tiny printing flaw affecting a letter and small portion of border, small repair in gutter of E4, fols. A1.6, E1-4, and H1.6 on old guards, gutters of H6 neatly reinforced with modern archival tape, occasional slight offsetting of color.) Late 17th-century German speckled sheep, 5 raised bands on spine outlined in blind with small scallop-roll, later manuscript paper label, red-speckled edges, endpapers watermarked with crowned double-headed eagle astride a capital A (joints and extremities rubbed). Provenance : effaced signatures on front free endpaper; with John Howell, catalogue 40/10 (1970), sold to; the present owner. UNRECORDED COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION of Brahe's detailed description of his astronomical instruments and observatory on the island of Hven in the Danish Sound. In 1576 King Frederick conferred upon Brahe the lifelong use of the 2,000 square-acre island of Hven, to enable him to establish there a well-equipped modern observatory. The astronomer immediately launched into construction of the most advanced astronomical observatory of his day, christening it Uraniborg (heavenly castle), and adding to it in 1584 a second smaller observatory, Stjerneborg (castle of the stars) along with a printing press, and later a windmill, papermill and other artisans' workshops. The complex was furnished with two dozen large and sophisticated astronomical instruments of Brahe's own design -- all without magnification but precisely graduated to facilitate angular measurements on the celestial sphere. This was his famous globe, originally constructed at Augsburg, which Brahe had encased in brass sheets engraved with the zodiac and the equator, and upon which he marked, over the years, his observations of the exact position of the fixed stars. Equally celebrated was Brahe's mural quadrant, which had a 6-foot radius and required three men to use, and within whose arc Brahe had had painted, purely for decoration, a life-sized portrait of himself in the act of making an observation, by Tobias Gemperlin of Augsburg. Thanks to such relatively simple but surpisingly accurate instruments Brahe spent a decade in these "fantastically ornate but exceedingly useful observatories" (DSB) carrying out the first systematic astronomical observations since the Alexandrian period. It was from Brahe's mass of data that Kepler would discover the laws of planetary motion and construct a theory of the universe. Already in 1588 Brahe had mentioned to a correspondent his desire to publish a description of the instruments, of which he had had some woodcut reproductions made. By 1596, the 18 woodblocks used in the present edition were ready and a few specimens had been printed, of which s

Auktionsarchiv: Los-Nr. 15
Auktion:
Datum:
10.12.1999
Auktionshaus:
Christie's
New York, Rockefeller Center
Beschreibung:

BRAHE, Tycho (1546-1601). Astronomiae instauratae mechanica . Wandsbeck: Philipp von Ohr for the author, 1598. Super-royal 4 o (320 x 236 mm). Collation: )::( 4 A 6 B-F 4 G-H 6. 42 leaves. Roman, Greek and italic types. Title printed in red and black. 22 illustrations of Brahe's astronomical instruments (4 engraved and 18 woodcut), 9 woodcut plans and diagrams including a map of Hven, title and final verso with two different woodcut versions of the author's large allegorical device, woodcut head- and tail-pieces and ornamental initials, type-ornament page borders throughout (including blank verso of title), ALL ILLUSTRATIONS, DIAGRAMS AND ORNAMENTS FINELY COLORED AND ILLUMINATED BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND, the initials colored mainly in red, page-borders all in green. The imperfectly printed headline on G3r completed, as in most copies, in manuscript, possibly by the author. (A few tears to lower fore-corner of title-leaf, tape-repair on verso obscuring a portion of page-border, small neatly repaired tears to lower corners of last four leaves slightly affecting borders, last leaf a bit stained and with another small repair affecting three letters on recto, occasional cracking or small holes to paper along page-borders from acidic green pigment, first leaf of dedication with tiny printing flaw affecting a letter and small portion of border, small repair in gutter of E4, fols. A1.6, E1-4, and H1.6 on old guards, gutters of H6 neatly reinforced with modern archival tape, occasional slight offsetting of color.) Late 17th-century German speckled sheep, 5 raised bands on spine outlined in blind with small scallop-roll, later manuscript paper label, red-speckled edges, endpapers watermarked with crowned double-headed eagle astride a capital A (joints and extremities rubbed). Provenance : effaced signatures on front free endpaper; with John Howell, catalogue 40/10 (1970), sold to; the present owner. UNRECORDED COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION of Brahe's detailed description of his astronomical instruments and observatory on the island of Hven in the Danish Sound. In 1576 King Frederick conferred upon Brahe the lifelong use of the 2,000 square-acre island of Hven, to enable him to establish there a well-equipped modern observatory. The astronomer immediately launched into construction of the most advanced astronomical observatory of his day, christening it Uraniborg (heavenly castle), and adding to it in 1584 a second smaller observatory, Stjerneborg (castle of the stars) along with a printing press, and later a windmill, papermill and other artisans' workshops. The complex was furnished with two dozen large and sophisticated astronomical instruments of Brahe's own design -- all without magnification but precisely graduated to facilitate angular measurements on the celestial sphere. This was his famous globe, originally constructed at Augsburg, which Brahe had encased in brass sheets engraved with the zodiac and the equator, and upon which he marked, over the years, his observations of the exact position of the fixed stars. Equally celebrated was Brahe's mural quadrant, which had a 6-foot radius and required three men to use, and within whose arc Brahe had had painted, purely for decoration, a life-sized portrait of himself in the act of making an observation, by Tobias Gemperlin of Augsburg. Thanks to such relatively simple but surpisingly accurate instruments Brahe spent a decade in these "fantastically ornate but exceedingly useful observatories" (DSB) carrying out the first systematic astronomical observations since the Alexandrian period. It was from Brahe's mass of data that Kepler would discover the laws of planetary motion and construct a theory of the universe. Already in 1588 Brahe had mentioned to a correspondent his desire to publish a description of the instruments, of which he had had some woodcut reproductions made. By 1596, the 18 woodblocks used in the present edition were ready and a few specimens had been printed, of which s

Auktionsarchiv: Los-Nr. 15
Auktion:
Datum:
10.12.1999
Auktionshaus:
Christie's
New York, Rockefeller Center
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