COPERNICUS - COPERNIC (Nicolas) (1473-1534)

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Lot n° 45
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COPERNICUS - COPERNIC (Nicolas) (1473-1534)
De Revolutionibus Orbium cœlestium, Libri V Nuremberg, Johann Petreius, 1543 In-4 (268 x 195 mm), (6)-196 ff. Without the errata leaf. 19th century red morocco, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt fleurons, gilt titling, boards decorated with a double framing of two gilt fillets on the boards, gilt fleurons in the spandrels and a gilt medallion in the center, double fillet on the edges, inner lace, gilt edges on marbling (binding signed by Lortic). (Antique washed copy.) First edition of the most famous and important scientific text of the 16th century, which revolutionized the conception of the universe. It is illustrated with numerous woodcuts and 148 figures in the text, 6 of which are repeated (after Owen Gingerich's enumeration). The only work of Copernicus to appear during his lifetime, De Revolutionibus was published a few days before his death. It caused only a modest debate at the time, and the heliocentric theory defended here was not put on the Index until 1616. As the father of heliocentrism, Copernicus dislodged the Earth from the central and immobile position it occupied in the world according to the medieval cosmological conception. He replaced this conception with that of an Earth revolving around the Sun, which was considered immobile at the center of the world. The Earth is then only one planet among others. The impact of this work on our conception of the Universe was resounding and lasting. In the following century, Kepler and Galileo completed the demonstration of Copernicus' system. A beautiful copy, with large margins, elegantly established by Lortic. Its width (195 mm) is close to that of the three known copies considered to have very large margins (200 mm), and by its height (268 mm), it is not far from joining the group of 10 copies listed by Gingerich whose height reaches 270 mm and more. The errata leaf is missing here, as it usually is. Indeed, the printing of Copernicus' manuscript, brought back from Poland to Nuremberg by his disciple Rheticus, took place from May 1542 to April 1543, in the order of the quires. Once the text was completed, a preliminary booklet of 6 leaves and an errata leaflet for the first 146 leaves were printed, which was attached to only a few copies. PROVENANCE Catalog des livres rares et précieux manuscrits et imprimés faisant partie de la librairie de L. Potier, 1870, n° 440. REFERENCES Adams C-2602; Dibner, Heralds of Science 3; Gingerich, An annotated census of Copernicus' 'De revolutionibus', 16 (has not seen this copy); Horblit 18b; Houzeau & Lancaster 2503; PMM 70.
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