Astronomy, Astronomy--Early works to 1800, QB41 .F37 1590
ALFRAGANUS. Choronologica et astronomica elementa, e Palatinae bibliothecae veteribus libris versa, expleta, & scholiis expolita. Additus est... Show moreALFRAGANUS. Choronologica et astronomica elementa, e Palatinae bibliothecae veteribus libris versa, expleta, & scholiis expolita. Additus est commentarius ... Autore M. Iacobo Christmanno. Frankfurt, heirs of Andrea Wechel, 1590. 8vo, lea. (bind.) + 1 tit. + 1 + 8 ((epist didicat.) + 4 (epist.) + 2 + 565 + 1 (erratte) + 2 + 2lea. (bind.), woodcut printer's device on title, repeated on verso of final blank, some passages of Greek and Arabic in text; contemporary vellum. First edition of this late sixteenth-century commentary and Latin version of al-Farghani's 'Elements', Kitab al-Jawami, based by the translator, Jacob Christmann, on Jacob Anatoli's Hebrew version of the Arabic text. "The influence of the Elements on medieval Europe is clearly attested by the existence of numerous Latin manuscrips in European libraries. References to it in medieval writers are many, and there is no doubt that it was greatly responsible for spreading knowledge of Ptolemaic astronomy, at least until this role was taken over by Sacrobosco's Sphere. But even then the Elements of Alfraganus continued to be used, and Sacrobosco's Sphere was clearly indebted to it. It was from the Elements (in Gerard's translation) the Dante derived [his] astronomical knowledge" (DSB). Kepler refers several times to Alfraganus, once, for instance, citing his measurement of the circumference of the world (Epitome, Book I, Part I). DSB, 4, 541-545; EI, II, p. 793; Sezgin, VI, 149-51. Carmody p. 116; Houzeau & Lancaster 1115 ("notes precieuses"); IA 103.684; Lalande p. 121; Wightman 157; Zinner 3368. Beiträger: Schede, Paul Main Heritage Shelves General QB41 .F37 1590 Book Item-ID: i10072524 BIB-ID: 1008888 Show less
