Beschreibung:

GALILEI, Galileo (1564-1642). Sidereus Nuncius . Venice: Tommaso Baglioni, [March] 1610. 4° (224 x 170mm). Baglioni's woodcut device on title, ornamental initials and headpieces, 3 text diagrams, 3 woodcut star maps, one extending to 1 1/2 pages, and 65 one-line woodcuts on 25 leaves showing the varying positions of Jupiter and its moons; without the five half-page copper-engravings in the text (see below). (A little light staining at beginning and end, corners bumped.) ORIGINAL PLAIN PAPER WRAPPER, 19/20th-century paper reinforcement at spine (front wrapper partly loose from stitching). Provenance : Marquard Gude of Rendsburg, Germany (1635-89; 20th-century stamp on title). ONE OF ONLY TWO KNOWN COPIES OF THE EARLIEST ISSUE OF THE FIRST EDITION, ANNOUNCING THE FIRST ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES MADE WITH THE TELESCOPE. In 1609 Galileo learned of an instrument developed by a Dutchman, Hans Lipperhey, that made distant objects appear closer. After attempting unsuccessfully to see an example of the new instrument when it was brought to Padua and then Venice, Galileo constructed his own telescope. He continued working on and improving it and by late August of that year was able to demonstrate a model of a nine-power telescope; further improvements resulted in a telescope about 30-power by the end of 1609. The importance of such an instrument for a sea-faring republic such as Venice was obvious and Galileo was amply rewarded. In January 1610 Galileo turned the telescope to astronomical observation to discover for the first time that the surface of the moon was mountainous and that the Milky Way was composed of separate stars; he also discovered new stars and sited the 4 satellites of Jupiter. Although met with disbelief in some camps, Galileo's remarkable observations won immediate renown. With the Sidereus Nuncius Galileo achieved one of his aims, to overturn Aristotelian physics, but he only reluctantly embraced the Copernican system at this early stage. As Galileo himself noted in a letter of 19 March 1610 to Belisario Vinta, secretary to Cosimo II de'Medici, the first edition of Sidereus Nuncius was rushed through the press in order to announce Galileo's discoveries as quickly as possible. Evidence of the speed of its production is clear in the addition of an extra two unnumbered leaves in quire D which contain woodcut star maps, the cancellation slip on B1r altering 'Cosmica Sydera' to 'Medicea Sydera' in clearer homage to the work's dedicatee, Cosimo de'Medici, and the omission in some copies of the copper-engraved plates depicting the lunar surface and phases. The absence of the correction slip on B1r and the omission of the copper-engravings in the text indicates that THE PRESENT COPY WAS ONE OF THE FIRST 30 COPIES PRINTED, INTENDED TO BE SENT BY GALILEO FOR PERSONAL PRESENTATION. In the same letter to Vinta Galileo states that of these 30, all but six had been turned over to a bookseller in Venice (where Galileo was overseeing the publication) 'because [the printer] omitted to print the copper-engraved figures in them' ('havendogli lasciati in Venezia inmano del librario, perchè vi mancavano a stampar le figure in rame' -- Opere , X, no. 277, p.300). Only one other of these first 24 copies without the lunar etchings is known to survive, the Jagiellonian Library copy at Kracow. THE GUDE COPY SHOWS THE COMPLETE CONSTELLATIONS. The stars at the extreme left and top edges are here present (they usually fall victim to the binder's knife), and the star at the fold is visible. Remarkably for a thin pamphlet protected only by its original plain paper wrapper, it is in fine condition. Its condition no doubt results from the stability of its ownership; it has remained in the Gude library since its acquisition in the third quarter of the 17th century, by Marquard Gude, i.e. within about 50 years of its publication. Son of a leading family of northern Germany, the young lawyer travelled extensively in the Netherlands, France and Ital