RECORDE, Robert (ca 1510-1558). The Castle of Knowledge. London: Reginald Wolfe, 1556.
RECORDE, Robert (ca 1510-1558). The Castle of Knowledge. London: Reginald Wolfe, 1556. 2 o (277 x 187 mm). Allegorical woodcut title showing the Castle of Knowledge containing the figures of Urania and Fortuna, woodcut of two astronomers on a8v, large wooduct initial on A1r, numerous diagrams in text. (Small hole in G6 affecting a few letters, a few small rust holes, a few marginal stains.) Contemporary calf (rebacked preserving original spine, two corners restored). Provenance : early note and date 31 January 1562 on A3 verso and dated on last leaf recto; James H. Byles (bookplate); Boies Penrose (bookplate; his sale part II, Sotheby's London, 9 November 1971, lot 351). VERY RARE FIRST EDITION OF THE EARLIEST MAJOR ENGLISH ASTRONOMICAL TREATISE, AND ONE OF THE EARLIEST ENGLISH BOOKS WRITTEN COMPLETELY IN THE VERNACULAR TO HAVE BEEN PRINTED IN ROMAN TYPE Recorde's treatise on the construction and use of the sphere is based chiefly on Ptolemy, Proclus, Sacrobosco, and Oronce Finé, but is more than a synthesis of these earlier writers. "He devoted considerable space to a critical examination of the standard authorities, offering corrections of textual errors in the Greek authors and suggesting that the mistakes of Sacrobosco and others were caused by their lack of knowledge of Greek" ( DSB ). It also includes THE FIRST FAVORABLE REFERENCE TO THE COPERNICAN THEORY in English: "Copernicus a man of greate learninge, of muche experience, and of wonderfull diligence in observation, hathe renewed the opinion of Aristarchus Samius, and affirmeth that the earthe not only moveth circularlye about his owne centre, but also may be, yea and is, continually out of the precise centre of the world 38 hundreth thousand miles: but bicause the understanding of that controversy dependeth of profounder knowledge then in this Introduction may be uttered conveniently, I will let it passe tyll some other time." (quoted from the Fourth Treatise, p.165). Dibner Heralds of Science 104; Norman 1807; Smith, p. 253; STC 20796. See Goldschmidt, The Printed Book of the Renaissance, p.25.
RECORDE, Robert (ca 1510-1558). The Castle of Knowledge. London: Reginald Wolfe, 1556.
RECORDE, Robert (ca 1510-1558). The Castle of Knowledge. London: Reginald Wolfe, 1556. 2 o (277 x 187 mm). Allegorical woodcut title showing the Castle of Knowledge containing the figures of Urania and Fortuna, woodcut of two astronomers on a8v, large wooduct initial on A1r, numerous diagrams in text. (Small hole in G6 affecting a few letters, a few small rust holes, a few marginal stains.) Contemporary calf (rebacked preserving original spine, two corners restored). Provenance : early note and date 31 January 1562 on A3 verso and dated on last leaf recto; James H. Byles (bookplate); Boies Penrose (bookplate; his sale part II, Sotheby's London, 9 November 1971, lot 351). VERY RARE FIRST EDITION OF THE EARLIEST MAJOR ENGLISH ASTRONOMICAL TREATISE, AND ONE OF THE EARLIEST ENGLISH BOOKS WRITTEN COMPLETELY IN THE VERNACULAR TO HAVE BEEN PRINTED IN ROMAN TYPE Recorde's treatise on the construction and use of the sphere is based chiefly on Ptolemy, Proclus, Sacrobosco, and Oronce Finé, but is more than a synthesis of these earlier writers. "He devoted considerable space to a critical examination of the standard authorities, offering corrections of textual errors in the Greek authors and suggesting that the mistakes of Sacrobosco and others were caused by their lack of knowledge of Greek" ( DSB ). It also includes THE FIRST FAVORABLE REFERENCE TO THE COPERNICAN THEORY in English: "Copernicus a man of greate learninge, of muche experience, and of wonderfull diligence in observation, hathe renewed the opinion of Aristarchus Samius, and affirmeth that the earthe not only moveth circularlye about his owne centre, but also may be, yea and is, continually out of the precise centre of the world 38 hundreth thousand miles: but bicause the understanding of that controversy dependeth of profounder knowledge then in this Introduction may be uttered conveniently, I will let it passe tyll some other time." (quoted from the Fourth Treatise, p.165). Dibner Heralds of Science 104; Norman 1807; Smith, p. 253; STC 20796. See Goldschmidt, The Printed Book of the Renaissance, p.25.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
