The Castle of Knowledge

Los 86
05.02.2026 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
VeranstaltungsortVereinigtes Königreich, London
Aufgeldsee on Website%
ID 1540334
Los 86 | The Castle of Knowledge
Schätzwert
$ 30 000 – 50 000
RECORDE, Robert (1510-1558). The Castle of Knowledge. London: Reginald Wolfe, 1556.

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 Fine, 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 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" (qtd from the Fourth Treatise, p.165). The contents leaf is printed on the verso of the title-page and in this copy the header is "The Caste of Knowledge," though in other copies it has been corrected to "Castle." A pencil note in this copy identifies it as a first issue for this reason. Complete copies are rare. Norman 1807; ESTC S115662.

Small folio (275 x 182mm). Woodcut title and illustrations (title toned, a couple of small marginal holes, repaired tear to a2, small paper flaw to M2 with loss of a letter, light dampstain and intermittent toning.) Later paneled calf (rebacked, well-scuffed); clamshell box. Provenance: some contemporary marginalia including note of misbound leaf no longer misbound – Stephen Underwood (ownership inscription on verso of colophon dated January 1724/5).
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