GEMMA FRISIUS, Reinerus (1508-1555)

Lot 112
12.07.2023 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 5 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 993308
Lot 112 | GEMMA FRISIUS, Reinerus (1508-1555)
Estimate value
£ 5 000 – 8 000
GEMMA FRISIUS, Reinerus (1508-1555)

De radio astronomico & geometrico liber. Antwerp: G. Bontius and Louvain: P. Phalesius, 1545.

Very rare first edition of Gemma Reinerus's description of an improved cross-staff, with woodcuts showing its construction and use. A brass version made by Gemma's nephew Arsenius was brought by John Dee to England in 1547 and Tycho Brahe states in his Astronomiae instauratae mechanica (1602) that his observations relied on the instrument beginning in 1564. D.W. Waters notes that the modification of the cross-staff directly influenced the northern navigations in the 16th century (see Waters, The Art of Navigation in England in Elizabethan and early Stuart Times, p.135). Adams G-390.



Small quarto (198 x 140 mm). Woodcut arms on title, woodcuts in text. (worming in upper and lower margins, M4 detached). Old limp vellum (binding slightly stained and fore-edges chipped).





Special notice

No VAT is payable on the hammer price or the buyer's premium for this lot. Please see the VAT Symbols and Explanation section of the Conditions of Sale for further information
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
12.07.2023 – 12.07.2023
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms