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Description
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MANILIUS, Marcus (fl. early 1st century). Astronomicon. Nuremberg: Johannes Muller (Regiomontanus), [c. 1473-74]. Chancery 4. (200 x 146mm). Collation: [1-612] (1/1 text, 6/12v colophon). 72 leaves. 30 lines. Type 1:94aR. Woodcut initials (44 x 44mm) opening each book, other 2- and 3-line initial spaces with guide-letters. ( A few leaves discreetly rehinged, one or two imperceptible restorations to final page.) 20th-century calf tooled in blind to an Italianate Renaissance style. Provenance: 18th-century crowned stamp (A.C. imposed on a tower) on first and last leaves -- [Christie's NY, 19 May 2000, lot 244]. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST PRINTED BOOK ON ASTRONOMY. The great modern editor of this work, A.E. Housman, considered this Nuremberg edition to be not only earlier than, but superior to, the Bologna edition of 1474, and believed that Regiomontanus must have corrected the manuscript exemplar himself (as might be expected given that author and printer are one), since so many of the corrections are not to be found in any surviving manuscript (Housman, V, p.xvii). The rarity of this edition is proved by the fact that neither of Manilius's other great editors, Scaliger and Bentley, knew of it, and so Regiomontanus's corrections were first incorporated into the text in the 20th century. H *10703; BMC II, 456 (IA. 7874-5); BSB-Ink. M-124; Bod-inc. M-064; Klebs 661.1; IGI 6125; Stillwell, Awakening 75; Flodr, Manilius 1; Goff M-202.
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