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Tag Archives: zodiac

Book of the Week — Athanasii Kircheri Societatis Iesu Magnes; sive, de arte magnetica

05 Monday Jun 2017

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animals, arrows, Athanasius Kircher, electromagnetism, Emperor, engravings, F. Valentini, Ferdinando IV, God, Greek, Hapsburg, hydraulics, Jesuit, lodestone, longitude, love, magnet, magnetism, Mars, Martin Martini, medicine, music, plants, rare books, Roman Catholic, symbol, tides, toys, universe, woodcuts, zodiac

QC751-K58-1654-title
““The highest mountain, the oldest books, the strangest people, there you will find the stone.” — Attributed to Athanasius Kircher

Athanasii Kircheri Societatis Iesu Magnes; sive, de arte magnetica
Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680)
Romae: sumptibus Blasii Deuersin, & Zanobii Masotti Bibliopolarum typis Vitalis Mascarditypis V. Mascardi, MDCLIV (1654)
Third and final edition
QC751 K58 1654

Athanasius Kircher learned Greek and Hebrew at the Jesuit school in Fulda. He continued his scientific studies at Paderborn, Cologne, and Koblenz, taking orders in 1628 as a Jesuit priest. He traveled to Paris, fleeing fighting in Germany, and settled in Rome in 1634. His rigorous scientific curiosity was girded by a mystical conception of natural laws and forces. His methodology ranged from scholastic to hands-on experimentation. He once had himself lowered into the crater of Vesuvius to observe its features soon after an eruption. He was a prolific writer, publishing forty-four books. More than 2,000 of his manuscripts and letters survive. He assembled one of the first natural history collections, housed in a museum after his name in Rome, and later dispersed throughout various institutions.

The third edition of Magnes sive de arte magnetica is the first to appear in folio format. It is virtually a new work, rewritten and expanded from the first edition (1641). This edition is Athanasius Kircher’s largest, most complete, and definitive treatise on magnetism and electromagnetism (a term coined by Kircher in this work), which he conceived as a universal force of nature. Kircher compiled measurements of magnetic declination from several places around the world as reported by Jesuit scholars. One of these, Martin Martini, suggested to Kircher the possibility of determining longitudes by the declination of a magnetic needle, a possibility which Kircher then introduced to the scientific community.

In this work Kircher included discussions about the magnetism of the earth and heavenly bodies, the tides, the attraction and repulsion in animals and plants, and the magnetic attraction of music and love. He addressed the practical applications of magnetism in medicine, hydraulics, the construction of scientific instruments, and toys. Above it all, God remained the central magnet of the universe.

QC751-K58-1654-Obelisk
Glass spheres contain wax figures incorporating magnets, which can be affected by the large magnet in the base of the obelisk. On the globes are letters and signs of the Zodiac to which the figures point. By manipulating the handle in front of the table skirt, the operator could rotate the central magnet and cause the figures to answer questions or spell out words. The Greek inscription on the ribbon at the top of the obelisk is the Hermetic axiom, “Nature rejoices in Nature.” — p. 275

Illustrated with thirty-two full-page engraved plates and more than one hundred and fifty ornamental woodcuts throughout the text. Title-page printed in red and black. Rare Books copy has odd little hand-inked drawings by a past owner throughout.

QC751-K58-1654-Portrait
The portrait of Ferdinando IV, reigning Hapsburg Emperor, to whom Magnes sive de arte magnetica is dedicated, contains magnetic needles in the shape of arrows, a lodestone, the eye of God, the orb and cross corresponding to the ancient symbol for Mars, and other, even more esoteric, symbols. This engraving embodies the doctrine of Roman Catholic monarchy as a divine institution, and the emperor and his empire as the microcosmic reflections of God and his universe. Ferdinando IV died the year this edition was published, at the age of 21. — Engraving by F. Valentini

QC751-K58-1654-Sunflower
Sundial in the form of a sunflower — p. 508

QC751-K58-1654-pg593
In southern Italy, most commonly in Apulia, dancing the Tarantella cured the tarantulla bite. — p. 593

Recommended reading:

Glassie, John. A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change. New York: Riverhead Books, 2013
CT1098 K46 G53 2013, General Collection, L2

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Book of the Week — Opera

25 Monday Jan 2016

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Tags

Africa, Archbishop of Canterbury, Asia Minor, astrology, astronomy, atonement, Basel, calendars, Caucasus, celestial motion, Christian, Cur Deus Homo, cycles, De imagine mundi, Easter, Egypt, Egyptians, equinox, Europe, geography, God, Gothic type, Greeks, Hebrews, India, islands, Johann Amerbach, Jupiter, lunar, marginalia, Mesopotamia, Monologion, moon, Nuremberg, oceans, Palestine, Parthia, Proslogion, Roman type, Romans, Saint Anselm, seas, solar, solstice, St Augustine, sun, Syria, theology, Thomas More, tides, time, University of Utah, vellum, water, zodiac

TitlepageIndexSpreadSpread1Spread2

“…let my mind meditate upon it; let my tongue speak of it. Let my heart love it; let my mouth talk of it. Let my soul hunger for it; let my flesh thirst for it; let my whole being desire it…”

OPERA
Saint Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (ca. 1033-1109)
Basel: Johann Amerbach, not after 1497
Second, enlarged edition

The first edition of the collected works of St Anselm was printed in Nuremberg in 1491. After St Augustine and Thomas More, St Anselm was one of the most widely read of Christian theological writers in western Europe. His influence was far-reaching. This collection includes his three most famous works: the Cur Deus Homo, a treatise on the atonement; the Proslogion, which contains his argument for the existence of God; and the Monologion. The last thirty pages of this volume is a two-part geographical astronomical/astrological compendium, “De imagine mundi,” dating from about 1100, containing chapters on India, Parthia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Europe, Africa and sections on islands and water (seas, oceans, tides). There are a few articles on the zodiac, and more on astronomy. Anselm describes celestial motions of the sun, moon and Jupiter, with reference to the solar and lunar cycles and the importance of their measurement for calculating time. Anselm notes different divisions of time as reckoned by the ancient Hebrews, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. He addresses various calendars and the cycles and divisions on which they were based. He notes the practical importance of their use for calculating astronomical events such as the equinox and solstice, and the sacred importance of calculating Easter. Printer Johann Amerbach (ca. 1440-1513) was the first printer of Basel to use a Roman type as well as Gothic. Printed in two columns of fifty lines each in Gothic type. University of Utah copy bound in 18th century vellum over boards; brown stain on cover. An early ownership inscription is inked out, and a stamp erased from the title-page. Some contemporary marginalia.

 

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Book of the Week – Hoc in Libro Nunqua[m] Ante Typis Aeneis in Lucem…

18 Monday Nov 2013

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aphorisms, chart, Greek, Joachim Camerarius, Latin, Matthaeus Guarimbertus, Nuremberg, planets, Ptolemy, stars, Tetrabiblos, Venice, zodiac

Ptolemy, Hoc in Libro, 1535
Ptolemy, Hoc in Libro, 1535
Ptolemy, Hoc in Libro, 1535

Hoc in Libro Nunqua[m] Ante Typis Aeneis in Lucem…
Ptolemy (2nd century)
Nuremberg, Ionnem Petreium, 1535
PA4404 Q3 1535

Editio princips in Greek. This work was first printed in Venice in 1484 in a different translation. The Greek text of Ptolemy’s “Tetrabiblos” (so called because it consists of four books) and that of the “Karpos” (a collection of 100 ‘karpos’ in Greek – astrological aphorisms erroneously attributed to Ptolemy) are followed by the first edition of Joachim Camerarius’ Latin translation of the first two books and of passages from the third and fourth of the Tetrabiblos (there is some disagreement among scholars as to whether these last two are Camerarius’ translations), and by Geovanni Pontano’s Latin version of the Karpos.

Next come seven pages of annotations by Camerarius on the first two books of the Tetrabiblos, Matthaeus Guarimbertus’ complete translation of the third and fourth books of the Tetrabiblos. Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos is considered one of the most important astrological textbooks of antiquity. The Greek text here is well-printed and interspersed with graphic symbols representing the zodiac and the most important planets and stars. A chart explaining these ‘abbreviations’ is at the beginning of the book.

alluNeedSingleLine

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Book of the Week – Charta Cosmographica

18 Monday Feb 2013

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cannibals, cartography, cordiform projection, Cuba, Gemma Frisius, Hispaniola, map, mermaids, monsters, Peter Apian, woodblock, zodiac

Charta Cosmpgraphica, 1540

Charta Cosmpgraphica, 1540

Charta Cosmographica
Peter Apian (1495-1552)
Antwerp: s.n., 1540-64
GT3200 1540 A65

This famous heart-shaped world map is based upon a larger 1540 map by Gemma Frisius, a mathematician, cosmographer, cartographer, and physician who prepared the map for Peter Apian’s Cosmographicus Liber. The map first appeared in the Cosmographia of 1544 or 1545. The woodblock is done on a cordiform projection, set in a dramatic surround of clouds, figures and windheads. The cartography shows precise outlines for Africa, South America and the East coast of North America. However, North America is shown as a narrow peninsula – Baccalearium, referring to the nearby cod fishing industry – separated from mainland Asia by a reduced Pacific Ocean. The size of the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola are both grossly exaggerated. Cannibals are depicted in South America. The ugly, cadaverous heads in the South represent what were believed to be plague-bearing southerly winds. Ships, monsters, and mermaids appear in the seas. The signs of the zodiac and Ptolemaic climate zones can be seen in the borders, along with deity figures representing the twelve winds. Despite these fantasies, Peter Apian is considered a pioneer in the development of astronomical and geographical instruments.

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