This is the first edition of Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the revolutions of heavenly spheres), a seminal work that advanced a heliocentric theory of the universe.

(Continued from title page): Habes in hoc opere iam recens nato, & aedito, studiose lector, motus stellarum, tam fixarum, quam erraticarum, cum ex ueteribus, tum etiam ex recentibus obseruationibus restitutos: & nouis insuper ac admirabilibus hypothesibus ornatos. Habes etiam tabulas expeditissimas, ex quibus eosdem ad quoduis tempus quam facilli me calculare poteris. Igitur eme, lege, fruere.

Contains a duplicate title with list of errata on the verso. This leaf is sometimes bound-in before the main title page in other copies.

Signatures: píœ chi1 a-źþ A-2Ćþ.

The first gathering, presumably of six, is unlabeled, with leaves two through four signed in lower-case Roman numerals.

Illustrated with 147 woodcut diagrams.

Includes index.

Woodcut initials.

Access to physical copy/copies by appointment only. Please contact Boston Public Library Rare Books and Manuscripts Department for further information.

Adams, C2602

BM STC German, 1455-1600, p. 221

Sabin, 16662

Stillwell, M.B. Science, 1450-1550, astronomy, no. 47

Zinner, E. Astronomischen Literatur in Deutschland, 1819

Cataloged 2015 jmoschella

Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy bound in modern, maroon morocco double-panelled in blind. Both the embossed and perforation stamps of the Library are present on the title page, as is the ink stamp the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata in Florence (the initials D.S.A. in front of three lilies on a single stem). On the foot of the title page is an early inscription reading, "Ex bibliotheca m. Michaelis." The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze holds a copy of ISTC no. ia00488000 with the same marks of provenance. They attribute the inscription to Michele Poccianti of Florence (1535-1576). In this copy, the additional title page leaf, with errata on the verso, is bound-in before the first page of book I (leaf a1).