Christie’s roundel
Lot 41

DANTI, Egnatio (1536-86). Trattato dell'uso et della fabbrica dell'astrolabio. Florence: Giunti, 1569. Small 4° (221 x 145mm). Woodcut arms of Medici with globe on title, repeated on verso of A3, 12 woodcut diagrams, 19 historiated initials (light worming in inner gutter of first and last few leaves, some spotting). Contemporary vellum (endpapers and pastedowns a little wormed, lightly soiled).

Closed8 April 2009

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GBP 3,500

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DANTI, Egnatio (1536-86). Trattato dell'uso et della fabbrica dell'astrolabio. Florence: Giunti, 1569. Small 4° (221 x 145mm). Woodcut arms of Medici with globe on title, repeated on verso of A3, 12 woodcut diagrams, 19 historiated initials (light worming in inner gutter of first and last few leaves, some spotting). Contemporary vellum (endpapers and pastedowns a little wormed, lightly soiled).

FIRST EDITION of the earliest Italian astronomical treatise in the vernacular, on how to make and use your own astrolabe. Danti was employed by Cosimo I de' Medici, who was so pleased by his cosmographer's work that he requested him to leave his Dominican monastery to reside in his palace. Adams D123; Gunther Astrolabes of the World p.331; Houzeau & Lancaster I, 3288 ('Rare'); Riccardi I, 389.1 ('Raro').