Christoph Clavius (1537-1612)
Lot 132

Christoph Clavius (1537-1612)

Romani calendarii a Gregorio XIII. 1603

Closed9 December 2020

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GBP 3,750

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Christoph Clavius (1537-1612)
Romani calendarii a Gregorio XIII. 1603
CLAVIUS, Christoph (1537-1612). Romani calendarii a Gregorio XIII. P.M. restituti Explicatio S.D.N. Clementis VIII. P.M. iussu edita. Rome: Aloysius Zanettus, 1603.

Presentation copy of the first edition of Claviuss foundation work on the Gregorian calendar. This had been adopted in Catholic countries in 1582 after his own proposals for reform, based on Reinhold’s ‘Prussian Tables’, had been accepted by the Pope. Necessitating the loss of ten days in October 1582, the calendar met with considerable opposition from scientists such as Viète and Scaliger and from the protestants. BL/STC 17th-century Italian I, p.240; Honeyman 717.

Folio (310 x 232). Arms of Clement VIII on title, letterpress tables, some with border of printer’s flowers, xylographic ornaments (some spotting, several leaves browned). 18th-century green half morocco. Provenance: Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621, Italian Jesuit and cardinal of the Catholic Church, he was canonized a saint in 1930; presentation inscription on title, ‘Ill.mi Cardinali Bellarmino ex dono authoris’, and a further inscription recording the book’s presence in his library at a Jesuit College, Rome).