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CLASSIC USER’S MANUAL FOR GLOBES, SPHERES & SUNDIALS









BLAEU, Willem Jansz.  Institutio Astronomica de usu Globorum & Sphærarum Cælestium ac Terrestrium.
Amsterdam, Joan Blaeu, 1652. 8vo. With a woodcut globe, armillary sphere and earth orbiting the sun as devices on the title-page and 2 part-titles, 29 woodcut illustrations in the text, including quadrants, sundials, astronomical diagrams, etc., woodcut decorative initial letters and tailpieces. Contemporary vellum.  

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€ 2200

(16), 246, (2 blank) pp. Alden & Landis 652/31; Bierens de Haan 335; JCB II, p. 414; Keuning, Blaeu, pp. 62-63; V.d. Krogt, Globi Neerl., app. 6, Blaeu, Latin 4 (5 copies); De La Lande, p. 232; Karlsruher Virt. Kat. (10 copies); NCC (2 copies); OCLC WorldCat (3 copies); STCN (1 copy); cf. Zinner, Astron. Instrumente, pp. 252-253 (other eds.).
Latin edition of Blaeu’s classic practical illustrated handbook for the use of terrestrial and celestial globes, armillary spheres (Ptolemaic and Copernican), quadrants and sundials. Blaeu’s preface is followed by an anonymous note to the reader and 2 verses by Caspar Barlaeus. The first part covers the Ptolemaic system and the second the Copernican, both still regarded as viable competing hypotheses at this date. The illustrations show nearly twenty sundials, and the book served not only as a manual for their use, but also as a guide to making them. The book was intended in part for the use of mariners, and therefore includes numerous references to Brazil and other parts of South America where the Dutch were actively trading.
Willem Jansz. Blaeu (1571-1638) first published his handbook in Dutch in 1634, and followed it with a Latin edition in the same year. His sons published a French edition in 1642 and Joseph Moxon published his own English translation in 1654. About twenty editions appeared before the end of the century, making it surely the most successful such handbook of all time. The present is the third (or possibly fourth) Latin edition. It owed its success to the practical approach and clear illustrations, as well as to Blaeu’s authority and clarity on the subject.
In very good condition, with only some waterstains in the fore-edge of a few gatherings and occasional very minor foxing. The pastedowns of the contemporary (Dutch) binding have never been pasted down, and the front hinge is broken, so the binding structure is clearly visible, strengthened with fragments of a mediaeval Latin manuscript. The binding is somewhat stained, but still very good other than the broken hinge. A very good copy of Blaeu’s classic manual for the use of globes, spheres and sundials.