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Owen Gingerich

An Annotated Census of Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus (Nuremberg, 1543 and Basel, 1566)

by Owen Gingerich

Here is a volume almost unique in the annals of bibliography: an attempt to describe the provenances, annotations, and condition of all surviving sixteenth-century copies of a major Renaissance text. This census lists 277 copies of the 1543 first edition of Nicolaus Copernicus’ pioneering masterpiece, and 324 copies of the 1566 second edition. Its compilation required three decades with the worldwide cooperation of librarians, dealers, and collectors.


The density and quality of the data provided about the copies make this a fascinating reference work not only for scholars interested in the history of astronomy but especially for all those interested in printing in the early modern period. The census also provides an almost inexhaustible mine of information concerning the spread of ideas, scholarly networks, book collecting, and library development from the 17th to 20th centuries.

 

 

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