Ancient Science
See also : Sciences Inventions Instrument and equipment Clocks Old clocks Books Incunabula Books 1501-1700 Ancient Germany Ancient England
Chronology : 1460-1479 1540-1569 1680-1699
Chronology : 1460-1479 1540-1569 1680-1699
1020 An Astrolabe made in Cordoba
2017 SOLD for £ 610K including premium
The map of the respective positions of the stars is immutable although the absolute position varies with latitude, altitude and time. The position of the sun also meets strict rules. The astrolabe is an instrument of very high complexity which allows to correlate all these variables in measurements of great accuracy.
The astrolabe was described for the first time around 550 in Alexandria but its improvement is essentially the work of the Muslim astronomers. In the tenth century of our calendar an enthusiastic theorist listed about 1000 different uses of this truly universal instrument, in the etymological meaning of 'universal'.
The use of the astrolabe extends of course to all the Muslim world as far as Spain, but the most advanced theoretical and practical treatises remain the work of the astronomers of the Middle East.
The ibn al-Saffar brothers worked in Cordoba at the beginning of the 5th century of the Hegira. Ahmed is a very important teacher whose writings will be used for four centuries. Muhammad makes the instruments.
Three astrolabes signed by Muhammad ibn al-Saffar are known. The earliest, dated 411AH corresponding to 1020/1021 in our calendar, is estimated £ 300K for sale by Sotheby's in London on April 26, lot 170. It is a big piece 19 cm overall including the suspension loop.
This astrolabe is complete but not entirely original, for a valid reason. Indeed the rete which simulates the map of the sky becomes obsolete after a few decades due to the precession of the equinoxes. The ancient users were aware of this phenomenon and the rete of this instrument was changed in Ottoman Turkey. The position of one of its star pointers suggests a date around 1550 of our calendar for this replacement part.
The mater is the rear side of the instrument. This one is set to the 66° latitude corresponding to the longest day time known by the astronomers in the Antiquity. Six original double-sided removable plates are joined with the indication of latitudes and cities, inviting for a fabulous journey into the medieval Muslim world. From South to North : Yemen, Mecca, Medina, Cairo, Qairawan, Damascus, Malaga, Cordoba, Toledo, Zaragoza.
The link in Sotheby's tweet below leads to photos of this instrument after disassembly to explain the mater, the loop, the plates, the alidade or sight rule and the rede.
The astrolabe was described for the first time around 550 in Alexandria but its improvement is essentially the work of the Muslim astronomers. In the tenth century of our calendar an enthusiastic theorist listed about 1000 different uses of this truly universal instrument, in the etymological meaning of 'universal'.
The use of the astrolabe extends of course to all the Muslim world as far as Spain, but the most advanced theoretical and practical treatises remain the work of the astronomers of the Middle East.
The ibn al-Saffar brothers worked in Cordoba at the beginning of the 5th century of the Hegira. Ahmed is a very important teacher whose writings will be used for four centuries. Muhammad makes the instruments.
Three astrolabes signed by Muhammad ibn al-Saffar are known. The earliest, dated 411AH corresponding to 1020/1021 in our calendar, is estimated £ 300K for sale by Sotheby's in London on April 26, lot 170. It is a big piece 19 cm overall including the suspension loop.
This astrolabe is complete but not entirely original, for a valid reason. Indeed the rete which simulates the map of the sky becomes obsolete after a few decades due to the precession of the equinoxes. The ancient users were aware of this phenomenon and the rete of this instrument was changed in Ottoman Turkey. The position of one of its star pointers suggests a date around 1550 of our calendar for this replacement part.
The mater is the rear side of the instrument. This one is set to the 66° latitude corresponding to the longest day time known by the astronomers in the Antiquity. Six original double-sided removable plates are joined with the indication of latitudes and cities, inviting for a fabulous journey into the medieval Muslim world. From South to North : Yemen, Mecca, Medina, Cairo, Qairawan, Damascus, Malaga, Cordoba, Toledo, Zaragoza.
The link in Sotheby's tweet below leads to photos of this instrument after disassembly to explain the mater, the loop, the plates, the alidade or sight rule and the rede.
Anatomy of an Astrolabe:Unravel how this historic object from Muslim Spain allowed its beholder to gaze at the stars https://t.co/uT0QmHVZCM pic.twitter.com/Mk4qhH4VNH
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) March 28, 2017
1476 The Old Story of the Animals
2016 SOLD for $ 940K including premium
The intense and interdisciplinary curiosity of the fifteenth century anticipates the printing. Pope Nicholas V, who died in 1455, is developing a library that will be formalized 20 years later under the name of Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana.
All types of knowledge are now welcomed. In animal biology, the three books of Aristotle make the reference. Famous as a philosopher and as tutor of Alexander, Aristotle was also along with Euclid, Ptolemy and Hippocrates one of the best scientific compilers of antiquity. In three successive books, he provides the name and description of 500 terrestrial and marine animals and describes the mechanisms of reproduction and embryology.
Nicholas V commissioned to Theodorus Gaza a new Latin translation of the De animalibus grouping these three books of Aristotle. It is significant that Theodorus also translated the Botany by Theophrastus.
Twenty years later, Venice specializes in the printing of deluxe books with a superb typographical clarity developed by Jenson and the use of great papers that may compete with the illuminated manuscripts.
The princeps edition of the complete translation of the De animalibus by Theodorus is organized in Venice in 1476. The publisher is Ludovico Prodocator and the printers are Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen de Gheretzem.
Two copies on vellum are known. One of them was acquired in 1784 by the French Royal Library, later Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
The other copy resurfaced a few months ago in Tennessee. A previous provenance was unambiguously re-established through its binding adorned with the coat of arms of a collector in the early nineteenth century. It is a great example of the extreme care applied to books in Venice just two decades after the invention of printing. The book is not illustrated but the initials are illuminated.
This only example on vellum in private hands is estimated $ 300K for sale by Bonhams in New York on June 8, lot 1.
The first Italian edition of the Natural History by Pliny was printed in the same year in Venice by Jenson. A copy was sold for € 195K before fees by Reiss on 1 November 2011.
All types of knowledge are now welcomed. In animal biology, the three books of Aristotle make the reference. Famous as a philosopher and as tutor of Alexander, Aristotle was also along with Euclid, Ptolemy and Hippocrates one of the best scientific compilers of antiquity. In three successive books, he provides the name and description of 500 terrestrial and marine animals and describes the mechanisms of reproduction and embryology.
Nicholas V commissioned to Theodorus Gaza a new Latin translation of the De animalibus grouping these three books of Aristotle. It is significant that Theodorus also translated the Botany by Theophrastus.
Twenty years later, Venice specializes in the printing of deluxe books with a superb typographical clarity developed by Jenson and the use of great papers that may compete with the illuminated manuscripts.
The princeps edition of the complete translation of the De animalibus by Theodorus is organized in Venice in 1476. The publisher is Ludovico Prodocator and the printers are Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen de Gheretzem.
Two copies on vellum are known. One of them was acquired in 1784 by the French Royal Library, later Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
The other copy resurfaced a few months ago in Tennessee. A previous provenance was unambiguously re-established through its binding adorned with the coat of arms of a collector in the early nineteenth century. It is a great example of the extreme care applied to books in Venice just two decades after the invention of printing. The book is not illustrated but the initials are illuminated.
This only example on vellum in private hands is estimated $ 300K for sale by Bonhams in New York on June 8, lot 1.
The first Italian edition of the Natural History by Pliny was printed in the same year in Venice by Jenson. A copy was sold for € 195K before fees by Reiss on 1 November 2011.
1505 The Computer of the Ottoman Sky
2014 SOLD for £ 960K including premium
Invented a little over 2000 years ago, the astrolabe is the computer of the sky. This ancient star tracker measured the time by locating the position of the sky, provided you know the latitude and, to a lesser extent, the altitude.
This instrument of very high complexity in its geometric design and of remarkable sharp engraving reached an angular accuracy around one degree.
Muslim astronomers have developed this instrument for centuries, from the late second century AH. Nearly all celestial phenomena were used as references or studied: solstices, equinoxes, eclipses, planet motions. The precision was so high that the error brought by the precession of the equinoxes can now be used to date the instrument.
In seeking the knowledge of the sky, astronomers also aimed at astrology and watched the zodiacal signs.
The Sultan Bayezid II encouraged astronomy. Two astrolabes made for the use of his court are known. One of them is estimated £ 800K, for sale by Sotheby's in London on October 8, lot 135.
This brass instrument of 9.5 cm diameter is complete with all its fixed and rotating parts. The knob for the rotation on the central axis is later.
This astrolabe is indeed a masterpiece of Ottoman science, with numerous engraved inscriptions and reduced decoration. The choice of the reference star is made by the user among no less than fifteen star pointers.
It is signed and dated 911 AH, corresponding to 1505 to 1506 in our calendar. The fact that the author is not otherwise recorded just means that he did not write a treatise.
This instrument of very high complexity in its geometric design and of remarkable sharp engraving reached an angular accuracy around one degree.
Muslim astronomers have developed this instrument for centuries, from the late second century AH. Nearly all celestial phenomena were used as references or studied: solstices, equinoxes, eclipses, planet motions. The precision was so high that the error brought by the precession of the equinoxes can now be used to date the instrument.
In seeking the knowledge of the sky, astronomers also aimed at astrology and watched the zodiacal signs.
The Sultan Bayezid II encouraged astronomy. Two astrolabes made for the use of his court are known. One of them is estimated £ 800K, for sale by Sotheby's in London on October 8, lot 135.
This brass instrument of 9.5 cm diameter is complete with all its fixed and rotating parts. The knob for the rotation on the central axis is later.
This astrolabe is indeed a masterpiece of Ottoman science, with numerous engraved inscriptions and reduced decoration. The choice of the reference star is made by the user among no less than fifteen star pointers.
It is signed and dated 911 AH, corresponding to 1505 to 1506 in our calendar. The fact that the author is not otherwise recorded just means that he did not write a treatise.
1540 Visit to an Old Canon
2016 SOLD for £ 1.8M including premium
The intense curiosity of the fifteenth century, facilitated by the printed books, generated the modern science. The most advanced universities teach mathematics beside philosophy, theology, law and medicine. Disseminated from Bologna to Vienna or Krakow, humanists exchange new theories together.
Georg Joachim Rheticus was fond of astronomy, perhaps as a result of the appearance of the comet of 1531. He enrolled at the University of Wittenberg led by Melanchthon, the theoretician of Lutheranism.
As early as 1536, Rheticus was appointed professor of mathematics. Barely released from astrology, astronomy was at that time a branch of mathematics. The learned calculations made by Regiomontanus in the previous century had fruitfully revived the speculation about the true movements of the planets.
Two years later, Melanchthon allows Rheticus to suspend his teaching for a tour of Europe where he will visit the humanists. He hears of an old canon who spent his lifetime improving his astronomical calculations at such a point to solve the old issue of the motion of Earth, discussed since antiquity.
Rheticus so becomes the assistant to Copernicus in Frauenburg (Frombork). For nearly thirty years, the canon had refined the text of his demonstration of the heliocentric system, sometimes sending manuscripts to the very few scholars able to understand it. He does not think to edit because of an obvious difficulty to print his figures.
Rheticus supports Copernicus with enthusiasm. The younger scientist prepares a comprehensible summary with the agreement of the master. Printed in Gdansk in 1540, that 'De libris revolutionum ... narratio prima' is the first report ever published on heliocentrism. The theory is clearly and fully attributed to Copernicus without indicating the name of his efficient collaborator.
This first edition is extremely rare. A copy is estimated £ 1.2M for sale by Christie's in London on July 13, lot 87.
Georg Joachim Rheticus was fond of astronomy, perhaps as a result of the appearance of the comet of 1531. He enrolled at the University of Wittenberg led by Melanchthon, the theoretician of Lutheranism.
As early as 1536, Rheticus was appointed professor of mathematics. Barely released from astrology, astronomy was at that time a branch of mathematics. The learned calculations made by Regiomontanus in the previous century had fruitfully revived the speculation about the true movements of the planets.
Two years later, Melanchthon allows Rheticus to suspend his teaching for a tour of Europe where he will visit the humanists. He hears of an old canon who spent his lifetime improving his astronomical calculations at such a point to solve the old issue of the motion of Earth, discussed since antiquity.
Rheticus so becomes the assistant to Copernicus in Frauenburg (Frombork). For nearly thirty years, the canon had refined the text of his demonstration of the heliocentric system, sometimes sending manuscripts to the very few scholars able to understand it. He does not think to edit because of an obvious difficulty to print his figures.
Rheticus supports Copernicus with enthusiasm. The younger scientist prepares a comprehensible summary with the agreement of the master. Printed in Gdansk in 1540, that 'De libris revolutionum ... narratio prima' is the first report ever published on heliocentrism. The theory is clearly and fully attributed to Copernicus without indicating the name of his efficient collaborator.
This first edition is extremely rare. A copy is estimated £ 1.2M for sale by Christie's in London on July 13, lot 87.
13 juillet Vente des livres scientifiques de la bibliothèque Beltrame Consultez le catalogue https://t.co/akp7LGW1ji pic.twitter.com/CtcSeM2uMW
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) July 1, 2016
1543 That Copernicus book revolutionized the science
2008 SOLD 2.2 M$ including premium
The exact title was "Nicolai Copernici Torinensis De Revolutionibus orbium coelestium." It was printed in 1543 and appeared just before the author's death. Torun was the name of his hometown.
Of relatively small size (20 x 27 cm, 202 pages), this book that forever changed the design we had of the universe is decorated with woodcuts and tables of calculations.
A copy of the original edition is now for sale at Christie's, lot 60 of the sale of New York on June 17. It is nicely printed, and remained extremely clean. In its flexible binding of same period, it was part of a prestigious library during the seventeenth century.
Its estimate? 900 K $.
One of my previous articles made me review the fate in two April auctions of books by other big names in science, including De humani corporis of Vesalus, also of 1543. This very important book did not find a buyer in Paris on April 23 for 140 K €, at Pierre Bergé et Associés.
New York is not Paris, but I am afraid that Christie's get some difficulties to sell this book.
POST SALE COMMENT
After revolutionizing science, this book has just revolutionized the auction world: $ 2.2 million fees included. It is a very important result for a an exceptional specimen of one of the most significant books in the history of our civilization.
Of relatively small size (20 x 27 cm, 202 pages), this book that forever changed the design we had of the universe is decorated with woodcuts and tables of calculations.
A copy of the original edition is now for sale at Christie's, lot 60 of the sale of New York on June 17. It is nicely printed, and remained extremely clean. In its flexible binding of same period, it was part of a prestigious library during the seventeenth century.
Its estimate? 900 K $.
One of my previous articles made me review the fate in two April auctions of books by other big names in science, including De humani corporis of Vesalus, also of 1543. This very important book did not find a buyer in Paris on April 23 for 140 K €, at Pierre Bergé et Associés.
New York is not Paris, but I am afraid that Christie's get some difficulties to sell this book.
POST SALE COMMENT
After revolutionizing science, this book has just revolutionized the auction world: $ 2.2 million fees included. It is a very important result for a an exceptional specimen of one of the most significant books in the history of our civilization.
1613 The Garden of Eichstätt
2016 SOLD for £ 1.93M including premium
The plant is the basic element of the apothecary. Medical universities maintain gardens to analyse their features. Naturalists are then interested in their variety and undertake classifications. The first flower gardens designed for sole pleasure appear around 1600.
The prince-bishop of Eichstätt is passionate about flowers. His garden has eight sections or terraces where plants are grouped according to their origin. He entrusts the maintenance of the garden and the drawings of the plants to a botanist-apothecary based in Nuremberg, Basilius Besler.
Besler prepares 366 plates with an average of three plants per page. They are classified by season and the reader can compare the phases of a plant including bulb, flower and fruit. The Hortus Eystettensis is issued in 300 copies in 1613, in a very large format 54 x 42 cm. The deluxe version is only printed on one side to avoid the shadow of the back, and hand colored. It may be the most expensive book of its time.
A few copies began circulating in Rome in the circle of the Accademia dei Lincei. This academy is one of the earliest scientific societies in the modern sense of that wording. Its goal is to understand nature from an objective observation. In 1611, the Accademia welcomes into its ranks Galileo and also Faber, the director of the papal botanical garden.
It was known that one of the last sets of uncolored plates of the Hortus Eystettensis was purchased for the use of Faber in 1617. We did not know more. It is probably this one that has just surfaced.
On July 13 in London, Christie's sells that deluxe copy, lot 173estimated £ 800K. It is complete of Besler's 366 plates, without the additional botanical text. Before it got its binding, this copy was supplemented with fifteen drawings and one print of a rare plant that was the pride of the garden of Cardinal Farnese. This 1619 dated plate is dedicated to Faber. The whole book was colored by a single hand.
Let us comment the considerable interest of the Roman Catholic aristocracy for flowers. The preparation of the Hortus Eystettensis is indeed contemporary to the artistic study of flowers executed throughout the summer of 1606 by Jan Brueghel from the incitement of the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's :
The prince-bishop of Eichstätt is passionate about flowers. His garden has eight sections or terraces where plants are grouped according to their origin. He entrusts the maintenance of the garden and the drawings of the plants to a botanist-apothecary based in Nuremberg, Basilius Besler.
Besler prepares 366 plates with an average of three plants per page. They are classified by season and the reader can compare the phases of a plant including bulb, flower and fruit. The Hortus Eystettensis is issued in 300 copies in 1613, in a very large format 54 x 42 cm. The deluxe version is only printed on one side to avoid the shadow of the back, and hand colored. It may be the most expensive book of its time.
A few copies began circulating in Rome in the circle of the Accademia dei Lincei. This academy is one of the earliest scientific societies in the modern sense of that wording. Its goal is to understand nature from an objective observation. In 1611, the Accademia welcomes into its ranks Galileo and also Faber, the director of the papal botanical garden.
It was known that one of the last sets of uncolored plates of the Hortus Eystettensis was purchased for the use of Faber in 1617. We did not know more. It is probably this one that has just surfaced.
On July 13 in London, Christie's sells that deluxe copy, lot 173estimated £ 800K. It is complete of Besler's 366 plates, without the additional botanical text. Before it got its binding, this copy was supplemented with fifteen drawings and one print of a rare plant that was the pride of the garden of Cardinal Farnese. This 1619 dated plate is dedicated to Faber. The whole book was colored by a single hand.
Let us comment the considerable interest of the Roman Catholic aristocracy for flowers. The preparation of the Hortus Eystettensis is indeed contemporary to the artistic study of flowers executed throughout the summer of 1606 by Jan Brueghel from the incitement of the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's :
1638 Mechanics and Motion
2017 SOLD for € 730K including premium
The work of Galileo Galilei, altogether experimental and mathematical, is extremely abundant and varied. Arriving in the fall of his life, the scientist is fully aware of the innovative importance of his theories. He gathers the most basic elements that he prepares in the form of dialogues offering to the reader a clear view of argument and counter-argument.
He begins with cosmology. Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo, published in Florence in 1632, is placed on the following year in the Index of forbidden books. Galileo now suspect of heresy can no longer publish his works in a Catholic country. Fortunately this ban does not stop his activity.
The treatise on physics, titled Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze attenenti alla mecanica e i movimenti locali, is ready in 1636. The comte of Noailles transmits a copy to Elzevier who publishes the book at Leyden in 1638. The book is dedicated to Noailles.
The Discorsi includes Galileo's assertion that the distance traveled in a naturally accelerated movement is proportional to the square of time. Galileo supports this discovery by describing an experiment using a steel ball rolling in a groove. For three and a half centuries the learned world will question the possibility of such measurement with the required accuracy at the time of that demonstration. It is now taken for sure that this very real experiment, published for the first time in the Discorsi, was made by Galileo in 1604.
On April 26 in Paris (Drouot), the auction house Pierre Bergé et Associés in co-operation with Sotheby's sells the association copy of the comte de Noailles, lot 21 estimated € 700K. Some typographical errors are present but without the usual erratum, suggesting that this copy was the very first that was released from Elzevier's presses. It is assembled in a sumptuous 'à la fanfare' binding attributed to Le Gascon, certainly commissioned by Noailles.
Physics is less disruptive than astronomy for the religious authorities and the Discorsi will not be threatened. Much later Einstein would acknowledge Galileo rather than Newton as the father of modern physics and more generally of modern science.
He begins with cosmology. Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo, published in Florence in 1632, is placed on the following year in the Index of forbidden books. Galileo now suspect of heresy can no longer publish his works in a Catholic country. Fortunately this ban does not stop his activity.
The treatise on physics, titled Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze attenenti alla mecanica e i movimenti locali, is ready in 1636. The comte of Noailles transmits a copy to Elzevier who publishes the book at Leyden in 1638. The book is dedicated to Noailles.
The Discorsi includes Galileo's assertion that the distance traveled in a naturally accelerated movement is proportional to the square of time. Galileo supports this discovery by describing an experiment using a steel ball rolling in a groove. For three and a half centuries the learned world will question the possibility of such measurement with the required accuracy at the time of that demonstration. It is now taken for sure that this very real experiment, published for the first time in the Discorsi, was made by Galileo in 1604.
On April 26 in Paris (Drouot), the auction house Pierre Bergé et Associés in co-operation with Sotheby's sells the association copy of the comte de Noailles, lot 21 estimated € 700K. Some typographical errors are present but without the usual erratum, suggesting that this copy was the very first that was released from Elzevier's presses. It is assembled in a sumptuous 'à la fanfare' binding attributed to Le Gascon, certainly commissioned by Noailles.
Physics is less disruptive than astronomy for the religious authorities and the Discorsi will not be threatened. Much later Einstein would acknowledge Galileo rather than Newton as the father of modern physics and more generally of modern science.
#Vente livres et manuscrits de la #bibliothèque de Jean A. Bonna le 26 avril 2017 en partenariat avec @Sothebys !
— PBA-Auctions (@PBA_Auctions) March 27, 2017
Plus d'infos à venir. pic.twitter.com/oMp0IiaV9U
1687 The Universal Philosophy revealed to the World
2016 SOLD for $ 3.7M including premium
Isaac Newton was the most brilliant scientific innovator of all time. Late in his life he laid down the rules that had guided his unprecedented method. One of these rules summarizes in a simple sentence how he created the modern physics : to the same natural effects we must, as far as possible, assign the same causes.
One of his outstanding skills was to develop mathematical methods of high complexity to analyze and support his own physical theories. Even before he was 30, he compared the motion of the planets and the fall of the bodies. Essentially preoccupied with his own understanding of the mechanism of the universe, he published sparingly.
In 1684 in London, the scientists of the Royal Society challenged themselves to find the mathematical formulation of the law of motion of the planets described by Kepler. All failed. Halley visits Newton in Cambridge. He is stunned : Newton knows the solution but has lost his calculation notes. The orbital movement of a celestial body is an ellipse whose position of the other body is one of the foci.
The scientific stake is highly important and Halley manages to persuade Newton to disclose in their entirety his results concerning the law of universal gravitation. Edited and financed by Halley, Newton's Latin book entitled Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica is published in 1687 with the imprimatur of the Royal Society.
The book is difficult in the opinion of the author himself and the circulation probably did not exceed 300 copies but it is of such scientific importance that Halley and Newton took care of organizing their sale through booksellers. One of them named Samuel Smith is more specifically entrusted to the supply onto the Continent and receives about 50 copies for that purpose.
On December 14 in New York, Christie's sells a copy in a luxury binding in inlaid morocco, presented in that state by Smith to an unidentified recipient. It is estimated $ 1M, lot 167.
Another association copy with a binding of a comparable luxury is known. It was offered to King James II, patron of the Royal Society. This book was sold for $ 2.5M including premium by Christie's on December 6, 2013 over a lower estimate of $ 400K.
One of his outstanding skills was to develop mathematical methods of high complexity to analyze and support his own physical theories. Even before he was 30, he compared the motion of the planets and the fall of the bodies. Essentially preoccupied with his own understanding of the mechanism of the universe, he published sparingly.
In 1684 in London, the scientists of the Royal Society challenged themselves to find the mathematical formulation of the law of motion of the planets described by Kepler. All failed. Halley visits Newton in Cambridge. He is stunned : Newton knows the solution but has lost his calculation notes. The orbital movement of a celestial body is an ellipse whose position of the other body is one of the foci.
The scientific stake is highly important and Halley manages to persuade Newton to disclose in their entirety his results concerning the law of universal gravitation. Edited and financed by Halley, Newton's Latin book entitled Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica is published in 1687 with the imprimatur of the Royal Society.
The book is difficult in the opinion of the author himself and the circulation probably did not exceed 300 copies but it is of such scientific importance that Halley and Newton took care of organizing their sale through booksellers. One of them named Samuel Smith is more specifically entrusted to the supply onto the Continent and receives about 50 copies for that purpose.
On December 14 in New York, Christie's sells a copy in a luxury binding in inlaid morocco, presented in that state by Smith to an unidentified recipient. It is estimated $ 1M, lot 167.
Another association copy with a binding of a comparable luxury is known. It was offered to King James II, patron of the Royal Society. This book was sold for $ 2.5M including premium by Christie's on December 6, 2013 over a lower estimate of $ 400K.
Newton's deluxe "Principia" far surpasses $1 million @ChristiesBKS today, reaching $3.7 million! https://t.co/V3Bwq6aGsu pic.twitter.com/4xardPPXsM
— Fine Books Magazine (@finebooks) December 14, 2016
1704 The Dispersion of Light
2015 SOLD for $ 1.33M including premium
In 1666 Isaac Newton aged 24 is working on improving the optics of the telescopes. His observation that the generation of the spectrum is related to the physical properties of light and not to those of the prism is one of the most important scientific advances of his time. He irrefutably demonstrates it by recomposing the white light though a second prism.
In 1672, he manages to suppress the chromatic aberration in the telescopes and reveals his findings at the Royal Society which publishes his lecture in its Philosophical Transactions.
The great scientist had a difficult temperament and did not accept contradiction. Robert Hooke, who had considered before Newton a wave property of light, is challenging some elements. The hatred between the two physicists is irremediable. Newton refuses to publish his book all along Hooke's lifetime.
Fortunately, Newton also has friends such as Edmund Halley who helps him to publish in 1687 his seminal book on the use of mathematics to model the gravitational properties of matter, the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
Opticks is finally printed and released in London in 1704, curiously without the author's name, the year after the death of Hooke. Newton added two discussions on curvilinear figures, in order to establish his priority over an ongoing work by Leibniz.
The copy of Opticks presented by Newton to Halley is estimated $ 400K for sale by Sotheby's in New York on December 4, lot 918. It is not dedicated but Halley wrote on the inside title page: "Luceo. Ex dono doctissimi authoris". Luceo, which does not mean anything in Latin, is a burst of enthusiasm based on Lux.
In 1672, he manages to suppress the chromatic aberration in the telescopes and reveals his findings at the Royal Society which publishes his lecture in its Philosophical Transactions.
The great scientist had a difficult temperament and did not accept contradiction. Robert Hooke, who had considered before Newton a wave property of light, is challenging some elements. The hatred between the two physicists is irremediable. Newton refuses to publish his book all along Hooke's lifetime.
Fortunately, Newton also has friends such as Edmund Halley who helps him to publish in 1687 his seminal book on the use of mathematics to model the gravitational properties of matter, the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
Opticks is finally printed and released in London in 1704, curiously without the author's name, the year after the death of Hooke. Newton added two discussions on curvilinear figures, in order to establish his priority over an ongoing work by Leibniz.
The copy of Opticks presented by Newton to Halley is estimated $ 400K for sale by Sotheby's in New York on December 4, lot 918. It is not dedicated but Halley wrote on the inside title page: "Luceo. Ex dono doctissimi authoris". Luceo, which does not mean anything in Latin, is a burst of enthusiasm based on Lux.
On our last day of book sales from the Pirie Collection, Newton’s Opticks sold for $1.3m, more than 2x the estimate pic.twitter.com/YPeX07ZcJy
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) December 4, 2015
1770-1773 French Rotating Spheres
2015 SOLD for £ 600K including premium
From the early eighteenth century, the best English and French clockmakers develop mechanisms simulating the movements of the planets. These instruments are named orrery clocks in England.
The Enlightenment fosters the scientific precision. In addition to the technical achievement already in combination with multiple complications, very competent astronomers such as Lalande and Cassini adjust the astronomical tables and mathematicians like Camus position their gears and wheels.
At the end of the reign of Louis XIV, Jean Pigeon realizes a moving sphere clock on the principle of Copernicus and publishes his invention in 1714. The astronomical clock by Passemant is presented in 1749 at the Royal Academy of Sciences and is used to set the official time of the kingdom. It is kept at Versailles.
The Prince of Conti had little skill in politics but became the greatest collector of his time. Resolutely dismissing the academies and corporations, he commissioned around 1770 the most complex astronomical clock of his time. The clockmaking is made by Mabille and the spheres by Baffert, certainly before 1773 which is the date of bankruptcy of the latter.
The clock displays all the possible elements for measuring time and a beautiful dial for the position of the moon. Extended to the outer planets, the planetary includes six rotating spheres with the highest scientific accuracy. It also marks ecliptic, solstices, equinoxes and zodiac.
Janvier, who had this piece in hand after the Révolution, noted that it is better than Passemant's clock by the accuracy of its annual rotation because it incorporates the calculations published by Camus in 1749.
The planetary clock of the Prince de Conti is estimated £ 600K for sale by Christie's in London on July 9, lot 9.
The Enlightenment fosters the scientific precision. In addition to the technical achievement already in combination with multiple complications, very competent astronomers such as Lalande and Cassini adjust the astronomical tables and mathematicians like Camus position their gears and wheels.
At the end of the reign of Louis XIV, Jean Pigeon realizes a moving sphere clock on the principle of Copernicus and publishes his invention in 1714. The astronomical clock by Passemant is presented in 1749 at the Royal Academy of Sciences and is used to set the official time of the kingdom. It is kept at Versailles.
The Prince of Conti had little skill in politics but became the greatest collector of his time. Resolutely dismissing the academies and corporations, he commissioned around 1770 the most complex astronomical clock of his time. The clockmaking is made by Mabille and the spheres by Baffert, certainly before 1773 which is the date of bankruptcy of the latter.
The clock displays all the possible elements for measuring time and a beautiful dial for the position of the moon. Extended to the outer planets, the planetary includes six rotating spheres with the highest scientific accuracy. It also marks ecliptic, solstices, equinoxes and zodiac.
Janvier, who had this piece in hand after the Révolution, noted that it is better than Passemant's clock by the accuracy of its annual rotation because it incorporates the calculations published by Camus in 1749.
The planetary clock of the Prince de Conti is estimated £ 600K for sale by Christie's in London on July 9, lot 9.
Prince de Conti's Planetary clock — the 18th century equivalent of the best of Silicon Valley http://t.co/Ssoz70EO2r pic.twitter.com/93nzHxPAIX
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 26, 2015
