galilieo

Rare Galileo Text Up For Auction

Filed under: Auctions

Imagine a time when the idea that the Earth revolved around the Sun was considered a dangerous notion. That was Galileo's world and this year marks 400 years since his first demonstration of the telescope. His first glimpses of the planets and other heavenly bodies changed our world forever.

PBA Galleries of San Francisco is auctioning off first edition, second issue, of the book in which the first English translation of Galileo's "famous dialogues" were published, arguing the correctness of the heliocentric theory of planetary motion, as demonstrated by his observations with the telescope. This volume is Thomas Salusbury's Mathematical Collections and Translations and contains the first versions of Galileo's theories in English. The majority of it is made up of Galileo's The Systeme of the World in Four Dialogues. Wherein the Two Grand Systemes of Ptolomy and Copernicus are Largely Discoursed of...This is the second issue, with a new title-page and contents list. When it was first issued in 1661, it was to be Volume One of a two volume work. In 1666, however, shortly after Volume Two was printed, the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the city. Nearly all copies of the second volume were lost. A small quantity of unused sheets of the first volume remained and in 1667 these were supplied with a new title-page and contents-list with reference to the material in Vol. II omitted. This second issue is very rare and estimated to sell for $30,000 to $40,000 at auction on September 17 at PBA Galleries in San Francisco.

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Tags: galilieo, rare books, rare documents, RareBooks, RareDocuments