Editio princeps of a cornerstone Arabic astrological compendium: from the Ritman Library

Abul Hasan Ali ibn abi Rijal (Haly Abenragel, Albohazen Hall). Liber de iudiciis astrorum.

€ 185.000,00

First edition of the Latin translation of one of the most influential astrological manuals of the Middle Ages, printed by Erhard Ratdolt at the close of his Venetian period.

The work, compiled by the Tunisian court astrologer Abu l-Hasan 'Ali ibn Abi l-Rijal (Haly Abenragel) in the 11th century, presents a comprehensive method of astrology and preserves material from earlier Greek and Iranian authorities. The Latin version derives from the Old Castilian translation commissioned by Alfonso X of Castile in the mid-13th century and made by Yehuda ben Moshe; on that basis Aegidius de Tebaldis and Petrus de Regio prepared the Latin text printed here. Edited by Bartholomaeus Alten, the edition opens with Erhard Ratdolt’s dedicatory epistle to Bishop Johann von Werdenberg and exemplifies Ratdolt’s distinctive Venetian scientific typography with handsome woodcut initials and a schematic diagram.

The book became a principal conduit for Arabic judicial astrology into Renaissance Europe and was frequently mined by later practitioners; the 1485 printing marks the authoritative entry of this tradition into print. While widely reprinted in the 16th century as one of the most disseminated astrological texts, the editio princeps is of great rarity, with Rare Book Hub recording only two appearances at auction (the last in 1986).