Important Latin translation of the lost Arabic original

Masha'allah Ibn-Atari / Heller, Joachim. De elementis et orbibus coelestibus, liber antiquus ac eruditus Messahalae laudatissimi inter Arabes Astrologi.

Nuremberg, Johann vom Berg & Ulrich Neuber, 1549.

4to. (100) ff. With several woodcut astronomical diagrams in text. Modern marbled boards with morocco label to gilt spine. Marbled endpapers.

 25,000.00

A collection of astrological writings in Latin translation first published in 1504 as "De scientia motus orbis". The work provides a comprehensive account of the whole cosmos along Aristotelian lines. The 8th-century Persian Jewish astrologer and astronomer Maša'allah ibn Atari "wrote on virtually every aspect of astrology [...] His brief and rather primitive 'De scientia motus orbis' [or 'De elementis et orbibus coelestibus'] combines Peripatetic physics, Ptolemaic planetary theory, and astrology in such a way that, in conjunction with its use of the Syrian names of the months, one strongly suspects that it is based on the peculiar doctrines of Harran, to which al-Kindi and Abu Masar were also attracted [...] This important Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona of the lost Arabic original of this exposition was published by J. Stabius (Nuremberg, 1504) and by J. Heller (Nuremberg, 1549)" (DSB).

Bookplate of the Marques de Viana, Conde de Urbasa on front pastedown. In excellent condition.

References

VD 16, ZV 10470. DSB IX, 160 & 162. Zinner p. 211, 1962. Lalande, Bibliographie Astronomique, p. 68. Sarton I, 531. Graesse IV, 503.

Stock Code: BN#43325 Tags: ,