Kepler, Johannes | De stella nova in pede Serpentarii, Prague and Frankfurt, 1606, first edition of Kepler's description of the 1604 supernova

Kepler, Johannes

De stella nova in pede Serpentarii. Prague: Paulus Sessius, 1606; [With:] De stella tertii honoris in cygno, quae usque ad annum M. DC. fuit incognita. Prague: Paulus Sessius, 1606 ; [And with:] De stella nova in pede serpentarii, pars altera, … quaeque temporum difficultate & angustia circumventa, Pragaei coninuari non potuit. Frankfurt: n.p, 1606 ; [And:] De Jesu Christi bostri vero anno natalitio. Frankfurt: Wolfgang Richter, 1606

First edition of Kepler's observations occasioned by the supernova of 1604, now referred to as "Kepler's Star."

This treatise was influenced by Tycho Brahe's account of the supernova of 1572. It combines Kepler's observations of Supernova SN 1604 (visible between October 1604 and October 1605) with those made by other scientists. Kepler first observed the new star on 17 October 1604, when it was joined in the constellation Serpentarius (now Ophiuchus) by the three outer planets. “Kepler's book deals successively with the astronomical, physical, and astrological aspects of the phenomenon. He supported Tycho's view that such new stars are located in the—no longer immutable—regions of the fixed stars. He also rejects the possibility that the entire occurrence is merely accidental but refuses to make any precise prognostications” (HRC).

There are two variants of the general title-leaf, viz., with imprint (1) Ex officina calcographica Pauli Sessii. Anno m.dc.vi, or with imprint (2) Typis Pauli Sessii, impensis authoris, anno m.dcvi; the present copy has the latter. Casper suggests that the present (rarer) issue is a correction.

4 works in one volume, 4to (218 x 172 mm). Device on general title, three separate title pages, folding engraved plate bound after p. 76, woodcut diagrams; browned as usual, scattered ink spots, some small marginal tears or holes. Seventeenth-century vellum; small repair to top edge of upper cover, endleaves renewed, lacking ties.

REFERENCES

Caspar 27; Honeyman sale 5:1782; Houzeau & Lancaster 2843; HRC, Kepler 65; Rocco/Cinti 17

PROVENANCE

Robert S. Dunham (acquired from F. Thomas Heller on 19 February 1958, pencil acquisition note to front pastedown; Sotheby's New York, 11 December 1993, lot 710)