Ursus, Nicolaus Reimers | Fundamentum astronomicum: id est, nova doctrina sinuum et triangulorum... Strassburg: Bernhard Jobin, 1588

Ursus, Nicolaus Reimers

Fundamentum astronomicum: id est, nova doctrina sinuum et triangulorum... Strassburg: Bernhard Jobin, 1588

First edition of Ursus's notorious plagiarised account of Tycho's geoheliocentric system. Rare at auction.

“Ursus’s planetary ordering and its planetarium occasioned a long-running and virulent priority dispute. Tycho Brahe denounced Ursus as a “filthy scoundrel’ who had stolen a diagram of his planetary ordering while at Hven in the service of a noble visitor. Ursus, from his new, powerful positions as Imperial Mathematicus, published counter charges of theft along with a denunciation of Tycho”, (Jardine, p.49).

Ursus had been briefly at Hven with Tycho Brahe, but had been discovered illicitly rummaging through Tycho's papers, and accused of plagiarism. He certainly came to conclusions similar to those of Tycho.

4to (224 x 165 mm). Uncut. Device on title, numerous diagrams, 2 (only, of 3) folding letterpress tables; minor tear to 2nd folding plate, some gatherings browned, dampstaining, marginal hole in last leaf. Modern speckled calf and marbled boards, red morocco gilt lettering piece with gilets; light wear at joint.

REFERENCES

USTC 678062; VD16 R 1613; [Zinner 3316]; Jardine, Nicholas, “The Places of Astronomy in Early Modern Culture” in the Journal for the History of Astronomy. Vol 29. Issue 1. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/002182869802900103