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The immediate forerunner of Galileo on the making and use of sundials

BENEDETTI, Giovanni Battista.
De gnomonum umbrarumque solarium usu liber.

Large woodcut coat-of-arms of the dedicatee on title; about one hundred geometrical and perspectival woodcuts in text, several full-page, including a full-page perspective instrument invented by the author; charming and interesting woodcut initials in the text.

Turin, Heirs of Niccolo Bevilacqua, 1574. Folio. Contemporary limp vellum. Large woodcut coat-of-arms of the dedicatee on title; about one hundred geometrical and perspectival woodcuts in text, several full-page, including a full-page perspective instrument invented by the author; charming and interesting woodcut initials in the text. (6), 123, (1 blank) lvs.

First edition of a richly illustrated manual on the making and the use of sundials by Giovanni Battista Benedetti (1530-1590), a very important Renaisance scientist, the immediate forerunner of Galileo. Benedetti was in 1567 invited to Turin by the Duke of Savoy, where he remained until his death. He was philosopher to the Duke and adviser on university affairs rather than professor himself. The present book on the theory and construction of sundials was Benedetti's first publication at Turin. It was the most comprehensive treatise on the subject until that time. It taught the construction of sundials at various inclinations and also with dials projected on cyclindrical and conical surfaces.
Benedetti also designed and constructed various public and private works at Turin, including sundials and fountains, but his real importance lies in his role in the history of science as a mathematician of great intellectual power. He conducted innovatory investigations in a number of fields and his scientific originality and versability created a basis for the overthrow of Aristotelian physics. With his theory on falling bodies Benedetti foreshadowed Gallileo, Simon Stevin in hydrostatics and Guido Ubaldo del Monte in perspective. Still, works of Benedetti's own hand are very rare. The present work is well produced, printed in Roman type, and adorned with numerous large and small historiated woodcut initials.

Fine copy.

STC Italian p. 82; Adams B 653; Mortimer, Harvard Italian, 53; Riccardi I, 111: "Raro ed assai apprezzato"; Poggendorff I, 143; cf. Vagnetti EIIb30 (collected works).

Related Subjects: Mathematics Science Sundials

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