Rare second edition of a rare work on cosmography by the outstanding scholar Francesco Maurolyco, or Maurolico from Messina (1494-1575). This work is one of the most important books by Maurolico. It was first published in Venice in 1543 and it is written in the form of 3 dialogues, discussing many different subjects concerning cosmography and astronomy. He also gives methods for measuring the earth which were later used by Jean Picard in measuring the meridian in 1670. It also contains several passages on America.
Maurolico's family came from Greece and had fled to Sicily for the Turcs. Maurolico learnt Greece and astronomy from his father, was in 1521 ordained priest and later became a Benedictine (1550) at the Monastero di Santa Maria del Parto à Castelbuono. Two years later, he was consecrated as abbot at the Cattedrale San Nicolò di Messina.
Francesco Maurolico (1494-1575) was one of the most important mathematicians of the XVI century in Europe. He had powerful patrons, one of them was Giovanni de Vega, the Charles V's Viceroy on Sicily, who entrusted Maurolico with the mathematical education of one of his sons, and another was Giovanni Ventimiglia, governor of Messina who conferred upon him the abbey near Castelbuono. Maurolico, like his father, was head of the mint at Messina, he was also in charge of the fortifications of the city, and more important, he gave public lectures on mathematics at the University of Messina and was appointed professor in 1569.
With the bookplate of "Liechtensteinianis" mounted on the inside of the front cover. Otherwise in very good condition. Adams M 918; DSB 9&10, pp. 190-194; Houzeau-Lancaster 2412 (Parisian edition of 1556?); JCB, p. 210; Sabin 46958.