Novae theoricae planetarum, 16th Century

 

 

I found this manuscript –has an amazing set of volvelles- at Penn Libraries , online available with tag LJS 64. The work is titled “Theoricae novae planetarum”, by 15th-century Austrian astronomer Georg von Peurbach, who taught at the universities in Padua and Ferrara. 

The diagrams demonstrate increasingly complex planetary motion (at least for 15^th Century). The Theoricae Novae was an attempt to present Ptolemaic astronomy in a more elementary and comprehensible way. The book was very successful, replacing the older Theoricae Planetarum Communis as the standard university text on astronomy.

Von Peurbach was very precise taking in account 15th Century astronomy resources & instruments: In 1457 he observed an eclipse and noted that it had occurred 8 minutes earlier than had been predicted by the Alphonsine Tables, the best available eclipse tables at the time. He then computed his own set of eclipse tables, the Tabulae Eclipsium (remained highly influential for many years).

About this codex provenance, was formerly owned by Francesco Rolandi of Turin, teacher of mathematics (There is an inscription dated 1655, inside upper cover). After Francesco Rolandi, books had other owners but was finally sold by William Patrick Watson Antiquarian Books (London), cat. 7 (1996), no. 79, to Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2011. (link to their manuscript initiative provided).

Ancient alchemy Labs, 16th C

'Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae' 

by Heinrich Khunrath, 1595

'L'Alchimiste'

Original painting by David Teniers (before 1690).

This version engraved by Jacques-Louis Pérée, 1769

'Laboratory for metallurgy and the industrial arts'

Original painting by Samuel Wale. This version engraved by Pierre-Charles Canot, 1765. The illustration appeared IN: 'Commercium Philosophico-Technicum' (The Philosophical Commerce of Arts) by William Lewis.

'A Design for a General Laboratory'

Artist: Cornelius Varley; Engraver: AW Warren, 1822.

This illustration formed the frontispiece of the 10th Ed. of 

'The Chemical Catechism' by Samuel Parkes (about: 1860s/1870s).

'The Dissolution, or The Alchymist producing an Aetherial Representation'

Hand-coloured etching made by James Gillray, 1796, in reference 

to the dissolution of Parliament announced on 19 May.

'Le Plaisir des Fous'
(The pleasure of fools)

Original painting by David Teniers (before 1690). This version engraved by Pierre-François Basan sometime in the 1700s. 

 

'Le Chimiste
De la Galerie de S.A.S. Monseigneur le Duc d'Orléans'

Original painting by David Teniers (before 1690). "Alembic and crucible sit on furnace in center of image; miscellaneous apparatus in foreground."

All images found at:

Edgar Fahs Smith Collection at the Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Image (SCETI) at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

Norse mythology (Iceland, 18th C)

  

 

 

 

'Sæmundar og Snorra Edda' is a 1760 Icelandic manuscript by Ólafur Brynjúlfsson.  

There are two major sources that chronicle the legends of Norse mythology:

The 'Poetic Edda' is a collection of alliterative poems (Edda) from the 13th century Icelandic Codex Regius. The poems are thought to date from the 10th century.

The 'Younger Edda' which includes a narrative of Norse mythology and a manual for understanding the nuances of the alliterative poetics, was written by the Icelandic historian and parliamentarian, Snorri Sturluson an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as a lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He was the author of the Prose Edda or Younger Edda, which consists of Gylfaginning ("the fooling of Gylfi"), a narrative of Norse mythology, the Skáldskaparmál, a book of poetic language, and the Háttatal, a list of verse forms. He was also the author of the Heimskringla, a history of the Norwegian kings that begins with legendary material in Ynglinga saga and moves through to early medieval Scandinavian history.

The Ólafur Brynjúlfsson manuscript contains material from both the Younger and Elder Edda and is online at the Royal Danish Library, (link provided)