STOEFFLER, JOHANN

(Oppenheim: Jacobum Kobel, March 24, 1518). 138 leaves; *4, (2), A6, B8, C4, D6, E8, (18), 75 numbered on recto, *7. Folio, contemporary calf ruled in blind. First edition of Johann Stoeffler's richly illustrated compendium of astronomical, cosmological, medical, and historical writings commissioned by the Lateran Council as a means of revising the Gregorian calendar. The first section of the book is printed in red and black and consists of a gazetteer, giving correct geographical coordinates for 24 cities, each accompanied by a small woodcut view; a proposed calendar, with each month accompanied by corresponding Zodiacs and monthly labors; solar and lunar eclipse tables, accompanied by 63 diagrams of eclipses for the years 1518-1573; a table of moveable festivals, solar cycles, and lunar cycles, with small signs of the zodiac indicated, for the years 1518-1579; and illustrations of astronomical instruments. The tables and diagrams are followed by 41 propositions concerned with the astronomical basis of the ecclesiastical calendar. This is then followed by a section devoted to medical astrology, with a full-page venesection manikin engraving, within a woodcut border, showing when and where to let blood for certain diseases, accompanied by explanatory text and a table indicating the appropriate seasons and zodiac signs for phlebotomy. Johann Stoeffler (1452-1531) was a professor of mathematics at the University of Tubingen, and strove in his Calendarium to bring the proposed Read more…