Piccolomini, Alessandro

De la sfera del mondo, ... De le stelle fisse. Venice: Nicolò de Bascarini, 1548



4to (8 x 6 in.; 203 x 152 mm). Woodcut title vignette repeated on second title, 47 full-page woodcut star maps (misnumbered 48, skipping "24"and "43" and duplicating "48"), woodcut text diagrams and historiated initials; some light marginal spotting, a bit heavier in quire R, small stain on leaf i4. Contemporary limp vellum, manuscript title on spine; tears mended in backstrip, some stains, outer edges torn. Red half-morocco slipcase.

Contemporary inscription on title "ad usum Joannis Antonii et magistri ... scholarum piarum"

Riccardi I:269-269; on the author see D.M. Robin, Publishing Women (2007), pp. 136-138

The first star atlas, the second edition.

Alessandro Piccolomini (1508-1579), scion of that illustrious family of Siena, was able to pursue a literary career thanks to various ecclesiastical benefices. This work begins with an introduction to Ptolemaic cosmography, followed by a discussion of the fixed stars. His star atlas is the first effort to chart the actual positions of the stars, rather than presenting constellation figures with the stars filled in randomly. He represented stellar magnitude on his charts by using larger symbols for the brighter stars.

Piccolomini is an interesting early example of the popularizer of science (a famous example from the Enlightenment being Voltaire), writing in the vernacular, and dedicating his works to the education and promotion of women. The present work is, like several of his compositions, dedicated to the lesbian poet Laudomia Forteguerri (1515-1555?, see Robin).