Bilberg | De refractio solis, Stockholm, 1695, contemporary half vellum

Johan Bilberg

Refractio solis inoccidui, in septemtrionalibus oris... circa Solstitium aestivum MDCXCV... Midnats solens rätta och synlige rum uti norrlanden, effter... hållne wid sommar solståndet år 1695. Stockholm: N. Wankijf, 1695

4to (182mm.), parallel text in Latin and Swedish, woodcut vignette on recto of first title-page, woodcut initials and headpieces, 5 double-sided woodcut plates, contemporary vellum-backed boards, a few manuscript annotations, binding slightly soiled

FIRST EDITION. Bilberg (1646-1717) was professor of mathematics at Uppsala university and later bishop of Strängnäs, and was a proponent of Copernicanism and Cartesianism in Sweden.

An English translation was published in 1698 with the title A voyage of the late King of Sweden, and another of mathematicians sent by him: in which are discover'd the refraction of the Sun, which sets not in the northern parts, at the time of the Summer Solstice.

LITERATURE

BL STC Scandinavian B586

PROVENANCE

Joh. Hernodius; And. Larson; Claes [--], signatures on first recto 

Johannes Hernodius was an astronomer; his dissertation on the lunar cycle was printed in Uppsala in 1711.