1st Edition Discourses by Galileo at Auction for 400th Anniversary

Coinciding with the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first demonstration of the telescope, PBA Galleries of San Francisco will auction the first edition, second issue, of the book in which the first English translation of Galileo’s “famous dialogues” were published, arguing the correctness of the heliocentric theory of planetary motion, as demonstrated by his observations with the telescope.

Galileo Galilei, the Italian physicist , mathematician , astronomer , and philosopher has been called the “father of modern observational astronomy ,” the “father of modern physics ,” and the “father of science .” Stephen Hawking has written that “Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science.” His use of the telescope in making astronomical observations allowed him to prove, to himself and other scientists of the 17th century, the heliocentric theory advanced by Nicolaus Copernicus. These views were adamantly opposed by the Catholic Church, and in 1616 heliocentrism was condemned as “false and contrary to Scripture.” Galileo was warned to abandon his support for it, which he promised to do. In 1632, however, he defended his views in famous Dialogo di Galileo Galilei Linceo matematico…sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo Tolemaico e Copernico. He was subsequently tried by the Inquisition, found “vehemently suspect of heresy,” forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

This volume contains the first edition in English of his monumental treatise. It is Thomas Salusbury’s Mathematical Collections and Translations, and the majority of it is made up of Galileo’s The Systeme of the World in Four Dialogues.

Wherein the Two Grand Systemes of Ptolomy and Copernicus are Largely Discoursed of…This is the second issue, with a new title-page and contents list. When it was first issued in 1661, it was to be Volume One of a two volume work. In 1666, however, shortly after Volume Two was printed, the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the city, and consumed nearly all copies of the second volume. There remained a small quantity of unused sheets of the first volume, and in 1667 these were supplied with a new title-page and contents-list with reference to the material in Vol. II omitted. This second issue is much rarer than the first issue – WorldCat lists only those copies at the University of Oklahoma and the American Philosophical Society, and the English Short Title Catalogue adds the copies at Marsh’s Library and Oxford University Corpus Christi College. The actual contents are from the same printing as the first issue, and constitute the first appearance in the English language of one of the greatest and most influential astronomical treatises. Its publication marked a decisive moment in the ongoing struggle between religious tradition and the light of reason and science.

PBA Galleries will be offering the this seminal work, which is expected to sell for between $30,000 and $40,000 on September 17, 2009, in its auction of Fine Books and Manuscripts. The catalogue is posted at www.pbagalleries.com .

Images of the lot: http://www.pbagalleries.com/search/item.php?anr=204550&