Description
Book SynopsisThis open access volume focuses on the cultural background of the pivotal transformations
of scientific knowledge in the early modern period.
It investigates the rich edition history of Johannes de Sacrobosco’s Tractatus de sphaera,
by far the most widely disseminated textbook on geocentric cosmology, from the unique
standpoint of the many printers, publishers, and booksellers who steered this text from
manuscript to print culture, and in doing so transformed it into an established platform
of scientific learning. The corpus, constituted of 359 different editions featuring
Sacrobosco’s treatise on cosmology and astronomy printed between 1472 and 1650,
represents the scientific European shared knowledge concerned with the cosmological
worldview of the early modern period until far after the publication of Copernicus’ De
revolutionibus orbium coelestium in 1543.
The contributions to this volume show how the academic book trade influenced the
process of homogenization of scientific knowledge. They also describe the material
infrastructure through which such knowledge was disseminated, and thus define the
premises for the foundation of modern scientific communities.
Trade Review“There is much in this collection that should interest historians of early modern science, as well as historians of early modern print culture and visual culture. This edited volume is part of a multiyear project at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science … . Written in the 13th-century in Paris, this slim text was taught in universities across Europe until the end of the 17th century.” (Kathleen Crowther, Journal for the History of Astronomy, Vol. 54 (3), August, 2023)
Table of ContentsMatteo Valleriani & Andrea Ottone The Early Modern Academic Book Market Seen Through The ≪ Sphere ≫ of Sacrobosco.- Section 1: Production Dynamics.- Richard Oosterhoff The ≪ Sphere≫ and the Estienne Print Shop in Paris .- Catherine Kikuchi Erhard Ratdolt ’ s Edition of the ≪Sphaera≫ A New Editorial Model in Venice?.- Insa-Christiane Hennen Printers, Publishers and Book Binders in Wittenberg in the Sixteenth Century: Real Estate, Vicinity, Political and Cultural Activities.- Saskia Limbach Publishing the «Sphaera» in Sixteenth-Century Wittenberg.- Section 2: Distribution Dynamics.- Ian Maclean Sacrobosco at the Book Fairs, 1564-1624: The Pedagogical Marketplace.- Alejandra Ulla Lorenzo Exploring the Circulation of Sacrobosco’s ≪Tractatus de sphaera≫ in Early Modern Iberian Peninsula and New World Printing.- Andrea Ottone The Giunti’s Publishing and Distributing Network and Their Supply to the European Academic Market.- Isabelle Pantin Mathematical Books in Paris (1531–1563): The Development of Editorial Policies in a Competitive International Market.- Matteo Valleriani & Christoph Sander Exploring Social Relations Between Early Modern Publishers and Printers by Means of Paratexts.- Section 3: Usage Dynamics.- Paul F. Grendler The «Sphaera» in Jesuit Astronomical and Mathematical Education.- Richard Kremer Printing Sacrobosco in Leipzig, 1488–1520: Local Markets and “ Academic” Publishing.- Alissar Levy Publishing Mathematical Books to «Calculatores» in Paris (1508–1515).- Stefano Gulizia Traces of ≪The Sphere≫ in Early Modern Poland and in the German/Baltic Cultural Region.
