The Astronomicum Caesareum is a lavish astronomical book printed by Petrus and Georg Apianus at Ingolstadt in 1540. Its intricate hand-colored woodcuts and movable paper volvelles transform Ptolemaic planetary theory into working instruments for calculating celestial positions. Dedicated to Emperor Charles V and Ferdinand I, the volume appeared three years before Copernicus's De revolutionibus. The book's sophisticated paper engineering, sumptuous production, and integration of astronomical theory with interactive diagrams make it one of the outstanding scientific publications of the Renaissance.
We have 1 facsimile edition of the manuscript "Gotha Astronomicum Caesareum": Astronomicum Caesareum facsimile edition, published by Edition Leipzig, 1967
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