Abraham

1498 · réf. ABC_49311 — Colophon: Venice: Petrus Liechtenstein for Johannes Lucilius Santritter 1498. 20th-century limp vellum sewn on 2 thin vellum straps laced through the joints with the manuscript name of the wrong author and year of publication on the spine. The work is housed in a modern marbled paper slipcase. 4to. With a woodcut title page and numerous tables. Highly important 15th-century work on navigation which helped sailors navigate more accurately. According to Gunn the work "immediately helped to revolutionize ocean navigation. Prior to the Almanach navigators seeking to determine their position in the high seas had to correct for "compass error" the deviation of the magnetic north from the true north by recourse to the quadrant and the Pole Star. But this proved less useful as they approached the equator and the Pole Star began to disappear into the horizon. Zacuto's Almanach supplied the first accurate table of solar declination allowing navigators to use the sun instead."The work contains dozens of astronomical tables charting the position of the sun moon and five planets between 1473 and 1530. The calculations were based on the Alfonsine Tables and the work of other astronomers. As the data were presented in simple tables with the positions of a planet easily interpolated between entries the work was easy to use. Zacuto's success in fusing his mathematical and astronomical observations with practical aspects of oceanic navigation such as the preparation of sea charts and instruments vital for the most important navigators of the time undoubtedly makes him a major contributor to the creation of the world of today.Abraham Zacuto 1452-ca. 1515 was one the most important geographers and cosmographers in the age of Columbus. His astrolabe astronomical tables and charts played a fundamental role in Portuguese and Spanish navigation to America and India as they were used by Vasco da Gama and Columbus. The navigators to Brazil and India also took Zacuto’s charts with them. As such Zacuto is one of the men who helped usher Portuguese global expansion.With a later ownership annotation on the title page and contemporary annotations in the margins throughout. The vellum is somewhat creased and browned with a dent on the back. The lower corner of the first few leaves shows some thumbing with brown ink stains on some leaves a water stain in the lower outer corner of leaves 81 and 82 not affecting the text. Otherwise in good condition.l Bibl. Hisp. No. 1060; Brunet V 1518; Darmstadt LB: 33/7667; Goff R110; GW M37517; Hain-Copinger 13798; ISTC ir00110000; Panzer VIII p. 356; USTC 991591; cf. Chabás J. and B.R. Goldstein Astronomy in the Iberian peninsula: Abraham Zacut and the transition from manuscript to print. In: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society New Series 90 2 2000; Gunn Geoffrey C. Overcoming Ptolemy: The Revelation of an Asian World Region Lanham Lexington Books 2018; Jews and the Americas: 165 Years of Collecting at the JCB Fall 2010 - Winter 2011 https://jcblibrary.org/exhibitions/jews-and-americas-165-years-collecting-jcb. Petrus Liechtenstein, for Johannes Lucilius Santritter, hardcover