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Rare first Latin edition of Galileo Galilei’s celebrated Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, entitled Systema Cosmicum… De Duobus Maximis Mundi Systematibus, Ptolemaico & Copernicano. Strasbourg (Augusta Trebocorum): Elzevir Press, printed by David Hautt, 1635. Vellum-bound hardcover with matching slipcase, both titled in ink on their respective spines, 6.5 x 8, 495 pages, with 12 additional leaves of index and errata. Illustrated with an engraved allegorical frontispiece depicting Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Copernicus, and numerous woodcut diagrams throughout illustrating Galileo’s astronomical and geometric arguments.
Originally published in Italian in Florence in 1632, Galileo’s Dialogue presented a philosophical debate comparing the traditional Ptolemaic geocentric model of the universe with the Copernican heliocentric system. Its clear advocacy of heliocentrism provoked strong opposition from the Catholic Church, culminating in Galileo’s famous 1633 trial before the Roman Inquisition, after which the work was placed on the Index of Prohibited Books, and the author was sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his life. Issued in Strasbourg while Galileo was still alive, this 1635 Latin translation allowed the work to circulate widely throughout Protestant Europe despite the ban.
The elaborate allegorical frontispiece—engraved by the Flemish artist Jacob van der Heyden—portrays Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Copernicus beneath a banner announcing the dialogue on the structure of the universe. A landmark publication in the history of science, this Latin edition of Systema Cosmicum helped disseminate heliocentric theory and introduce Galileo’s work into universities, accelerating its spread across Europe. Early editions of this work remain among the most sought-after publications of seventeenth-century scientific printing. Book condition: G/None, with mottled browning to textblock, a split to the vellum at the front joint, and bumped corners.
