The first illustrated edition. Johannes de Sacrobosco, probably of British extraction, was a mathematician but worked in Paris. The ‘Sphaera Mundi’ was first printed at Ferrara in 1472 without illustrations and survives in only one known example. This treatise on spheres was to become an elementary work on cosmology and astronomy. The early editions contained spaces for the reader to draw diagrams. The work became such a standard text that no less than thirty editions were printed before the century was to end.

This edition is one of three printed by F. Renner de Hailbrun in 1478 using the materials of Erhard Ratdolt. These are believed to be drawn from Erhard Ratdolt’s edition of the ‘Calendar of Regiomontanus’ in 1476 amongst others. The accompanying text was also a popular work of the day and originates from the mid-thirteenth-century work of Gerard of Sabbioneta. Provenance: Kelmscott Press bookplate of John Charrington, The Grange, Shenley; inscription ‘Bought of J. Wm. Brown, Edinburgh, Oct. 1913’; bookplate of Lurley Manor; bookplate of Fort Hill; inscription of Hamill & Barker, Chicago (booksellers) dated 16 January 1961. BMC v 195; Essling 257; Goff J402; HC *14108; Klebs 874.6; Sander 6659.