Collisions In Prague
MARCI A KRONLAND, Johannes Marcus de. De proportione motus Figurarum Recti Linearum et Circuli Quadrata ex Motu. Prague, Typographica Academica, 1648.
4to., (73) ff., including engraved allegorical portrait signed F.H., engraved author portrait on verso of a4, 32 engraved geometrical diagrams in text, letter press within woodcut borders throughout. Bound in contemporary speckled calf, covers ruled, raised bands on spine, with old paper title label. A few chips to covers and to lower joint. Endpapers renewed. Repair on a3 to tear over two lines with minor loss to text; some even toning and occasional spotting often seen in Eastern European books of the period, though much less than usual. Generally excellent.
$13,500 Very rare first edition of this work on the theory of collisions, responding in part to criticisms made of his 1639 title, De proportione motus seu Regula sphygmica as well as developing new theories. The present work treats the geometrical form of bodies in movement, the relationship between the duration of the oscillation of a pendulum and its length, the properties of free fall, and an assortment of other mechanical subjects. That the work is not even listed in the DSB gives an excellent indication of its rarity, and we have located only three copies: UCLA, Michigan, and the collection Dr. Verne Roberts.
The record in NUC lists UCLA and Michigan incorrectly require a plate; the plate belongs with the 1639 title which happens to be bound with it (see Roberts & Trent p. 214).
Marci (1595-1667) was Professor of Medicine at Prague and was one of the leading figures in the relatively isolated scientific community of Prague. He did travel to Italy, where he met Paul Guldin and Kircher, and it is clear that he also read Galileo's Discorsi. He also wrote on optics.
* Roberts & Trent p. 214 (lacking leaf with portrait, text recto); Dagmar Ledrerova, ?Bibliographie de Johannes Marcus Marci,? Acta historiae rerum naturalium necnon technicarum. Special issue 3 (1967) p. 40, #6; Lubo? Novy in DSB IX.96-9; see http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Catalog/Files/marci.html.
|
