LANSBERG (Philip). Tabulae Motuum Coelestium Perpetuae; ex omnium temporum observationibus constructae, temporumque omnium observationibus consentientes. Item novae et genuinae motuum coelestium theoricae. & Astronomicarum observantionum thesaurus.1632

Middelburgi Zelandiae [Middelburg]: Apud Zachariam Romanum. First edition, folio (285 x 190 mm), 3 parts in one, *8, **4, C-F6, G4, Aa-Nn6, Oo2, Pp6, Qq4, Aaa-Qqq6, half-title with privilege to verso, engraved allegorical title with portraits of famous astronomers: Aristarchus of Samos, Hipparchus of Rhodes, Ptolemy, Albategnius (the Islamic astronomer Al Battani), King Alfonso X of Castile, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and Lansberg himself, full-page engraved portrait of the author by Willem Delff (1580-1638) at *7 recto, separate title to second part, folding table (Canon Sexagenarum) bound in before Oo2, woodcut illustrations to text, printer's woodcut device and colophon at end of Willem Christiaens (Guilielmi Christiani) of Leiden, contents clean, front inner hinge weak, a couple of gatherings sprung, contemporary vellum with yapp fore-edges, spine titled in manuscript in brown ink. Fine copy of the first edition of Lansberg's astronomical tables, published five years after Kepler's Rudolphine Tables, which were based on elliptical orbits. Although a staunch Copernican, Lansberg dismissed Kepler's elliptical model and relied instead on the more traditional epicyclic theory and his own observations of the sun and moon. Lansberg's simpler method was widely adopted in the 1630's until his projections were found to be generally less accurate than Kepler's. The Tabulae were used however by the brilliant young English astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks to observe the Transit of Venus in December 1639, which Lansberg had correctly predicted, leading to a revision of Kepler's own tables. Provenance: early 20th century bookplate of Valentin Ruis-Senen to inside front cover. Poggendorff I, 1373; Houzeau & Lancaster 12758; Dictionary of Scientific Biography VII, 27-28; Not in Honeyman, Macclesfield or Norman.