Lot 461: SCHÖNER, Johann (1477-1547). De Judiciis nativitatum libri tres. Nuremberg: J. Montanus and U. Neuber, 1545.

SCHÖNER, Johann (1477-1547). De Judiciis nativitatum libri tres. Nuremberg: J. Montanus and U. Neuber, 1545. 2 o (319 x 210 mm). Title with woodcut vignettes, numerous woodcut diagrams and tables in text, woodcut printer's device on last leaf. Rebound in an early vellum antiphonal leaf (joints cracked, some wear to spine); cloth chemise and slipcase. Provenance : Ottobeuren, Benedictine Monastery (early ownership inscription on title). ONE OF THE EARLIEST PUBLICATIONS TO COMMENT FAVORABLY ON THE NEW DISCOVERIES OF COPERNICUS FIRST EDITION, with a preface by Philip Melanchthon. "Schöner in 1545 printed another work of his own of considerable length, namely, three books on the judgments of nativities, with another preface by Melanchthon. Schöner had been one of those who encouraged Copernicus to publish his magnum opus. Now in the present work, although prefering the method of Ptolemy in astrological judments to those of subsequent astrologers, Schöner maintained that the Copernican system was not unfavorable to astrology" (Thorndike V, p. 367). Adams S-681.