London: William Leybourn, 1661.

Price: $65,000.00

Folio: 33.8 x 21.4 cm. [16], 503, [25], [14], 118, [6] p., [4] leaves of plates (at p. 88, 248, 378, 424). Collation: π8 (the prelims; see foot of this description for order), A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Rrr4, [Hhh]-[Kkk]2, Xxx-Zzz2, Aaaa4, Bbbb-Qqq4, Rrrr2

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, with the title page dated 1661 and the contents leaf referencing the Second Tome.

Volume one only (in two parts). Although the title page to Part II reads “The Second Tome, The Second Part”, this is incorrect. Volume two was not published until 1665 and most copies were destroyed in the Great Fire of London. Stillman Drake located only 8 copies of the second volume in 1999. A copy of the complete two-volume set was sold at the Earls of Macclesfield sale in 2005.

With four folding engraved plates, one for each of Galileo's dialogues, and some in-text engravings and woodcuts. Bound in 18th c. paneled calf (restored and rebacked, endpapers renewed). With marginal repairs to first 3 prelims and 2 leaves of second index, ink-stamped numbering and erasures to foot of dedication; pale browning from damp-stains and scattered minor soiling, edges toned and brittle, with numerous small chips mainly to the fore-edge of the leaves.) Provenance: an early hand records on the second contents page: "The second tome was never quite printed and the Great fire comming swept away all that part that was printed saving some two or three in private hands."

With a contents leaf both tome I and II are given on a preliminary leaf. Some copies also include an errata leaf following 3Z2 (not present here). Stillman Drake notes: “The fact that nearly all copies lack the errata suggests that that interesting leaf represents a skirmish in the battle between Salusbury and his printer, William Leybourn.”

The first edition of a collection of important scientific works translated into English with many of the works defending the Copernican system. This book includes the first edition in English of Galileo’s “Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo" (“Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems”), his validation of the Copernican system and one of the milestones of modern science. This was the first edition in any language of the “Dialogo” to be printed in England. It preceded the Latin edition published in London by Thomas Dicas by two years. It would remain the sole published English translation for almost three hundred years, until Giorgio de Santillana’s translation in 1953.

The volume also includes the first appearance in English of any work by Kepler, namely, his “Introduction upon Mars”, which is taken from the preface to his “Astronomia Nova”(1609) - the work in which Kepler announced his epochal discovery of the first two laws of planetary motion: 1) The Law of Orbits [or Ellipses], which states that the orbits of the planets are not perfect circles but are in fact ellipses with the sun at one focus; and 2) The Law of Equal Areas, which states that a line connecting a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal amounts of time.

Galileo's “Dialogo” is followed by his important manifesto on the freedom of thought, his letter to Christina of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (conventionally referred to as the “Letter to Christina”). In the letter, Galileo upholds the primacy of science and argues for its freedom from theological interference; and presents his arguments in favor of heliocentrism.

In addition to the works by Galileo and Kepler, Salusbury included translations of other scientific works defending the Copernican system, including Paolo Antonio Foscarini’s “Letter concerning the Opinion of the Pythagoreans and Copernicus about the Mobility of the Earth and Stability of the Sun", pp. 659-704 (see below). The second part of the work contains a number of hydrological works by Benedetto Castelli, Galileo’s friend and protégé, including Castelli’s letter to Galileo on hydrology and his "Of the mensuration of running waters" (Della misura dell'acque correnti). Please see below.

The translator, Thomas Salusbury, was probably educated at Trinity College. He “lived abroad for a time, chiefly in Italy and France between the years 1645 and 1654, He learned both languages well, acquired a good knowledge of Italian literature and became acquainted with some followers of Galileo's new science.”(Stillman Drake)

Galileo’s “Dialogo”

This is the first edition in English of one of the great landmarks in the history of astronomy: Galileo’s validation of the Copernican heliocentric system. This is the book for which he was tried before the Inquisition, condemned as a heretic and forced to abjure the theories expressed in this work. “The Dialogo, far more than any work, convinced men of the truth of the Copernican system” (Owen Gingerich).

This English edition of “Dialogo” was the first edition in any language of the book to be printed in England. It preceded the Latin edition published in London by Thomas Dicas by two years. It would remain the sole published English translation for almost three hundred years, until Giorgio de Santillana’s translation in 1953.

“Eight years after Pope Paul V had forbidden him to teach Copernican theory, Galileo received permission from a new Pope, Urban VIII, to discuss Copernican astronomy in a book, so long as that book provided equal and impartial discussions of the Church-approved Ptolemaic system. Galileo’s ‘Dialogo’ held to the letter of this command: the device of the dialogue, between a spokesman for Copernicus, one for Ptolemy and Aristotle, and an educated layman, allowed Galileo to remain technically uncommitted. After the book’s publication, however, Urban took offense at what he felt to be its jibes against himself and ordered Galileo to be brought before the Inquisition in Rome. Galileo was condemned to permanent house arrest and forced to abjure all Copernican ‘heresy’.”(Norman Library)

Presented as an ostensibly objective discussion between advocates of the Ptolemaic-Aristotelian and the Copernican systems trying to win the support of an educated layman, Galileo’s ‘Dialogo’ displays all the great discoveries in the heavens which the ancients had ignored; it inveighs against the sterility, willfulness, and ignorance of those who defended their systems; it revels in the simplicity of Copernican thought and, above all, it teaches that the movement of the earth makes sense in philosophy, that is, in physics. Astronomy and the science of motion, rightly understood, says Galileo, are hand in glove. There is no need to fear that the earth’s rotation will cause it to fly to pieces... The ‘Dialogo’, far more than any other work, made the heliocentric system a commonplace. If it was not exactly written in defiance of the Inquisition, it was composed with the deliberate intention of bamboozling the censors and of outwitting Galileo’s clerical enemies. The censors were the easier to deceive; after the book was published Galileo’s enemies dragged him to Rome in 1633, set him before the Inquisition, and forced him to abjure all that the ‘Dialogo’ professed... The book itself remained on the ‘Index of Prohibited Books’ until 1823. (Printing and the Mind of Man 128)

Galileo’s Letter to Christina of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (1565–1637)

The Letter to Christina of Lorraine is a defense of the Copernican system and a “superb manifesto of the freedom of thought ... Its purpose was to silence all theological objections to Copernicus. Its result was the precise opposite: it became the principal cause of the prohibition of Copernicus, and of Galileo’s downfall” (Koestler). In the letter, Galileo upholds the primacy of science and argues for its freedom from theological interference. He boldly asserts that scientific truth has priority over theology when it comes to accounting for the natural world. The work concludes with an unequivocal argument for the truth of the Copernican system. The ideas expressed were instrumental in the Inquisition’s prosecution of Galileo and condemnation of Copernicanism.

“In December 1613 theological objections to Copernicanism had been raised, in Galileo’s absence, at a court dinner, where Galileo’s part was upheld by Benedetto Castelli. Learning of this, Galileo wrote a long letter to Castelli concerning the inadmissibility of theological interference in purely scientific questions. After the public denunciation [of Galileo] in 1614, Castelli showed this letter to an influential Dominican priest, who made a copy of it and sent it to the Roman Inquisition for investigation. Galileo then promptly sent an authoritative text of the letter to Rome and began its expansion into the Letter to Christina.”(Stillman Drake, DSB)

Kepler’s “Introduction upon Mars”

This work is taken from the preface to “Astronomia Nova”, the book in which Kepler announced his epochal discovery of the first two laws of planetary motion: 1) The Law of Orbits [or Ellipses], which states that the orbits of the planets are not perfect circles but are in fact ellipses with the sun at one focus; and 2) The Law of Equal Areas, which states that a line connecting a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal amounts of time.

In “Introduction upon Mars”, Kepler outlines his methodological approach to the investigation of Mars's orbit which led to his revolutionary conclusion that the planets move in ellipses rather than circles. He explains that Mars proved crucial to reforming astronomical theory because its eccentric orbit made even slight errors in predicting its motion impossible to ignore. Kepler describes how Tycho Brahe's extraordinarily precise observational data made it possible to detect these discrepancies, and he frames his whole subsequent investigation as an attempt to reconcile theory with those observations to a degree of accuracy never before attempted.

Kepler defends the Copernican system as consistent with Scripture and declares that “he who is so stupid as not to comprehend the Science of Astronomy, or so weak and scrupulous as to think it an offence of Piety to adhere to Copernicus, him I advise, that leaving the Study of Astronomy [he should] keep at home and manure his own Ground” (463)

Diego de Zúñiga: Scripture does not Preclude the Copernican System (1536-1597)

In his commentary on Job, the Spanish Augustinian friar and philosopher Diego de Zúñiga argues that Job 9:6 may be better understood if one accepts the Pythagorean and Copernican view that the Earth moves. He argues that Copernicus has shown the planetary courses more accurately than Ptolemy or later astronomical systems, especially in matters such as the equinoxes, the beginning of the year, and other celestial phenomena. He then contends that the biblical passages usually cited for the Sun’s motion or the Earth’s permanence do not refute this position, because Scripture often speaks in ordinary human language, and Ecclesiastes 1:4 means only that the Earth endures through successive generations, not that it is physically immobile.

Foscarini’s Argument for a Stationary Sun and a moving Earth

Salusbury has included an important letter by the mathematician, philosopher, and Carmelite friar Paolo Antonio Foscarini (1565-1616) titled “Letter concerning the Opinion of the Pythagoreans and Copernicus about the Mobility of the Earth and Stability of the Sun, and about the New Pythagorean System of the World”. As the title suggests, Foscarini defends the concept that the Earth moves and the Sun is stable, and argues that biblical phrases about the Sun’s motion or the Earth’s immobility are accommodations to ordinary human perception. After arguing that newer observations render the Ptolemaic system unsatisfying and strengthen the Copernican model, he organizes the standard theological objections into six classes and proposes six maxims to reconcile them. Foscarini’s book was placed on the Index of Prohibited Books in March 1616.

Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulics

This book includes translations of a number of works by Galileo’s student and friend, the mathematician, physicist and hydraulic engineer Benedetto Castelli (1578-1643), including Castelli’s “Letter to Galileo”, and his masterpiece, “On the Mensuration of Running Water” (Della misura dell’acque correnti). In his letter to Galileo, who was also greatly interested in hydrodynamics, Castelli he explains his method for measuring rainfall over a drought-stricken lake and estimating the corresponding rise in water level.

“Castelli’s masterpiece “Della misura dell’acque correnti”, about streamflow measurement, was actually published in two books. The first book, published in Rome in 1628, contains the description of his re–discovery of the formulation of the discharge in a river as the product of average velocity and area of the cross section, a concept which was already clear at the time of the ancient Greek philosophers, but was later forgotten. Then, developing this concept, he provided very clever solutions to land reclamation and river training problems at river junctions, where a change of the cross section results in different sediment deposition rates. The final edition, published in Bologna in 1660 (and the following year in London, once translated), added a second book where he proposed a stage discharge curve, assuming a linear relationship between velocity and water depth.”(Ranzi et al.) Stillman Drake notes that it is impressive that Salusbury, who worked from the 1660 Bologna edition, had these translations of Castelli’s works translated by 1661.

A Note on the Translator, Thomas Salusbury:

“The most probable summary description of Thomas Salusbury seems to be this: Born in Wales during the decade 1620-30, he was connected in some way with the chief Welsh Salusbury family seated at Lleweny. The connection may have been illegitimate; if so, he would probably have used his mother's surname during his early years. Educated probably at Trinity College, Dublin, he developed a passion for books and reading and received a good background in mathematics, probably from Miles Symner (mentioned in the preface to the Collections. Symner was elected scholar at Trinity in 1626 and appointed Fellow and Professor of Mathematics in 1652).

“Salusbury lived abroad for a time, chiefly in Italy and France between the years 1645 and 1654, He learned both languages well, acquired a good knowledge of Italian literature and became acquainted with some followers of Galileo's new science. In France he established some connection with the exiled court of Charles II. Returning to Wales after his continental sojourn, he served briefly as tutor to John, younger son of the Salusbury family at Lleweny. There he got into trouble of some kind but was allowed to depart quietly, perhaps on condition that he would not assert his connection with that family.

“About 1655-56 he arrived in London, where he tried to earn a living by writing. There he was imprisoned for a time as a result of his violently anti-Parliamentary views. As the political tide turned, he rode its crest to a confidential secretarial position at the re-established court in 1661 or 1662. Meanwhile, in 1659 or early 1660, he had married Susanna Birkenhed and settled at Highgate. Having no fortune of his own, he undertook several occupations; he revived his copyrighted but unpublished literary translations and commenced the study of painting.

“Venturing also into scientific translations, he found that his printer would take any that he could produce. But he promised more than he could perform and thus became involved in literary and artistic piracies; those, becoming known among the cognoscenti, kept him from gaining even moderate recognition and spoiled his chances of membership in the newly-formed Royal Society (which included many amateurs of science) or of other advancement. By 1664 he had to accept rather menial employments and within two years he died, possibly from the plague but more likely by accident or by his own hand, unmentioned and unmourned even by those who had known him at court or who had benefited from his scientific translations.”(Stillman Drake)

The works collected in this book:

The First Tome (Part I)
I. Galileo: “The Systeme of the World: In Four Dialogues.”
II. Galileo, “The Ancient & Modern Doctrine of Holy Fathers, and Judicious Divines” (Letter to Christina).
III. Johannes Kepler, “His Introduction upon Mars”.
IV. Diego de Zúñiga, “An Abstract of Some passages upon Job”.
V. Paolo Antonio Foscarini, “Concerning the Pythagorian and Copernican Opinion of the Mobility of the Earth, and Stability of the Sun; and Of the New Systeme or Constitution of the World”.

The First Tome (Part II)
I. Benedetto Castelli, Abbot of St. Benedictus Aloysius, his discourse on the mensuration of running waters: the first book.
II. His letter to Galileo, representing the state of the Lake of Perugia in Tuscany.
III. His geometrical demonstrations of the measure of running waters.
IV. His discourse on the mensuration of running waters: the second book.
V. His considerations concerning the Lake of Venice, in two discourses.
VI. His rule for computing the quantity of mud and sand that land-floods bring down to, and leave in, the Lake of Venice.
VII. His letter to Father Francesco di S. Giuseppe, wherein, at the instance of Prince Leopaldo, he delivered his judgment concerning the turning of Fiume Morto (a river near Pisa in Tuscany) into the sea, and into the River Serchio.
VIII. His second letter, in answer to certain objections proposed, and difficulties observed, by Signore Bartolotti, in that affair of the diversion of Fiume Morto.
IX. His consideration upon the draining of the Pontine Fens in Calabria.
X. His consideration upon the draining of the territories of Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna.
XI. His letter to D. Ferrante Cesarini, applying his doctrine to the mensuration of the length, and distribution of the quantity, of the waters of rivers, springs, aqueducts, etc.
XII. D. Corsinus, superintendent of the general drains, and president of Romagna, his relation of the state of the waters in the territories of Bologna and Ferrara.
A table of the most observable persons and matters mentioned in the second part.

The Prelims:

In this copy, the order of the eight preliminary leaves is: half-title, contents leaf (signed *3), general title page, dedication to John Denham, Address to the reader (signed *), Dialogo title page (signed *2), to the Duke of Tuscany, The author’s (i.e. Galileo’s) introduction (signed *3).

“The preliminary matter to the first tome is found in such a wide variety of orders that it is exceptional to find two copies in which the same order is employed…. The cognate leaves are (1) the general title page and the dedication to Sir John Denham; (2) the Address to the Reader and the Preface by Galileo; (3) the title to the Dialogue and the dedication to the Grand Duke. The contents leaf has no cognate and has been found in every possible position among the copies reported.”(Stillman Drake).

Carli-Favaro 276; ESTC R19153; Wing S-517