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THE RINGS OF SATURN
Huygens, Christian. SYSTEMA SATURNIUM, sive de causis mirandorum Saturni
phaenonenon, et comite ejus planeta nuovo. The Hague: Adrian Vlack, 1659. [bound
with:] DIVINI, EUSTACHIO [and HONORÉ FABRI]. BREVIS ANNOTATIO IN SY-
STEMA SATURNIUM CHRISTIAN HUGENII . . . The Hague: Adrian Vlack, 1660.
[bound with:] HUYGENS, CHRISTIAN. BREVIS ASSERTIO SYSTEMATIS SATUR-
NII SUI … The Hague: Adrian Vlack, 1660. 4to. Three works in one volume: 1. (xii),
84 pp, folding engraved plate, 11 fine engravings in the text, several text woodcuts;
2. (ii), 23 pp, 1 engraved plate; 3. 20 pp, 4 text engravings, 1 text woodcut, with some
plates folding where they extend beyond the margin. Full calf, period style. Occasional
neat marginalia, owner’s stamp, a few minor flaws, but a fine, fresh copy. 40’000.–
FIRST EDITIONS of Huygens’s works. In 1655 Dutch scientist and instrumentmaker
Christian Huygens turned his new telescope to Saturn, which to early observers
had at times unexplained protrusions extending from either side. He constructed
a more powerful telescope to solve the problem, and in 1656 he was able to resolve the
handles into a ring encircling the planet. In 1659 Huygens published his findings as
Systema Saturnium. In the preface he declares that Saturn, its ring, and its satellite
(Titan, which he discovered in the course of his observations) form a system supporting
the Copernican system of a heliocentric universe. He describes a thick, solid
ring at the planet’s equator and explains the perplexing changing appearance of
Saturn by the fact that the ring is tilted 20 degrees to the plane of Saturn’s
orbit, in constant orientation as the planet orbits the Sun but changing with respect
to observers on Earth. The book is elegantly printed with fine engravings.
At first, Systema Saturnium was not well-received. Most astronomers rejected its
theories or held strong reservations. In Rome, telescope maker Eustachio Divini
issued Brevis Annotatio (Brief Comment) a pamphlet describing the ring theory as
fantastic, attacking his telescopes and observations, and rejecting his Copernican
arguments. Huygens immediately had that tract reprinted (it is the second item in
this bound volume) and replied with his Brevis Assertio (Brief Defense, the third
work in the volume), which convinced Hevelius to accept the theory. Within a few
years the theory was widely accepted, and even Divini accepted it when he constructed
an improved telescope.
This is a fine association copy with the stamp of F. X. Zach (1754-1832) on the titlepage.
Zach was director of the Gotha Observatory and editor of the first astronomical
journal.
Dibner, Heralds of Science 9.
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