Alchemy Astrology & Occult

Scaliger’s unsurpassed critical edition
of Manilius’s ancient astrology
11. M A NILIUS, Marcus and Joseph SC A LIGER (ed.). Astronomicon libri
quinque.
Including:
JUNIUS, Franciscus. In Manilii Astronomica variae lectiones.
SC A LIGER, Joseph. In Manilii Quinque libros astronomicon commentarius &
castigationes.
[Heidelberg], Officina Sanctandreana [=Hieronymus Commelin], 1590. 3 parts in 1
volume. 8vo. With woodcut publisher’s device (repeated on the title-page of part 3),
6 astronomical woodcuts and a few tables in text. 18th-century(?) stiff pasteboard
wrappers. € 1.750
True second edition of Scaliger’s Manilius, the oldest and most widely cited work on ancient
astrology, enlarged with commentaries by Franciscus Junius. “Perhaps no critic has ever
effected so great and permanent a change in any author’s text as Scaliger in Manilius’. … The
commentary is the one commentary on Manilius, without forerunner and without successor;
after the passage of 300 years, it is the only avenue to a study of the poem …” (Houseman, in
the preface to his edition of 1903).
“For the average reader, the Astronomica served as a literary introduction to heavens and an
advanced primer to astrology. Manilius’ masterpiece, a Latin didactic poem in five books,
unveils the cosmos in hexameter verse, explaining the celestial sphere and zodiac, ‘describing
the stars, constellations, and planets,’ and above all, providing a Stoic vision of the celestial
dance” (Hockey et al.).
From the library of Pietro Riccardi, a notable collector of mathematical books. Some browning
throughout and one page with its lower right corner torn off, but still a good copy and wholly
untrimmed, preserving all deckles. Binding also good, with upper part of the front hinge
restored.
Adams M362; Riccardi I, Manulius 44 (this copy); VD 16, ZV 10344 (6 copies); cf. Hockey et al., Biographical encyclopedia
of astronomers, p. 735.