Apian, Peter [1495-1552]. Apianus, Petrus. Bienewitz, Peter. Benewitz, Peter.

Instrument Buch durch Petrum Apianum erst von new beschriben. Zum ersten ist darinne begriffen ein newer Quadrant, dardurch Tag und Nacht, bey der Sonnen, Mon, vnnd andern Planeten,, auch durch ettliche Gestirn, die Stunden und ander nutzung gefunden werden. Zum andern , wie man die ho ch der Thu rn, und anderer gebew, des gleichen die weyt, brayt, und tieffe durch die Spigel und Instrument, messen soll. Zum Dritten, wie man das wasser absehen oder abwegen soll, ob man das in ein Schloss oder Statt fu eren mo ge, und wie man die Bru nne suchen soll. Zum Vierden, sindt diey Instrument, die mo gen in der gantzen welt bey Tag und bey Nacht gebraucht werden: vnnd haben gar vil und manicherlay breu che, und all geschiecht der Stunden, behalten a

      Ingolstadii [Inglstadt] An. M.D.XXXIII. 1533 - An exceptionally well-restored copy of the first and only early edition of this superb work on astronomical and scientific instruments. The book is housed in a grey card slipcase, edged in black morocco. Folio, 289x193mm. In a modern black morocco binding, with author, title and publication date gilt on spine. Title-page in red and black, with a half-page woodcut illustration; the arms of 'Ioannis Gulielmi a Loubemberg' [Johannes Wilhelm von Loubemberg] are on the verso. Signatures: two unsigned leaves, A-N4; i.e. 54 leaves [108 pages]. The lower foredge corners of the final two leaves have been expertly repaired, not touching the text area. Profusely illustrated throughout with woodcuts of scientific instruments and their applications. A lovely crisp and clean copy. Peter Bienewitz or Benewitz (later Latinised to Petrus Apianus or Peter Apian) was born in 1495, in Leisnig, Saxony. The son of a shoemaker, Apianus was educated at the Latin school in Rochlitz and studied mathematics, astronomy and geography in Leipzig; before moving to Vienna in 1519 to continue his studies at the University. In 1524 Apianus published 'Cosmographicus liber', a major work on navigation. In 1527 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics to the University of Ingolstadt where he published 'Ein newe und wolgegrundete underweisung', a handbook of commercial arithmetic, in 1527, depicted in the painting The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger. Emperor Charles V was so impressed by 'Cosmographicus liber' that he honoured Apianus in Regensburg in 1530; he also granted him the right to print in 1532 and a civil coat of arms in 1534. Apianus published ‘ Observation unnd urtels des jungst erschinnen Cometen’, his comet observations, and 'Quadrans Apiani astronomicus', a book on sextants, in Ingolstadt in 1532. The following year his work on sundials, 'Horoscopion Apiani', was published. Apianus' German-language 'Instrument Buch', a scientific book on astronomical instruments, in which the Nocturnal was first described, was also published in 1533. 'Instrumentum primi mobilis', a book on trigonometry, containing sine tables, was published in Nuremberg in 1534. Apianus dedicated his next major work, 'Astronomicum Caesareum', published in Ingolstadt in 1540, to the Emperor Charles V. The new scientific ideas contained in the book - the use of solar eclipses to determine longitude and descriptions of five comets, including Halley's comet - so pleased Charles V that he appointed Apianus court mathematician and knighted him and his three brothers in 1541. Apian died in Ingolstadt in 1552. The 'Instrument Buch' is not recorded in Adams, Brunet or Graesse. COPAC reports only five locations in UK libraries. British Library shelfmarks 716.i.5.(1.) and C.113.h.7. (Digital photographs may be available on request.)