TIENE, Gaetano

Expositio in libro de celo & mundo. Cum questioe Domini Egidii de materia celi nuperrime impressa & diligentissime Emendata

      Woodcut initials & woodcut publisher's device on final leaf. Double columns, Gothic type. 84 leaves. Folio, attractive antique reversed calf. [Venice: B. Locatellus for O. Scotus, 13 July 1502].pFourth edition (1st ed.: Padua, 1476). Gaetano da Thiene (1387-1465), of Vicenza, was a student of Paolo Nicoletti of Venice (fl. 1420). Gaetano was one of the chief exponents of Italian Averroism and wrote a number of commentaries on the scientific works of Aristotle. "Books I and II of the De caelo treat of astronomical theories; III and IV, of the elements. Drawing upon theories advanced by his predecessors, Aristotle's theories in general may be summarized as representing the earth as fixed at the center of a spherical universe, with the spheres of the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in orbit around the earth, and beyond them the sphere of the fixed stars and the realm of the primum movens or force which, every twenty-four hours, caused the planetary spheres to complete their revolutions, while each planet with an individual motion moved at times slightly retrograde."!Stillwell, The Awakening Interest in Science during the First Century of Printing, pp. 11-12. Leaves 78-end contain the De materia coeli of Egidio Colonna (d. 1316), also known as Giles of Rome. A disciple of Thomas Aquinas while a student in Paris, Colonna was the first Augustinian appointed to teach in the University of Paris and his deep learning earned for him the title of Doctor fundatissimus. In 1295 he was appointed Archbishop of Bourges by Pope Boniface VIII. Colonna's De materia coeli is "especially noteworthy...[it] takes the position -- against Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and the majority of contemporary scholars -- that celestial matter is identical to that of the sublunary world."!D.S.B., V, p. 403. Fine copy. Adams G-1033!(under Gratia Dei).. First Edition. Hard cover.