Unique dedication by Tycho Brahe

Autograph manuscripts of the astronomer Tycho Brahe are almost unheard of at auction, but at the book auction on 17 April, we present a hitherto unknown dedication from Tycho Brahe to another famous astronomer.

From Brahe to Rothmann

At the book auction on 17 April, we will be presenting a quite unique document – autograph dedication from Tycho Brahe to the German astronomer Christopher Rothmann, who was astronomer to Count Wilhelm IV of Hessen in Kassel. Like Tycho Brahe’s island, Hven, Kassel was a centre for astronomy in the late 16th century. Rothmann was a force to be reckoned with in the fields of mathematics and astronomy, and Tycho Brahe often corresponded with him about astronomical hypotheses and discoveries.

“Sent as a gift”

The dedication comes from the second volume of Brahe’s main work ”Astronomiae instavrata progymnasmata”, which was published in 1588, and which he subsequently sent to Rothmann in Kassel. The work contains the first presentation of Brahe’s Tychonic system, which was used extensively for a period until the Copernican worldview was finally accepted. Brahe sent copies of the work to a select group of important astronomers and influential people, and he writes in the dedication: “To the highly regarded gentleman Mr Christopher Rothmann, unique industrious mathematician for the noble prince, Count Wilhelm of Hessen, for his renowned knowledge and his outstanding expertise in astronomy. Sent as a gift from Tycho Brahe.” Rothmann’s copy has previously been mentioned in scientific literature about Brahe, but the dedication and its phrasing have been unknown until now.

Kepler’s laws

Another key figure in the world of science in the16th and 17th centuries was German astronomer and mathematician, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), who worked as Tycho Brahe’s assistant for a time. Like his mentor Brahe, Kepler derived his famous laws purely on the basis of observations and published several major works on astronomy during his lifetime. At this auction, his most influential work, Epitome Astronomia Copernicanae (1618-21), which contains the first comprehensive presentation of his three groundbreaking laws of planetary motion and his attempt to explain heavenly motions through physical causes, will be going under the hammer. The work was the first astronomy textbook based on the newly discovered principles. More than 50 years later, these principles formed the theoretical basis of Newton’s laws in the work Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica from (1687).

Scribblings, embryology and statistics

Like many of his peers, one of Kepler’s sidelines was writing horoscopes. An unusual autograph manuscript by Kepler, verified by German astronomer, W. Struve, who was head of the Pulkovo Observatory in St. Petersburg, is also up for auction. The document contains a query addressed to Kepler about preparing a horoscope. Below it, Kepler replies to the query in 4–5 lines. Today, original manuscripts by Kepler are as good as impossible to come across. Also up for auction are a number of important scientific first editions including Karl Ernst von Baer’s groundbreaking work on embryology “De Ovi Mammalium” from 1827 and Jacob Bernoulli’s statistical masterpiece “Ars Conjectandi” from 1713.

Preview and auction

The preview of the book auction takes place at our premises at Baltikavej 10, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø from 10 am–5 pm on Monday 16 April to Tuesday 17 April from 10 am–5 pm.
The hammer will fall online at bruun-rasmussen.dk from 6.30 pm on Tuesday 17 April.

View all book auction lots

Read about the erotica auction

Read about the works by H.C. Andersen and Asger Jorn

 

For further information, please contact:

Christine Almlund: +45 8818 1216 · cal@bruun-rasmussen.dk

Lærke Bøgh: +45 8818 1217 · lb@bruun-rasmussen.dk

 

 

For further information, please contact:

Christine Almlund: +45 8818 1216 · cal@bruun-rasmussen.dk

Lærke Bøgh: +45 8818 1217 · lb@bruun-rasmussen.dk