GALILEI, Galileo (1564-1642). Systema cosmicum... in quo quatuor dialogis, de duobus maximis mundi systematibus, Ptolemaico et Copernicano. Translated from Italian by Matthias Bernegger (1582-1640). Strasbourg: D. Hauttius for the Elzevirs [at Leiden], 1635.

4to (197 x 151mm). Engraved additional title, full-page engraved portrait by Jacob van der Heyden, woodcut diagrams, with final leaf of errata. (Evenly browned, washed, some spotting, some upper margins with small bleach stains, 5 leaves with corner repairs, burn hole on Ee3 affecting a letter, paper repair on Q2 slightly obscuring a few letters on Q2.) Modern vellum over stiff boards (some bowing, bookseller's description mounted on front free endpaper).

FIRST LATIN EDITION of the Dialogo, the summation of Galileo's astronomical thought and the work which directly precipitated his trial. The Dialogo takes the form of a conversation between supporters of the rival cosmic systems; although ostensibly impartial, it proved a step too far, and in 1633 Galileo was tried, forced to abjure Copernicanism and sentenced to permanent house arrest. The Dialogo itself was banned. This Latin edition includes two tracts in the appendix not in the Italian edition of 1632, and it is the only major work of Galileo's to be published outside Italy during his lifetime. The two added Latin tracts are the introduction to Kepler's Astronomia nova (pp. 459-464), and a letter by Paolo Antonio Foscarini defending the truth of Copernicanism and rebutting the charge that it conflicted with scripture (pp. 465-495). Willems notes the "mediocre" quality of the paper used. Brunet II, 1462; Carli and Favaro 148; Cinti 96; Riccardi I, 513; Willems 426; cf. Grolier/Horblit Science 18c; Printing and the Mind of Man 128.