Cosmographia Petri Apiani (Cosmographia, or A View of Terrestrial and Celestial Globes)
Peter Apian, author
Gemma Frisius, editor
Arnold Birckmann, Coloniae Agrippinae Press, publisher
1574 CE, Antwerp, Habsburg Netherlands (present-day Belgium)
Ink on paper
This 1574 edition of Cosmographia includes several movable dials that spin and turn in order to calculate and predict the movement of the cosmos. Made with concentric circles of printed paper, these revolving diagrams, called volvelles, would have been used as tools for observing the surrounding world to better understand humankind’s place in it. Volvelles are instruments that are meant to be moved and manipulated. Since they were frequently handled by the book’s owners, it is rare for them to be preserved in such excellent condition. The example here shows a map of the known world and a dial to calculate the movement of the planets throughout the year.
Emma P. Holter