Peter Apian. Astronomicum Caesareum. Ingolstadt. 1540.
An elaborately printed scientific book, the Astronomicum Caesareum was dedicated to Charles V. Its pages were colored by hand and filled with ingeniously contrived mechanisms such as movable paper disks called volvelles, which served as instruments capable of establishing the positions of the sun, moon, and planets. The copy of the Astronomicum at Indiana University’s Lilly Library is in excellent condition, with nearly all of the volvelles intact and operational. The volume is part of the Lilly’s valuable mathematics collection, which also includes the first English version of Euclid’s The Elements of Geometrie, published in 1570. Photo courtesy The Lilly Library, Indiana University Bloomington.