Details

Subjects:

Jesuits.
Astronomy.
Jesuits -- Italy.
Solar system.
Italy.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Diagrams.
Pen and wash drawings.
Theses.
Manuscripts, Digital.
Manuscripts, Latin.

Language:

Latin.

Summary:

Thesis from an examination under the auspices of Stephanus Bellinius (Stefano Bellini, 1740-1831), bishop of Recanati-Loreto (1807-1831), by a student at the Jesuit seminary in Recanati. The text discusses and illustrates the Aristotelian, Tychonic, and Copernican systems, with a consideration of the religious opposition to Copernicus and an argument that the Copernican system is compatible with Catholic faith. The text and illustrations include information from astronomical discoveries of the late 18th and early 19th century.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from title page (f. i recto).
Collation: Paper, i + 46 + 11 foldouts; 1² 2-3¹⁰ 4-6⁸; [i-ii], 1-31, [32-33], 34-36, 36-37, [38-39], 40-42, [43]; contemporary foliation in roman numerals, upper center recto. Catchwords on most pages.
Layout: Written in 35-50 long lines; verticals marked by folding.
Script: Written in a cursive script.
Decoration: 11 foldout astronomical diagrams in ink, some with pen and wash, presenting 12 figures referred to in the text, including the Aristotelian (Fig. 1), Tychonic (Fig. 2), and Copernican (Fig. 3) systems, 8 of the diagrams are attributed to Ant. Bettini, 1 to Paris Ghirardellius; ornamental title page border in pen and wash (f. i).
Watermarks: Eagle on mountains inscribed in a circle; crowned fleur-de-lis; eagle on mountains with L. MERLI below and countermark ASCOLI.
Binding: Printed paper over pasteboard.
Origin: Written at the Jesuit seminary at Recanati, Italy, after 1806 (latest footnote, f. 4r).
Some oxidation of ink, particularly in the foldout diagrams.

Local notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Penn Provenance:

Appears in Pickering & Chatto's General Cat. 717 (1994), no. 12.
Formerly owned by John D. Stanitz (Cleveland, Ohio), Ms. 36.
Acquired by Lawrence J. Schoenberg with other Stanitz manuscripts, Sept. 1997.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2011.
Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2016.

Cited in:

Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 64 (LJS 205).

Cited as:

UPenn LJS 205.

Contributor:

Stanitz, John D., former owner.
Schoenberg, Lawrence J., former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

OCLC:

747712377

Web link:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page