Earth
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Epitome of the Almagest, 1496
This book summarises Claudius Ptolemy’s theories – the basis of astronomy for over a thousand years. Around AD 150, Ptolemy wrote a work in Greek outlining known theories of astronomy. During the Middle Ages this was lost in Europe, but translated and widely used by Arabic astronomers who called it al-majisti (the greatest). Latin and Greek translations of Arabic works brought Ptolemy’s ideas back to Europe in the 1400s. This copy of the book shows an early example of recycling: it is bound in vellum that was originally used for church music.
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De revolutionibus celestium orbium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), 1543
Nicolaus Copernicus’s book, published shortly after the author’s death in 1543, offered scholars a new vision of the cosmos. Making the Sun rather than the Earth the centre of the universe offered a solution to many puzzling observations of the planets, although it would be many years before the controversial theory was widely accepted. This is a first edition of the book, one of only about 260 that survive.
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Ptolemaic armillary sphere, 1500–99
This model depicts Ptolemy’s Earth-centred cosmos. The bands illustrate the motion of the Sun, Moon and stars. Armillary spheres were used in medieval times to teach priests how to calculate the hours of prayer at sunrise and sunset. Portraits of noblemen often included an armillary sphere to suggest wisdom and learning. More recently, novelist Umberto Eco chose the armillary sphere as a gruesome murder weapon in his 1983 book The Name of the Rose.
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Copernican armillary sphere, 1807-46
With the Sun at the centre, this model demonstrates Nicolaus Copernicus’s vision of the cosmos. The central band shows the Sun’s apparent annual path through the zodiac, while the crossed bands mark the seasons. Copernican theory was firmly established by the time this model was made in the early 1800s. It includes recent discoveries such as the asteroids Ceres and Vesta. The model may have been used as a teaching aid or decorative item for a wealthy customer.