As a bookworm with a PHD in 16th century Renaissance codices, I can tell you that this first edition of the first part of Copernicus’s, De revolutionibus orbium cœlestium, is a spectacularly tasty specimen. When I took my first bite, I easily recognized the vellum outer cover (a typical material used for covers when this book was published in 1543) stretched over some kind of wood. The spine also includes the name of the book in gold gilded letters.
Next, I delicately ate through the front cover, right below the bookplates with surgical precision (so as to not damage the bookplates, so I can further investigate them). I find there are three bookplates present. The first looks to be a family library crest that includes a crown and the writing “Ex Libris Marchionis Salsae,” in an almost cursive-like font. This is the bookplate of Giovanni Domenico Berio and his son Francesco Maria (Salsae Bookplate). The second is a family crest with two angles on the side of the crest along with a crown above the crest, and the motto, “Comme Je Fus” (Ward book Plate); This is the bookplate of William Ward, the third Viscount Dudley and Ward. The final bookplate is a Stanford book plate detailing the book as part of the Newton collection, with a note it was a gift from Alfred W. Van Sinderen, and a subsequent stamp denoting the withdrawal of the book from its library.There also seems to have been some kind of rectangular paper on the back inside cover that, for now, is lost to time.
Above the bookplates I process some newer paper in my gut that signifies some more information about the piece, and also on the other side in relation to the corrections made by (my mouth can’t quite make out the full name) K. Paul III from the Holy Office. The note rewrites all of the Latin corrections in one spot, but does not translate them. And right underneath this includes more on Copernicus’s life.
The book was gifted to SDSU in 1991, as stated on the donor page accompanying the book, by The Friends of the Malcolm a Love Library. The book is mostly in Latin, but also includes some Greek. And the church edits are in Church Latin shorthand. The publisher is Vittembergæ : Excusum per Iohannem Lufft, and the editor is cited to be G.J. Rhäticus (SDSU Special Collections). Although there also seems to be another publisher: Norimbergæ apud Ioh. Ptereium, Anno M. D. XLIII. But I believe Vittembergæ : Excusum per Iohannem Lufft is actually the printer as Excusum can be Latin for “to print” or “to forge” (https://www.latin-is-simple.com/en/vocabulary/verb/3773/). Either way the translation for the places cite the book being made in Germany. The back half of the book is more pristine than the front half, particularly a little bit after the famous page with the solar system diagram. Signatures are also present on the pages.
Some pages took longer than others to chew through, which means they are of varied thicknesses. Faint horizontal lines on the paper and the taste of fibers—which are also visible to the naked human eye—leads me to believe the paper is of the cotton-rag variety.
While making my tunnel I noted water damage on some of the pages. When going through the binding it is also obviously bounded by some light blue-green thread as well as tan thread, and is made up of multiple folios gathered together. And there are signs of other bookworms studying the pages of this book.
While the typeface is Roman, the ink itself pools in different places. This points to the use of a Gutenberg-like printing press being used, due to the ink being spread by hand (A video showing the process and similar ink pooling). The ink is black for the main text, and for the edits and corrections done by the church the ink is red (now a more rusted red-brown). There are also signs of the red-brown ink in multiple other places in the book.
Most sections also include an Ornamental initial lettering of the inhabited variety that includes cherubs and other figures. The book also contains various tables with data in them, the lines never quite matching up perfectly. But this book also has some amazing examples of geometric printing done for the complicated diagrams explaining the math.
Some other interesting quirks about this particular book I found includes some kind of fiber—maybe even hair—stuck to the ink on one of the pages and looks as if it is even coated in the ink. There is also a stray thread sticking out from one of the pages that seems to match the tan binding thread. There is also a page where I got a mouthful of red-brown ink due to what seems to be an ink spill of some sort on one of the pages. Stanford also added a seal on a couple pages. Lastly (even more curiously) there seems to be a page ripped completely out of the book.
Finally, the content of the book, which while all in Latin—and some Greek—is about our solar system and Copernicus’s findings in relation to a Heliocentric system along with the revolutions of the planets around the sun (also includes the moon around the Earth).
I will now pass the mic to my research assistant at SDSU—Sierra Beggs—for further postulation. Now, one particular feature I found particularly interesting is the embossed Stanford seal mentioned previously by Dr. Bookworm. First, it is important to try and pinpoint when Stanford had the book.
Stanford acquired the book as a gift from one Mr. Alfred W. Van Sinderen sometime between 1945 and 1990. Since Van Sinderen graduated Yale in 1945, and subsequently went to Harvad to get a business degree, it is more than likely to have been sometime in the 1950s-1980s (Yale Van Sinderen, Life of Van Sinderen, Death of Sinderen). Since it is a rare item, it would make more sense for it to be acquired by him and gifted to the Stanford library after becoming more established. But the main point to be made is that the seal itself shows that during this time in Stanford history, ownership of a rare item—and the knowledge inside—was more important than the item itself, instead of an item to be preserved it became a status and power symbol for an ‘elite’ institution.
There is no doubt that Copernicus’s work was revolutionary. His heliocentric solar system became the center of our understanding of our solar system in the present day. It is an invaluable piece of history that needs to be preserved, especially this first edition copy. Stanford already had a bookplate taped on the inside of the front cover, so why use an embossed seal on these precious pages? While inkless, an embossing seal still creates an indelible impression on the front and back of a page, one raised and the other indented. This is an alteration that changes the physicality of the paper. It is something that is irreversible without further damaging the book. This permanent change does not seem to be done for the sake of preservation, but solely to mark possession of the book and leave a mark of prestige.
The seal itself proudly says “STANDFORD LIBRARY,” and includes their famous sequoia tree in the center. It’s a stamp that leaves no interpretation on whose stamp it is, and the all caps gives it this booming effect. It is a stamp that is obvious and forthright. At this point it is more than just saying ‘it’s in our collection,’ but a trace purposefully left to exude a ‘mine, mine, mine,’ mentality. And later down the line when other people flip through its pages, it gives a, ‘look, this was mine once’ mentality. People will—in no uncertain terms—know that the Stanford library once held this piece of history. It’s a very showy way of claiming the book, and one that screams ‘I’m better than you, I’m allowed to mark this piece of history permanently.’ A sign of power. That they have the power to make this mark.
On top of that, if the pages chosen were damaged, then the pages are either deemed as not important, or possibly more important. It is not just marking one, but two pages due to the indentation nature of the seal. All of the seals are in the later half of the book, which is in more pristine condition than the pages in the front half; this is because the front pages seem to have been handled more than the back pages. Stanford, thus, could have believed that the back half must not be as important as the front half of the book, and chose these specific pages for this reason. It is more likely that these pages were deemed as unimportant, and thus ok to be damaged for the seal. After some digging, the first page the seal appears on is the last page of book four chapter three, and the beginning of chapter four, “The moon’s revolutions, and the details of its motions” (Rosen 208) . And also occur on the very last page of the book, which is about “Computing the latitudes of the five planets” (Rosen 379). This could also be evidence for the importance of these pages, as one involves the moon that revolves around us, and the other is the very last page of the book. The moon itself is the closest nonhuman made celestial object to us, which could be seen as very significant. And the last page denotes the end, something Stanford may have wanted to claim—the end of the book as a final calling card. That, in the end, Stanford will be remembered and its prestige will carry on forever.
Overall, the seal is unnecessary, there is no reason that Stanford needed to use an embossed seal with their library’s logo that would aid in the preservation of this historic object nor in the study of it. Instead, it can be seen as a desecration—while it is a part of this specific copy of Copernicus’s book, and thus the book’s history—it does not make it something that was absolutely necessary. The bookplate at the front was enough, even if Stanford was afraid of someone stealing it—which again is about ownership—that did not translate to marking the book in a permanent capacity.
Further points of study are needed to really flesh this idea out. I would like to reach out to the Special Collections at Stanford to inquire about the origins of when the seal was used, when it stopped being used, and if it is still in use today. It would also be interesting to see when exactly they had the book, as it is a rare item, they most likely have archival records on when it was donated and when it was withdrawn. There is no information on their archive site on it, so it is something that requires a one-on-one chat with someone in Special Collections (specifically the Newton collection, because that’s the collection this book was a part of during its time at Stanford). (It would also be cool to translate the Latin Church short hand, just to see the actual reasons the edits were being made—especially because the diagram with sun in the center wasn’t crossed out.) And that curious fiber/hair could also be an interesting point of study. Could it be from one of the workers working on the printing press? Is there any possibility of it being Copernicus’s? (probably not) Or maybe from the church official making the corrections? Lastly, was there really a page ripped out? Was it a mistake? Why was it ripped out and what was on it? All of these are questions I will try and continue looking into.
Now enjoy a couple of photos of me at Special Collections :).
(P.s. I will add the proper MLA citations [not just the links] when my migraine is actually gone.)