I - ASTRONOMY MANUSCRIPT - 1672

Elegitur presents an exclusive: Presentation of the Manuscript

Astronomical Tables for Making Sun Horologists
In Italian, Babylonian, French and German use
Compute for the Arctic Pole, Degrees 45 – 1672**

A manuscript like this constitutes a precious testimony to applied science in the 17th century, when astronomy, mathematics, and the art of gnomonic instruments were experiencing a period of extraordinary vitality. Its date—1672—places the work in the midst of the Baroque era, a period dominated by precise calculations, the spread of portable instruments, and the importance of measuring time.

This entirely handwritten codex, elegantly written in an extremely clear seventeenth-century Italian hand, contains a complex set of astronomical tables and geometric figures, intended for the construction and calibration of sundials according to various systems of calculating the hours:
- Italian
– Babylonian
- French
- German

The specification “compute for the Arctic Pole 45 degrees” indicates that the tables are calibrated for a typically Italian latitude (approximately that of Milan, Turin, Padua, Venice), allowing for a rare geographical contextualization.

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✦ Content of the work and structure

The manuscript is structured in an organic sequence of tables and technical-descriptive discussions, arranged with an almost typographical balance:

1. Angular tables and diagrams of the “Periphery”

The earliest maps illustrate large graduated circles, with double numbering for different time systems.
A full-page drawing features:
• graduated equatorial circle
• hour circle
• median lines for alignment
• an additional linear scale for parallel readings

These figures were indispensable for the construction of the sundial and for determining the hour lines on the gnomonic plates.

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2. Tables of wall declination and for the construction of hour lines

There are a large number of rich, precise and detailed tables:
• Tables of wall declinations for whole degrees
• Annual declinations of the Sun in the East and West
• Tropics and Equinoxes
• Shadows, parts, degrees and minutes

These are extremely complex calculations, difficult to perform without advanced tools.
This collection of tables was probably intended for a professional sundial maker, perhaps a practical mathematician, architect, or engineer.

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3. Theoretical and practical chapters

The textual part, extensive and well organized in numbered chapters (I, II, III, IV, V, VII...), presents:
• explanations on the calculation of Italian and Babylonian hours
• instructions for using the tables
• guide for building shadow lines
• description of the apparent motion of the Sun
• methodology for tracing sundials and declinations of walls

The language, although technical, retains an extraordinary seventeenth-century humanistic elegance.

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4. Illustrated gnomonic instruments

Among the most fascinating plates is the “Form of the Declinatory,” a masterful representation of a declinatory compass with complete graduations, essential for identifying the true meridian and the inclination of walls.

This image is of very high antiquarian interest:
• precise pen drawing
• strong educational value
• perfect example of a tool used by architects and artillerymen

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✦ Historical and cultural significance

The manuscript was written at a time in history when Italy was one of the main European centers for:
• practical mathematics
• military engineering
• applied astronomy
• monumental gnomonics

In the same period, illustrious figures such as:
• Egnazio Danti, author of famous sundials
• Galileo Galilei, who profoundly reformed observation practices
• Giovanni Battista Riccioli, mathematician and cartographer
• Athanasius Kircher, encyclopedic popularizer

Sundials, besides having a scientific value, were symbols of cosmic order, public and private instruments of prestige.

This manuscript falls within that branch of science for everyday use, intended for:
• architects who built palaces and churches
• nobles who wanted sundials in their gardens
• mathematicians who had to correct orientations
• military engineers engaged in measuring shadows to orient fortifications

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✦ Material characteristics

The code features:
• impeccable 17th century Italian writing
• wide margins
• thick and well-preserved paper
• tables and diagrams drawn with ruler and compass
• elegant layout with ink frames

This is not an improvised work: it is a real professional treatise, probably produced for personal use or as a workshop manual.

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✦ Conclusion

The manuscript Astronomical Tables for Making Sun Horologists (1672) is an extraordinary document of seventeenth-century Italian applied science.
It combines mathematical rigor, graphic expertise, practical function and humanistic refinement, constituting a rare example of a complete gnomonic treatise.

It is a precious testimony to the scientific mentality of the time, in which the motion of the Sun was not only an object of astronomical study, but also an everyday tool for ordering space, time, and architecture.

A piece that is not just a manuscript, but an authentic fragment of 17th-century European technical intelligence.

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