Galileo GALILEI - DIALOGO- the rare second edition - 1710

(ASTRONOMY; ILLUSTRATED; GALILEIANA) Galileo GALILEI (1564-1642)
Dialogo di Galileo Galilei linceo matematico supremo dello studio di Padova, e Pisa. E Filosofo, e Matematico primario del Serenissimo Gran Duca di Toscana. Dove ne i congressi di quattro giornate si discorre sopra i due massimi Sistemi del Mondo Tolemaico e Copernicano; Proponendo indeterminatamente le ragioni Filosofiche, e Naturali tanto per l’una, quanto per l’altra parte. In questa seconda impressione Accresciuto di una Lettera dello stesso, non più stampata, e di vari trattati di più Autori, i quali si veggono nel fine del Libro. Dedicato all’Illustriss. ed Eccellentiss. Signore il Signor D. Carlo Caraffa Pacecco, duca di Maddaloni, Marchese di Arienzo, Conte di Cerreto; Principe della Guardia &c. In Fiorenza (but Naples), no printer (but Lorenzo Ciccarelli), 1710

§ 4to (230 x170 ); [12],83,(30) 458 pp., (misbound, the letter to the Tuscany Grand Duchess placed at the beginning of the work, immediately after the “aviso al discreto lettore”) large engraved device of the Accademia della Crusca on title page, printed in red & black, woodcut initials and diagrams. Contemporary half vellum. manuscripted titles on spine, scattered stains of mold and dust (see pictures), but a good and complete copy on large paper.
Second edition in original language, truly scarce. The first edition was published in 1632 but in 1633 Galileo was tried and condemned as a heretic by the Inquisition because of the validation of the Copernican heliocentric system expressed in the work, theories that the author was forced to abjure. The work was not present in the standard Latin edition of the Opera (1656/55), it was Included in the Index of prohibited books in 1664 and no Italian edition was printed before the present one. Lorenzo Ciccarelli, a Neapolitan lawyer, published several works in Naples, most of which included in the Index, under false imprints; in the present edition he added to the original text works by Kepler and Antonio Foscarini, the condemnation of Galileo by the Vatican and his abjuration. Also present are a letter addressed to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany where Galileo explains the relation between science and Scripture, and a letter to Foscarini on the Copernican theory. “When Galileo (1564-1642) first published his Dialogo in 1632, defending the Copernican heliocentric view of our cosmos, the Catholic Church put him under house arrest and banned not just the Dialogo but also all of Galileo’s earlier writings. This censorship only fueled the demand for his works and several editions of his writings were published in France, England and the Netherlands throughout the 17th century. But as far as Italian editions were concerned, the 1710 printing of the Dialogo was only the second of its kind, due to the fact that it remained on the Index of Forbidden Books. ... the introductory letter to the reader at the beginning of the volume provides us with an important clue: the signature Cellenio Zacclori is (with the exception of one missing letter) an anagram for Lorenzo Ciccarelli, a Neapolitan lawyer who ran a print shop in Naples that specialized in the publication of forbidden books. ... According to Vincenzo Ferrone, there is evidence that Ciccarelli’s shop was tolerated by some of the more progressive members of the Catholic Church, which helps to explain how we was able to elude shut-down by the authorities.” (Schechter).

MARKET VALUE : Two copies currently listed on the market, respectively priced at 8900 € and 7500 €.

REF : UTE SCHECHTER A clandestine edition of Galileo’s Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican, 1710, In: https://libraries.wm.edu/blog/post/clandestine-edition-galileo%E2%80%99s-dialogue-concerning-two-chief-world-systems-ptolemaic-and, posted on December 2, 2013; CINTI 168; CARLI & FAVARO 413; Printing and the Mind of Man 128 (for the first edition of 1632); VINCENZO FERRONE The intellectual roots of the Italian Enlightenment: Newtonian science, religion, and politics in the early eighteenth century Atlantic Highlands, N.J., Humanities Press, 1995, p. 34-35, 186-187, 334 (cited by Schechter).