Famous sundial with the form of a poplar leaf, with beautiful wo

Title: Famous sundial with the form of a poplar leaf, with beautiful woodcuts

APIANUS, Petrus.
Folium populi. instrumentum hoc a Petro Apiano iam rfcens [sic] inventum, et in figuram folii populi rfdactum [sic] per radios solis toto orbe horas cõmunes ostendit, ex quibus horæ ab ortu & occasu solis, deinde etiam horæ judeorum, ...
In disem newen Instrument, das die Form unnd Gestalt hat eines Blats, werden durch den Sonnen scheyn, in der gantzen Welt gefunden die gemaine Stunden des Tages, und auß der Selbigen, vermittels dises Blats magst du die Stunden vom Auff und Nidergang der Sonnen, des geleichen die Judenstund ... leichtlich erkhennen.
Description: [colophon:] Ingolstadt, [Petrus Apianus], 22 October 1533. Folio (30 x 20.5 cm). Modern boards with the original fly-leaves preserved. With the text in Latin and German, title-page in red and black with a large and finely executed woodcut by Hans Brosamer showing a diagram of the instrument flanked by a European and an Ottoman astronomer, each holding an astronomical instrument; a nearly full-page woodcut of the coat of arms of the dedicatee, J.G. of Loubenberg; a large woodcut diagram printed twice (in the Latin and in the German text); and 7 decorative initial letters. Without the folding plate included in a very small number of copies. [22] pp.

First edition, in Latin and German, of Apianus's description of his newly invented sundial with the form of a poplar leaf. This instrument can be used to tell the hours of the day, the times of sunrise and sunset, and the so-called "Jewish" hours dividing the time between sunrise and sunset into 12 parts. The stunning woodcuts were executed by Hans Brosamer (ca. 1500-1554), with his monogram on the title woodcut next to the image of a woodblock cutter's knife. The title in the present copy is in an uncorrected state, with "RFCENS" and "RFDACTUM" for "RECENS" and "REDACTUM."
Apianus (1495-1552), cartographer and professor of mathematics at the University of Ingolstadt, was a pioneer in the design of astronomical and geographical instruments. He set up a printing office in his own home in order to oversee his scientific publications.
With wormholes slightly affecting the text and illustrations, but otherwise a very good copy and with generous margins. Lacking the final blank leaf, but with a contemporary fly-leaf at the front and another at the back. A pioneering horological work, beautifully illustrated.
Adams A-1289; Berlin Kat. 1698; BMC STC German, p. 37; DSB I, pp. 178-179; Van Ortroy, Apian 106; Zinner, Astron. Instrumente, pp. 233-234; Zinner, Astron. Literatur 1513; cf. WorldCat (microfilm only); for Brosamer, see Thieme & Becker V, pp. 66-67.