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GRASSI, Orazio (1590-1654). Libra astronomica ac philosophica que Galilaei Galilaei . Perugia: Marco Naccarini, 1619.
GRASSI, Orazio (1590-1654). Libra astronomica ac philosophica que Galilaei Galilaei . Perugia: Marco Naccarini, 1619. 4 o (191 x 136 mm). Engraved vignette of one of the 1618 comets on title, woodcuts in text. (Some pale spotting.) Modern vellum over pasteboard (covers slightly bowed). FIRST EDITION of Grassi's attack on Galileo's theory of comets, which had been expressed under his disciple Mario Guiducci's name in his Discorso of 1619 (see lots 239-240). The work provoked the "controversy of the comets," and a wealth of published attacks between the scientists, culminating in Galileo's Il Saggiatore . Grassi was a Jesuit mathematician who published using the pseudonym of Lothario Sarsi. RARE: according to American Book Prices Current , the last copy to appear at auction was the Honeyman copy, sold Sotheby's New York, 6 November 1979, lot 1539. Cinti 64; Riccardi I:628.