Calendarium

Calendarium

This is a historic incunabulum, a printed book predating 1501, and represents numerous firsts for book printing. It is the first work published by the Venetian printing house founded in 1476 by Bernard Maler, Peter Löslein (d. ca. 1487), and Erhard Ratdolt (1442 – 1528), the first book to be printed in Italy with woodcut initials printed alongside the text instead of leaving the space blank to be filled in later by an illuminator, and the first book to be dated using Hindu-Arabic numerals. Finally, it is the first book to feature a separate title page, along with an imprint specifying the place and date of its publication, and the names of its printers. The Calendarium by Johannes Müller von Königsberg (1436–76), better known as Regiomontanus, was first published in Latin and Italian in 1476, followed by a German edition in 1478. The work is adorned with various charts and tables concerning astronomy and the calculation of the calendar year, as well as engraved initials, which adorn the elegant humanist text.

Inspiration for Copernicus

Regiomontanus was one of the leading mathematicians and astronomers of his day and was among the intellectuals commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV (1414–84) to work on the Gregorian calendar. Although he died months after his arrival, his body of work continued to be useful after his death. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) later stated that Regiomontanus was a major influence on his own work. This codex is thus of tremendous value both for the development of book printing as well our understanding of the universe and our place in it.