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Astronomica
$35.95
Discover the legends of the constellations! This design highlights the craftsmanship involved in creating illuminated books such as De sideribus tractatus, a 15th-century manuscript copy of De astronomia. Though the 1st-century BC original is long lost, it has been kept alive by the scribes and miniaturists who reproduced it.
The original De astronomia is most commonly believed to have been composed late in the 1st century B.C. by C. Julius Hyginus, a freedman of Augustus Caesar and chief librarian of the then recently established Palatine Library in Rome. The original is long lost. Over the centuries, manuscript copies of the treatise were created in order to preserve Hyginus’ words and reflections.