Rare first and only edition in Latin of the main astronomical and astrological work written by the German polymath Johannes Schöner (1477-1547) concerning the judgements of nativities and the method of finding the ascendant at birth. In 1543, Copernicus ground-breaking work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the revolutions of the heavenly spheres) was published in Nuremberg, an endeavour in which Schöner was partially involved by encouraging Copernicus to publish his magnum opus, replacing the geocentric model of the universe (the Ptolemaic System) with the heliocentric model. "... although preferring the method of Ptolemy in astrological judgments, Schöner maintained that the Copernican model was not unfavorable to astrology" (Thorndike).
The preface has been written by the German Lutheran reformer and philosopher Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560), who had invited Schöner to join his newly founded gymnasium in Nuremberg in 1526. The text is divided into 3 books, comprising respectively 16, 6 and 17 chapters, and is preceded by a 36-line poem in Latin by the German scholar Joachim Heller (ca. 1518-ca. 1590) and a dedication to the German cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545), dated 4 September 1545. In 1554, the only translation into Italian was published in Venice by Vincenzo Valgrisi.
Johannes Schöner, born in 1477 in Karlstadt am Main, was a German polymath who studied theology at the University of Erfurt. He started his career as a Roman Catholic priest, although he maintained a relationship with a woman with whom he had three children. He is best known as a mathematician, but was also active as astronomer, astrologer, geographer, cosmographer, cartographer, and maker of globes and scientific instruments. He once owned the only known copy of the famous Waldseemüller map of the world (published in 1507). Schöner had his own printing press at home and published various astronomical texts by the German mathematician Regiomontanus (Johannes Müller von Königsberg, 1436-1476). At the invitation of Philip Melanchthon, he moved in 1526 to Nuremberg and there he became the first professor of mathematics at the newly founded gymnasium "Aegidianum". In 1527, Schöner converted to Protestantism and eventually he died in Nuremberg in 1547.
With a few manuscript annotations and corrections in black ink in the text, some water staining in the head margin of most text leaves, occasionally slightly soiled or ink stained, lower margin of 4 leaves (Z1, c4, d1 & f2) partly torn and strengthened with paper. Otherwise in good condition. Adams S681; DSB XII, pp. 199-200; Caillet 9997; Houzeau/Lancaster 4827; Rosenthal 3532; Thorndike V, pp. 367-369; USTC 630184 (32 copies); VD16 S 3470 (16 copies); Zinner 1884.