„Nicolao Copernici Torinensis de Revolvitionibvs Orbium coelestium, Libri VI”
This is a unique copy of the first edition of Nicolaus Copernicus’ work “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres” preserved in the Copernican Library in Toruń.
The first edition was published in Nuremberg in 1543 and is one of 14 volumes that remain in Polish collections today. The book has valuable regional provenance, as it comes from the collections of the Academic Gymnasium Library in Toruń. This is confirmed by the stamp of the title page and the donation note indicating its donation to the library at the beginning of the 19th century by the Goffstein family, Toruń patricians, owners of the Royal Pharmacy.
Divided into six books, Nicolaus Copernicus’ work presents an exposition of the heliocentric theory. The introductory section includes an anonymous foreword by Andrzej Osiander, a letter from Cardinal Nicolaus Schönberg addressed to Copernicus, and a dedicatory letter to Pope Paul III, in which the astronomer sought protection in anticipation of criticism.
Following page 59, a sixteenth-century woodcut map titled Charta Cosmographica, Cum Ventorum Propria Natura et Operatione by Peter Apian and Gemma Frisius was pasted in.
The volume from the Copernican Library bears two reference numbers: a new one — 102689, and a preserved historical reference number — J.4°42.
Representatives of the #CopernicanAcademy are presenting this copy to institutions with which agreements 
are being established for joint scientific initiatives related to areas of interest to #NicolausCopernicus. 
Both the Latin and Polish versions of Nicolaus Copernicus’ On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres are publicly available at the link below. 
