KEPLER, Johannes (1571-1630). Ad vitellionem paralipomena, quibus astronomiæ pars optica traditur, Frankfurt, 1604, contemporary calf. FIRST EDITION.

KEPLER, Johannes (1571-1630).  Ad vitellionem paralipomena, quibus astronomiæ pars optica traditur; potissimum de artificosa a observatione et æestimatione diametrorum deliquiorum; solis et lunæ. Cum exemplis insignum eclipsium. Frankfurt: Apud Claudium Marnium et Hæredes Ioannis Aubrii, 1604. 4to (200 x 158mm). Woodcut printer's device on title, headpieces and initials, engraved plate, diagrams, 2 full-page, tables, 2 full-page, 2-pages of errata after the Index (lacks all before title, title and final errata leaf detached, the large "Tabula parallactica" printed on brown paper and detached [probably a later facsimile], browned, spotted and stained throughout, a few small holes towards the end with very slight loss or obfuscation of text). Contemporary panelled calf, red edges (worn, with surface cracking, rebacked). Provenance: The John Crerar Library, Chicago (bookplate, with cancellation stamp dated 7/2/84 beneath, and shelf mark at foot of spine); old illegible signature on title; later signature of W. Bowman on verso of title. FIRST EDITION of this important work on, inter alia, ophthalmology and astronomy, in which the author introduces the terms 'prism', 'lens' and 'meniscus'. The first part of the work deals with the functions and workings of the human eye; the second, divided into six sections, includes "not only a discussion of parallax, astronomical refraction, and his eclipse instruments but also the annual variation in the apparent size of the sun. Since the changing size of the solar image is inversely proportional to the sun's distance, this key problem was closely related to his planetary theory" (DSB). Not in Brunet; Caspar Bibliotheca Kepleriana 18; Cinti 13; Garrison p. 260; Hirschberg 308; Honeyman V, 1781; Krivatsy 6343; Zinner 3993.