Rara Magnetica

a repository of texts and images related to the premodern research on magnetism

created by christoph sander

Repository

	All Image Collections at a Glance Images related to magnetism in early-modern science Vikus viewer for all images (updated frequently), list of all sources included All of the c. 175 images found in manuscript and printed copies of Peregrinus' work Vikus viewer for all images (currently some image permissions are still pending), list of all sources used
	Petrus Peregrinus: Epistola de magnete (1269) All of the c. 175 images found in manuscript and printed copies of Peregrinus' work Vikus viewer for all images (currently some image permissions are still pending), list of all sources used The anonymous edition attributed to Raimundus Lullus and printed before 1520 (De virtute magnetis) See info PDF, source, census of copies, read&search Achilles Pirmin Gasser's 1558 edition De magnete, seu Rota perpetui motus, libellus See info PDF, source, census of copies, read&search, SCTA Jean Taisnier's plagiarism De natura magnetis Latin edition of 1562: info PDF, source, read&search English translation of 1575 (A very necessarie and profitable booke concerning nauigation): info PDF, source, EEBO, read&search manuscript copy of the Latin edition: info PDF, source, read&search Antonio Pigafetta's Italian translation Trattato della pietra calamita, et di una rota del moto perpetuo See info PDF, source, scan (structured IIIF), read&search An anonymous English translation of Gassser's edition of 1558 in manuscript (Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, Ms. 174/95, p. 395-441) See scan (structured IIIF)
	Anonymous: Ex Paracelso, Plinio et aliis de magnete (c. 1550) A manuscript with excerpts on the magnet in Copenhagen, Det Arnamagnaeanske Institut, no. 2403, fols. 1r–3r See scan (structured IIIF)
	Ludovico Beccadelli: De magnete (c. 1550) A manuscript with excerpts on the magnet in Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, Ms. Pal. 1033–26 See scan (structured IIIF)
	Leonardo Garzoni: Trattato delli maravigliosi effetti della calamita et delle cause loro (c. 1590) The manuscript in Madrid, National Library of Spain, Mss/2020 See info PDF, source, scan (structured IIIF), read&search For more background on this source see my article: Early-Modern Magnetism: Uncovering New Textual Links between Leonardo Garzoni SJ (1543–1592), Paolo Sarpi OSM (1552–1623), Giambattista Della Porta (1535–1615), and the Accademia Dei Lincei. Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu 85, no. 2 (2016): 303–63. An overview of all images in Mss/2020 Vikus viewer for all images
	William Gilbert: De magnete (1600) The printed editions London 1600, see info PDF, source, read&search, translation Stettin 1628, see info PDF, source, read&search Frankfurt 1629, see source, read&search Stettin 1633, see source, read&search An overview of all images in the 1600 and the 1628 editions Vikus viewer for all images A database of all known copies of all four editions of Gilbert's De magnete (1600, 1628, 1629, 1633) for all available digital copies online, see here Enter the census database here
	Leone Allacci: De magnete libri tres (1625) The manuscript in Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, Allacci LXXVII See scan (structured IIIF) For more background on this source see my article: Magnetism for Librarians. Leone Allacci’s De magnete (1625) and Its Relation to Giulio Cesare LaGalla’s Disputatio de sympathia et antipathia (1623). Erudition and the Republic of Letters 5, no. 3 (2020): 274–307.
	Niccolò Cabeo: Philosophia magnetica (1629) The Ferrara edition See source, info PDF, SCTA, read&search
	Benedetto Castelli: Discorso sopra la calamita (1639) The manuscript in Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Gal., 111., fol. 191r-206v See info PDF, transcription, source, read&search
	Athanasius Kircher: Ars Magnesia (1631) and Magnes (1641) The editions Ars Magnesia, Wurzburg 1631, see info PDF, source, read&search Magnes, Rome 1641, see source, read&search Magnes, Cologne 1643, see source, read&search Magnes, Rome 1654, see info PDF, source, read&search An overview of all images in the 1641 and the 1654 editions Vikus viewer for all images A database of known copies of all four editions of Kircher's Ars magnesia and Magnes (1631, 1641, 1643, 1654) for all available digital copies online, see here Enter the census database here
	René Descartes: Principia philosophiae (1644) The Latin editio princeps See transcription, source An anonymous German translation in manuscript in Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek, Chart. A 707, fols. 190r–202v section on magnetism: scan (structured IIIF), info PDF, read&search, SCTA, catalogue
	Laurens Reael and Kaspar van Baerle: Observatien of ondervindingen aen de magneetsteen: en de magnetische kracht der aerde (1651) Reael's Dutch experiments and observations followed by van Baerle's Latin natural philosophical explanations See info PDF, source, read&search
	Niccolò Zucchi: Philosophia magnetica per principia propria proposita et ad prima in suo genere promota (c. 1653) The manuscript in Rome, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale "Vittorio Emanuele II", Fondo Gesuitico 1323, fols. 59r–78r section on magnetism: scan (structured IIIF) In his manuscript, Zucchi reworked his printed Dissertatio magnetica de primo magnetico, & causis progressionum magneticarum (1649) section on magnetism: source
	Anonymous: De Magnete, et virtutibus Magnetis (after 1650) The anonymous manuscript in Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Cr. 1.28, p. 35-53 section on magnetism: scan (structured IIIF)
	Gustav Hellmann (ed.): Rara magnetica (1269-1599), Berlin 1898 The full collection of 10 sources for the early history of geomagnetism Download as PDF content: Einleitung (pp. 7-25): 1) Petrus Peregrinus de Maricourt: De Magnete (1269 - Druck von 1558) (pp. 29-41) 2) Francisco Falero: Del Nordestear de la Agujas (1535) (pp. 42-46) 3) Pedro Nunes: Estromento de Sombras (1537) (pp. 47-48) 4) Jâo de Castro: Observacoes Magneticas (1538-1541) (pp. 49-64) 5) Georg Hartmann: Neigung der Magnetnadel (1544) (pp. 65-66) 6) Gerharde Mercator: De ratione magnetis circa navigationem (1546) (pp. 67-68) 7) Martin Cortés: De la Piedra Yman (1551) (pp. 69-81) 8) Robert Norman: The New Attractive (1581) (pp. 85-105) 9) William Borough: A Discours of the Variation (1581) (pp. 107-165) 10) Simon Stevin: De Havenvinding (1599) (pp. 167-174)