First Edition of Nicolaus Copernicus' Book Could Cost $2.5 Million; How Did It Revolutionize Astronomy?

Nicolaus Copernicus' book, "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium," Latin for "On the revolutions of the celestial spheres," was published in 1543. It set the path for subsequent scientists, like Galileo Galilei, and revolutionized the field of astronomy.

A first edition of Copernicus' book, in which he suggested that the Earth circled the Sun rather than the other way around, will be available for sale next month and is estimated to be worth $2.5 million.

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US antique bookseller Jonathan Hill displays a rare first edition of Nicolaus Copernicus' revolutionary book on the planet system at the Tokyo International antique bookfair on March 12, 2008.

Controversial and Rare Manuscript of Copernicus' Book

According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Copernicus' book was considered highly controversial when it was written. It veered away from the common belief that the Sun revolves around the Moon and instead argued a heliocentric model of the universe that puts the Sun at the center of the Solar System.

Since it went against the widely accepted Catholic Church doctrine, the Vatican swiftly banned the book, that only about 277 known first editions existed worldwide. Only a handful of people are also known to possess a copy, and in 2008, Christie's auctioned a similar copy for $2.2 million.

Sophia Rare Books founder Christian Westergaard told Live Science that the book only occasionally comes in the auction as it is rare, especially in a "perfect" condition.

Westergaard added that the only noticeable difference in the leather-bound book is the binding, which might have been replaced in the 18th century. Copies on the market are frequently tampered with, wherein institutional stamps are removed, pages chemically cleaned, and other restoration work is done. But none of that is in the copy to be auctioned next month.

The first edition copy also contains several handwritten annotations, like the early names of the two possible book owners that can be seen under UV light. The rare manuscript will be auctioned during the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair from April 27 to 30.

Heliocentric Model of the Universe

Copernicus' book is said to have revolutionized the field of astronomy at a time when it was found to be controversial. As per Phys.org, the 16th and 17th centuries were seen as the start of the Scientific Revolution when the foundations of modern science were laid thanks to breakthroughs in physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and astronomy.

In his book, Copernicus proposed a universe model where the Earth, other planets, and stars all revolved around the Sun. While creating this model, he resolved the geocentric model's mathematical problems and inconsistencies.

In 1514, Copernicus began distributing his 40-page manuscript to astronomers and scholars describing his heliocentric hypothesis, which is divided into seven general principles. These principles are the following:

Not all celestial bodies revolve around a single point
Earth's center is the center of the orbit of the moon around Earth
Planets rotate around the Sun, which is located near the universe's center
Parallax is not observed in the stars since the distance between Earth and the Sun is incomparable to the distance between Earth and the Sun to the stars.
The daily rotation of the Earth affects the daily motion of the stars, which are immovable objects.
Earth moves around the Sun in different ways that cause the apparent annual migration of the latter.
Other planets seem to move in reverse due to Earth's orbital motion around the Sun.

Although it was not easy to accept the heliocentric model, it eventually replaced the geocentric model. Its impact on the field of astronomy help in understanding the universe.