Tycho finally yielded so far as to allow Pratensis to let the account of the star and the plan of the meteorological diary be printed, omitting the details of the latter. The book was therefore printed at Copenhagen in the year 1573, but very few copies appear to have been distributed or sent abroad, so that it afterwards became necessary to reprint the more important parts of it in the greater work, Astronomiæ Instauratæ Progymnasmata, on which Tycho was engaged during the last fourteen years of his life, and which was published after his death. The little book, De Nova Stella, is now extremely scarce, and does not appear to have been seen by any modern writer on the history of astronomy. It will therefore not appear inopportune if I give a somewhat detailed account of its contents in this place.[1]
On the back of the title-page is a versified address to the author from Professor Joh. Francisci Ripensis, one of his earliest friends. Then follows a letter from Pratensis, dated 3rd May 1573,[2] begging Tycho to print the book, at least the part relating to the star, the plan of the diary (if he should think the diary itself too long), and the forecast of the lunar eclipse. Tycho's answer comes next, dated "Knusdorp," 5th May. In this he remarks that
- ↑ The title given in Lalande's Bibliographie is erroneous. The complete title is: "Tychonis Brahe, Dani, De Nova et Nullius Aevi Memoria Prius Visa Stella iam pridem Anno a nato Christo 1572 mense Nouembrj primum Conspecta, Contemplatio Mathematica. Cui, præter exactam Eclipsis Lunaris, hujus Anni, pragmatian, Et elegantem in Vraniam Elegiam, Epistola quoque Dedicatoria accessit: in qua, nova et erudita conscribendi Diaria Metheorologica Methodus, utriusque Astrologiæ Studiosis, eodem Autore, proponitur. Cuius, ad hunc labentem annum, Exemplar, singulari industria elaboratum conscripsit, quod tamen, multiplicium Schematum exprimendorum, quo totum ferme constat, difficultate, edi, hac vice, temporis angustia non patiebatur." Hafniæ Impressit Lavrentius Benedictj, 1573. Printed in small 4to, 106 pp.
- ↑ Evidently written expressly for the book, as there is a previous letter from Pratensis in existence dated 16th April (T. B. et ad eum Doct. Vir. Epist., p. 8), in which he says that the figures are being cut, but that there is some difficulty about the paper; also that the word lucubrationes is not a good one for the title. Tycho must therefore have consented to the publication long before the 3rd of May.
