Among the most valuable old prints in the collection of the Polish Museum in Rapperswil is the second edition of Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ('On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres'), which was printed in 1566 in Basel by Adam Petri, in his renowned officina 'Officina Henricpetrina'.

Significance "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium"

The work "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), written between 1514 and 1530, was first published in 1543 in Nuremberg. This publication sparked a revolution in the science of the time by proposing the heliocentric theory, which assumed that the Earth and other planets revolved around the Sun. This theory was the opposite of the then dominant view of the Earth's central and static position in the cosmos. Copernicus based his conclusions on precise astronomical observations and mathematical calculations.

At first, Copernicus' theory received a lot of attention among specialists and theologians, and was even well received by high representatives of the Roman Catholic Church. However, after the Council of Trent (1545-1563), it began to be seen as contradicting the interpretation of Scripture, which led to the work being placed on the index of banned books in 1616. It was not removed from this list until 1822. Copernicus' work in the late 17th and early 18th centuries was studied almost exclusively by scientists.

The Rapperswil copy

The copy located in Rapperswil was printed in one of the most important printing centres of the time, Basel. The 'Officina Henricpetrina' printing house of Adam Petri was known for publishing many important works by Polish humanists such as Marcin Kromer, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski and Stanisław Orzechowski. The Swiss printer clearly marked his contribution to the popularisation of these authors by placing the mark of his publishing house on the pages of the title page. Also in the edition of Copernicus' work from the collection of the Polish Museum in Rapperswil, we find the printer's symbol in the form of a visualisation of a passage from the Book of Jeremiah (Jer. 23, 29): "Is not my word like fire [...] and like a hammer that breaks the rock". This print is special not only for its content, but also for its careful production. Each page contains one column of text and decorative initials. Written in Latin, the text is complemented by illustrations - geometric drawings and the well-known heliocentric system.

The publication was presented in the new premises of the Polish Museum in Hotel Schwanen during the temporary exhibition 'Copernicus. The Man Who Moved the Earth" in 2023.