The Most Ancient Rare Books

A rare study written in Latin describing A celestial arabic globe from the Borgia Museum in Velletri is one of the oldest books in theLibrary’s rare books collection. It was written by both the authors “Simon Asimano” and “Josephi Toueldi” and was printed in 1790. The work comprises Simone Assemani’s history of Arabic astronomy; two letters from Giuseppe Toaldo, Professor of Astronomy at Padua University, concerning the Ayyubid celestial globe in Cardinal Stefano Borgia’s museum in Velletri. The bronze celestial globe was made by Qaysar ibn Abu ‘l-Qasim ibn Musafir al-abraqi al-Hafani on the orders of the sixth Ayyubid caliph, Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr ibn Ayyub in 622 H (AD 1225). The celestial sphere contains Assemani’s own detailed description of the globe, with the three plates and a catalog of the stars engraved on the globe; an excerpt from the Arabic text with the Latin version.