Stoeffler, Johann. Elucidatio fabricae ususque astrolabii... Ad lectorem P.G.. Oppenheim, Jacob Koebel, 1512-1513. fol. 12 unnum. With woodcut title border, 1 armorial woodcut, 19 folio-sized and 4 smaller woodcuts with astrolabes and astrolabe parts as well as 3 woodcuts with sundials and 12 figurative woodcuts, 5 horoscope diagrams and a printer's mark. Numerous initials, some large, on black ground. Modern half leather binding with gilt-stamped spine title. (Spine faded). VD16 S-9191, Adams S-1886, Ernst Zinner, Geschichte und Bibliographie der astronomischen Literatur in Deutschland zur Zeit der Renaissance, no. 991. Rare edition of Stoeffler's work, the first part of which is devoted exclusively to the construction of astrolabes. Stoeffler (1452-1531) was an astronomer and taught at the University of Tübingen. The work is dated 1513 on the title page, the colophon is dated 1512. Also contains several poems in praise of Stoeffler by Philipp Melnachthon, Georg Simler, Johannes de Wirsperck and Peter Günther, as well as a preface by Koebel on Stoeffler. The conclusion of the medieval development is Stoeffler's extensive and magnificently designed work on the astrolabe, which appeared in Oppenheim in 1513..." (Zinner, Astronomische Instrumente, p.142f.). "To my mind Stoeffler's early treatise on the astrolabe is a more interesting, though certainly less familiar, example of Köbel's press. The illustrations found in this book are very quaint and characteristic, and are extremely original in conception. Certain of the diagrams are excellent examples of the art of the wood engraver at theis early date, and there is a refinement and beauty about the get-up of this work which cannot fail to impress the reader" (G. Redgrave, Some Early Book Illustrations of the Oppenheim Press, in: Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, III, p. 72). A complete copy except for the four fold-out extension slips in the astrolabes. Clean, but with wormholes throughout. The last three leaves with wormholes underneath, with some loss of text and image (handwritten additions). The last leaf with a large brown stain and an underlaid tear in the upper margin. Some old mended marginal tears. Erased stamp of the Acad. Bibl. Lund. At the head of the title a handwritten entry from the Ingolstadt Jesuit College, at the foot noted by the same hand "ex Hereditate Herwartiana". Handwritten ownership entry by Baron Per Hierta, Flämmestad, dated 1902 on the flyleaf.