Wendler, Franz [1569-1621]. Methodus cometae practica. Dieser Comet oder Wunderstern ist am und in firmamento erschienen. Im anfang des Novemb. und ist endlich den 16. Ianuarii. An 1619 widerumb werschwunden Gestellet durch Franciscum Wendlerum Philosophiae ac Medicinae Doctorem. Gedruckt zu Görlitz, bey Johann Rhambaw [1619].
In 4° (20 cm), A-E4 F2, cc. [22]. Grande incisione al frontespizio. I verso della prima e dell’ultima carta sono bianchi. Dedica al Barone Johann von Schöneich-Carolath.
Per la descrizione del contenuto di questa plaquette utilizzo, come già ho fatto, il bel commento del catalogo della libreria svizzera Erasmushaus, che di seguito riproduco.
“Rare pamphlet by the Görlitz physician Franz Wendler, dedicated to BaronJohann von Schöneich-Carolath. It is illustrated with a large astronomical woodcut on the title page. The opening chapters contain little-known additions to the interpretation of the so-called Nuremberg figures of Paracelsus. According to Paracelsus, who had himself commented on the Comet of 1532, magical figures and comets were intimately linked within a mystical vision of the cosmos, in which the heavens acted as a mirror of earthly events. He regarded comets not as mere astronomical phenomena, but as divinemessengers of God’s wrath, heralding upheaval and catastrophe”.
Esemplari: Landesbibliothek Coburg; Sächsische Universitäts und Landesbibliothek, Dresden; Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen Nürnberg Hauptbibliothek; Forschungsbibliothek Gotha; Universitätsbibliothek Greifswald; Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München: Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg; Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel; University of Illinois.