BLAEU, Willem Jansz.

Ref. Bierens de Haan 335; Houzeau & Lancaster 9714. Rare first Latin edition (the Dutch original was first published in the same year). It was translated into English as ""A tutor to astronomy and geography, or, An easie and speedy way to understand both the globes"", and gave accounts of the opposing Ptolemaic and Copernican systems of the planets, as Blaeu thought the Ptolemaic system was still a useful introduction to the topic. Blaeu had worked on the island of Hven with Tycho Brahe and was a firm adherent to the Copernican system. It should be remembered that Galileo was condemned for his Copernican stance just the previous year, but Blaeu, publishing his works in the Protestant Netherlands, was not subject to the prohibitions of the Roman Catholic authorities.