Kepler to Müller, 22 April 1630
Johannes Kepler, “Kepler to Müller, 22 April 1630,” Nova Kepleriana 4, April 22, 1630, 74–76, transcribed in Plain Old Text, https://sources.vjbe.net/stable/sj54x.
Nova Kepleriana 4 22 Apr, 1630, p. 74–76 Summary
Part of Die Keplerbriefe auf der Nationalbibliothek und auf der Sternwarte in Paris
Back from Wallenstein at Gitschin, Kepler sends 600 copies of the *Ephemerides* for 1630–1633, comments on the type and the signs cast for them, and asks Müller to urge Bartsch and Susanna to hurry to Sagan for the christening of his newborn daughter.
Source: Johannes Kepler's letter to Philipp Müller written at Sagan on 22 April 1630, on his return from Wallenstein at Gitschin, sending 600 copies of the Ephemerides for 1630–1633, with notes on type and astronomical signs, and asking Müller to urge Jacob Bartsch and his wife Susanna to come to the christening of Kepler's newborn daughter. The original is lost; the copy is in the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris (Nouv. acq. lat. 1635, fol. 99; 89, 8. P). First printed in Nova Kepleriana 4, ed. Walther von Dyck and Max Caspar, Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Math.-naturw. Abteilung 31, no. 1 (Munich, 1927), 74–76.
Transcribed from: the page images of the 1927 printing.
Only the letter is given; the editors’ German summary and notes are left out. [sign omitted] marks a gap in the copy where, the editors explain, the lost original had an astronomical sign that the copyist left out; [cut out] marks a place cut out of the manuscript; other words in square brackets are the editors’ restorations. Fractional dates (14/24, old and new style) are written with a slash.
English translation of the letter as printed in Nova Kepleriana 4 (1927), made for Plain Old Text. Each paragraph translates the corresponding paragraph of the original. [sign omitted] and [cut out] are kept as in the Latin; the editors’ restorations are given without brackets.
S. P. D.
Many greetings.
Cl. Vir.
Famous Sir.
Nuper Gitschino reversus, ubi me Patronus per 3 septimanas, magno suo, magno et meo temporis cum damno detinuit, jam in puerperio uxoris, et baptismo filiolae procurando sum occupatissimus. Ergo brevissimis. Mitto in dolio 600 Exemplaria Ephemeridum in 1630. 31. 32. 33 Voigtio in custodiam danda, donec vel Tampachius Francofurto, quid fieri velit iis, rescripserit: vel ego annos exactos a 1621, vel Bartschius annos 34, 35, 36 summittat, ut ita opus 20 annorum fiat integrum. Mitto secundo exemplar unum 4 annorum demptis 2 primis paginis, quas antea misi; mitto tertio 13 imperiales cum dodrante, residui debiti; sed mitto simul et quarto, complementa facienda typorum nuper fusorum; ut non ante fusori satisfiat in plenum, quam et illa praestiterit perfecta; tunc quidem ipsi etiam secundum pondus satisfiet fundendorum. Matrices quas habet, sic mediocres sunt, nec omnes suis rhabdis commode aptatae, quas non [sign omitted] sed demum exsculpsit primum ex chalybe, eae sunt valde rusticanae, uti sunt cyphrae duplices, crassissimis ductibus, velimque subtiliores ad complementa fundenda, si quibus de novo cudendis opus habet.
Lately back from Gitschin, where my Patron kept me for 3 weeks, at a great loss of his time and of mine, I am now very busy with my wife’s lying-in and with arranging my little daughter’s christening. So, very briefly. I am sending in a cask 600 copies of the Ephemerides for 1630, 31, 32 and 33, to be given to Voigt for safe keeping until either Tampach writes from Frankfurt what he wants done with them, or I send the years since 1621, or Bartsch the years 34, 35 and 36, so that the work of 20 years may be complete. Secondly, I send one copy of the 4 years, without the first 2 pages, which I sent before. Thirdly, I send 13¾ imperials, the rest of the debt; but at the same time, fourthly, I send the additions to be made to the type lately cast, so that the founder is not paid in full until he has delivered those finished too; then he will also be paid by weight for what is still to be cast. The matrices he has are middling, and not all well fitted to their rods; those that he cut not [sign omitted] but only at last, first in steel, are very rustic, like the double figures, with very thick strokes, and I should like finer ones for casting the additions, if he has to strike any new.
Signum [sign omitted] sic satis commodum (pro eo in 4. An. Ephem. usurpavi [sign omitted]) at alterum [sign omitted] nescio an usurpam; videor enim confusurus lectorem ambiguitate inter hoc et [cut out] incompletum: debebat esse [sign omitted], productis li[cut out]lorum. Expecto tuum judicium. Aspectus quidem ne[gligen]dus est minime. Impediti fuerunt mei operarii per meam absentiam. Ergo loco Ephemeridum impresserunt Astronomiam lunarem cum notis, paginae jam 6 sunt. Accedet [libelli] Plutarchi de facie LunaeKepler's Latin translation of Plutarch's De facie in orbe lunae, published with his Somnium in 1634. nova versio, sed differtur opusculum in alias remoras operis Ephemeridum.
The sign [sign omitted] is suitable enough (in its place, in the 4 years of the Ephemerides, I used [sign omitted]), but I do not know whether to use the other, [sign omitted]; for I think I should confuse the reader with an ambiguity between it and an incomplete [cut out]: it should have been [sign omitted], with the [cut out] lengthened. I await your judgement. The aspect must certainly not be neglected. My workmen were held up by my absence. So instead of the Ephemerides they printed the Lunar Astronomy,The Somnium, Kepler's “lunar astronomy”, a dream of a journey to the moon, with his notes; it was published in 1634. with notes; there are now 6 pages. A new version of Plutarch’s little book on the face of the MoonKepler's Latin translation of Plutarch's De facie in orbe lunae, published with his Somnium in 1634. will be added, but the little work is put off for other delays in the work on the Ephemerides.
Bartschius confectis nuptiis cum uxore filia mea Francofurtum pervenit inde scripsit ad suos Laubam. Eum puto ad vestras nundinas venturum. Ergo cogito Te interprete uti ad exorandum illum, ut cum uxore Saganum properet, ad Baptismum filiolae meae; et ut porro ipse apud uxorem intercedat pro baptismali linteo, quod ipsa Ulmae uxori meae suis nevit manibus. Sed properato opus, ad 14/24. Aprilis, si Deo visum, peragentur haec sacra; id est, post tres dies: cum nesciam, an cras haec discessurae sint literae. Vides quantum intercessionis tuae, si non sit irrita, futurum sit operae pretium. Et ita est, dum moliuntur, dum [sign omitted] annus est, omnino exorandae sunt, ut properent.
Bartsch, his wedding with my daughter done, has come with his wife to Frankfurt, and has written from there to his family at Lauban. I think he will come to your fair. So I mean to use you as go-between, to beg him to hurry to Sagan with his wife for my little daughter’s christening, and further to plead with his wife himself for the christening cloth that she made with her own hands at Ulm for my wife. But there is need of haste: these rites will be performed, God willing, on 14/24 April, that is, in three days’ time, since I do not know whether this letter will leave tomorrow. You see how much your intercession, if it is not in vain, will be worth. And so it is: while they bestir themselves, while it is a [sign omitted] year, they must by all means be begged to hurry.
Ad cumulum priorum officiorum rogo etiam atque etiam hoc adjiciat Ex. T. perconteturque a Voigtio per idoneum, num et qua promptitudine, quo vultu, dolium hoc meum in custodiam suscipiat, praesertim si Tampachius nihil scripserit, ut est morosus. Ego paratum me scripsi ad satisfaciendum pro custodia, quod erit aequum.
To crown your earlier services, I beg Your Excellency again and again to add this one too: to find out from Voigt, through a suitable person, whether, how readily and with what face he will take this cask of mine into his keeping, especially if Tampach has written nothing, morose as he is. I have written that I am ready to pay for the keeping, whatever is fair.
Perquam moleste fero Norimbergensis moras jam biennales in sculpenda mappa, in qua, si verum dico, soli meridiani erunt utiles operi Tabularum; Littora continentium, Meridianis applicata, in quibus sculptor, nescio qua reconditae artis opinione, tam diu immoratur; ea sunt incerta et corrigenda demum, crebritate observationum. De pecunia mea 120 fl., quod ibi per hoc biennium detinetur, et forte jam est consumpta, non laborarem tantopere, modo ut tandem opus prodiret.
I am exceedingly vexed by the Nuremberger’s delays, now two years long, in engraving the map,The world map meant for the Rudolphine Tables, being engraved at Nuremberg; it was issued only after Kepler's death. of which, to tell the truth, only the meridians will be any use to the work of the Tables. The coasts of the continents, fitted to the meridians, over which the engraver lingers so long from some notion of a hidden art, are uncertain, and will only be corrected in the end by frequent observations. About my money, 120 florins, which has been held there these two years and is perhaps already spent, I should not trouble so much, if only the work would come out at last.
Vale Excellentississime Vir, et studia nostra promovere perge, meque ama.
Farewell, most excellent Sir; go on furthering our studies, and love me.
Sagani, 22. Apr. 1630.
Sagan, 22 Apr. 1630.
Cl. Ex. T.
officiosissimus
J. Keplerus.
Your Excellency’s
most dutiful
J. Kepler.
Clarissimo, Excellentissimoque Viro D. Philippo
Millero, Medicinae Licenciato, Matheseos [et]
Philosophiae professori in Academia [Lips]ensi,
Domino et amico meo benevo[lent]issimo
Leipzig.
To the most famous and most excellent Mr Philipp
Müller, Licentiate of Medicine, Professor of Mathematics and
Philosophy in the University of Leipzig,
my most kindly lord and friend,
Leipzig.