The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus by Owen Gingerich

  (out of 5 stars)

Part detective story, part historical investigation, and part bibliophilic adventure, Owen Gingerich's The Book Nobody Read narrates the author's decades-long quest to track down and document all the existing first and second edition copies of Nicolaus Copernicus's groundbreaking work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri six ("Six Books on the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres"). De revolutionibus set in motion the drive to replace a geocentric universe with a heliocentric one. Gingerich take his title from myth put forward by Arthur Koestler that Copernicus's book was not widely read. Gingerich's investigation shows Koestler to be dead wrong.

Spending three decades building his census of De revolutionibus, Gingerich became personally invested in researching the history of the revolutionary work. Finding hundreds of copies of the first two editions to be very heavily annotated, the author discovered that not only was the book widely owned, it was clearly widely read. Later famous owners of the book included Kepler and Brahe, and in copy after copy, Gingerich discovered extensive notes by edition owners.

The Book Nobody Read is one of those odd niche adventures that likely appeals to a small audience. However, as a bibliophile and lover of both astronomy and history, this was a fantastic story of the worldwide search for copies of one of most important books ever written. Gingerich documents his travels and troubles across the world as he tracked down each copy. A passionate historian, the author also draws for the reader a unique view of the influence of De revolutionibus and the assorted characters who owned and were affected by it.

Again, I think this book likely appeals to a small niche audience, namely those interested in the history of science and/or the history of books. For those readers, however, this book is a fantastic treat and well worth a weekend read. Gingerich is a strong writer and clearly passionate about his lifelong pursuit of Copernicus's masterpiece. Peppered with many photographs of noteworthy annotations and editions, the author presents a wonderful exploration of the history of De revolutionibus. Four and one-half stars.