Golden Copernicus: Breathing New Life Into Old Books
Innovative scanners, 24-karat gold, and a meteorite from 4.5 billion years ago – that’s what was used to produce the newest edition of Nicolaus Copernicus’ autograph manuscript On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.
This most valuable Polish manuscript appears in a special edition of 99 units. It’s out of this world! Let us bring you to the craftsman studio that breathed new life into the antique manuscript.
The groundbreaking work by Nicolaus Copernicus has stayed on the list of forbidden books for years. What did Copernicus need to complete his work? Lots of paper scrolls and three decades of his life. Nowadays, the original work is stored in a fire-resistant safe-deposit box at the Jagiellonian University Library in Kraków. It is protected from light, humidity, temperature, pressure – and anything else that could destroy it.
It comes as no surprise that the manuscript is kept away from the public eye. According to Dorota Wójtowicz-Wielgopolan from the Manuscriptum Publishing House, getting permission to reproduce the work was nearly impossible. Negotiations with the owner went on for a very long time. Every single detail was of high priority. ‘We had to make very precise spectrophotometric measurements of the original, check the paper and paint components’, Wójtowicz-Wielgopolan says.
So after a few months of collaboration, scientists and experts from various fields reproduced the manuscript for the first time in history. Today, star catalogues and the meticulous distribution of text columns and geometrical figures sketched by the great astronomer can be admired by all. So what can we learn about Copernicus from his handwriting? And what traces of history are hidden in his sketching style?
Turquoise, hand-dyed leather & meteorite
It takes only one look at the cover to tell it is exquisite. The creators of the facsimile point out that the methods of reproducing the sheets and binding didn’t vary from how book binderies used to do it in the past. This work is so precise that it even includes mechanical imperfections like compass marks or blots. Additionally, the new books are bound with cotton threads. There’s no doubt that if Copernicus had had enough money, he would have wished his book to look like that!
‘Copernicus created his work on the scrolls of paper, but we thought such a revolutionary book required a spectacular binding’, says Wójtowicz-Wielgopolan. There are even more elements which make the manuscript in a class by itself. Apart from mediaeval imagery and the hand-painted portrait of Copernicus, the facsimiles are decorated with precious stones. You will find 33 malachite stones, 79 coral stones, 15 Swarovski crystals, a sun stone, lapis lazuli, and Munin Lust’s meteorite.
This combination of precious stones makes the manuscript one of the most valuable in Poland. What’s more, it belongs to the UNESCO Memory of the World. On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres revolutionised the way people think about the universe. It’s been 500 years, and scientists still can’t believe how one person could stop the Sun and move the Earth to dissect the ancient theory of the cosmos. It seems that Copernicus knew the work would cause a lot of fuss, because he included a note: ‘Let no one ignorant of geometry enter.’
The facsimiles of the manuscript were published by Manuscriptum Publishing House, which specialises in recreating luxurious collector’s pieces. When Poland celebrated the 100th anniversary of independence in 2018, the publishing house made a display of other great manuscripts like a Gutenberg Bible or Chopin’s sheet music.
Originally written in Polish, translated by SS, May 2021
Sources: press materials from Manuscriptum Publishing House, private materials