London: R. & W. Leybourn, for Robert Boydell, 1653. First edition. Octavo (164 x 103 mm), pp. [8], 92, [4], [128]. Head- and tailpieces, floriated intials, tables. Contemporary sheep, spine and covers ruled in blind, unlined, edges speckled red. Contemporary ink ownership signature of one Daniel Rollind on inner side of front board, similar annotations to final blank and inner side of rear board. Calf soiled and worn, loss to spine ends and joints, but binding sound and holding firm, contents browned and lightly foxed, worming to outer margins of approximately first half, rear blanks creased and chipped. A Very Good, unrestored copy.

Shakerley (b. 1626) “was the second man ever to witness a Mercury transit, probably the first Englishman to undertake systematic astronomical observations in India, and one of the earliest men of science to seriously interest himself in the astronomy of the Brahmins” (DSB). Shakerley’s intellectual development was a microcosm of the astronomical scientific revolution, demonstrating the transition between the astrological traditions upon which he was trained – and was initially fiercely devoted to – and the emerging age of empirical observation. His correspondents included William Lilly and Vincent Wing and his patron was the antiquarian Christopher Towneley, whose library at Carr Hall contained Horrocks’s papers. Through studying these, Shakerley became an ardent follower of Copernicus and Kepler and did much to integrate Horrocks’s northern circle with the wider astronomical community.

Tabulae Britannicae is a notably scarce work of astronomical tables which Shakerley based, in part, on Jeremiah Horrock's unpublished observations. The work was published when Shakerley was in India, where he had travelled to observe the 1651 transit of Mercury. While there, he became enthused by the work of Indian astronomers, particularly their ability to predict lunar eclipses, and sought to communicate their methods to Europe. However, no further correspondence or records survive, and it is believed that he died on his travels. His book remained influential; Robert Hooke bought a copy in 1675 (Taylor). “We see in Shakerley the evolution of a scientific mind of remarkable potential. After first learning how to calculate horoscopes, he came to doubt astrology. In its place, he became a staunch supporter of the new science, began to make observations and defend his position with all the zeal of a convert, and once in India, became fascinated by the mathematics and culture of the Brahmins” (Chapman, p. 11).

Copac lists only 6 copies in UK institutions, with commercial appearances even more scarce. Of the three copies we have been able to trace at auction over the past century, two have been defective (one extensively so, the other Owen Gingerich's copy). The only complete copy appeared at Sotheby's in the Macclesfield sale in 2005 (part six, lot 1874). However, one should note that even that copy was in a later binding and had a blindstamp to its title page.

ESTC R27483; Taylor, Mathematical Practitioners, 214. A. Chapman, “Jeremy Shakerley: Astronomy, Astrology, and Patronage in Civil War Lancashire," Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, no. 135, 1985. Very Good (Item #7999)