A sixteenth-century copy of Petrus Apianus' Astronomicum Caesareum was stolen from an exhibit at Peuerbach Castle in Upper Austria, and the theft went unnoticed for days after the culprits substituted a dummy book in its place, the IHT reports.
The book, which has been described as the "most sumptuous of all Renaissance instructive manuals," is designed to show the motions of the earth-centered (i.e. pre-Copernican) universe. Each copy contained many volvelles, "rotating paper wheels which demonstrate planetary motion and movements of the stars." The IHT article says the stolen edition dates from 1532; the more well-known edition of the book was published eight years later).
Police said the book, worth nearly $40,000, was on display "in an exhibition case under an unsecured glass panel."
(h/t Bibliophile Bullpen, Rare Book News)
