Bartsch to Müller, 30 April 1629
Jacob Bartsch, “Bartsch to Müller, 30 April 1629,” Nova Kepleriana 4, April 30, 1629, 97, transcribed in Plain Old Text, https://sources.vjbe.net/stable/9rq15.
Nova Kepleriana 4 30 Apr, 1629, p. 97 Summary
Part of Die Keplerbriefe auf der Nationalbibliothek und auf der Sternwarte in Paris
Bartsch tells Müller he has agreed to compute ten years of ephemerides for Kepler, to be published at Frankfurt by Tampach, and that he and his brother work at the calculation night and day.
Source: Jacob Bartsch's letter to his teacher Philipp Müller written at Lauban on 30 April 1629, on his agreement with Kepler to compute the Ephemerides and their publication through Tampach at Frankfurt. The original is in the Bibliothèque de l'Observatoire, Paris (B, 1, 9; 89, 10. B. 2). Printed in extracts 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), 97.
Transcribed from: the page images of the 1927 printing.
Only the Latin is given; the editors’ German summary and notes are left out. The 1927 edition prints only extracts. Each paragraph below is one of its extracts, and the omission marks (…) are the editors’. Spaced type, which the editors used for emphasis, is given in italics.
English translation of the Latin extracts printed in Nova Kepleriana 4 (1927), made for Plain Old Text. Each paragraph translates the corresponding extract of the original; the omission marks (…) are the 1927 editors’. Italics follow the editors’ emphasis.
… Me quod attinet, quoniam superioribus mensibus cum Dn. Keplero coram et per litteras de edendis Ephemeridibus nostris multum egi, tandem conclusi, ad 10 ipsi annos primum supputatas eas tradere, ut primo tempore primus Ephemeridum tomus edi possit. Ipse autem dum varias variis in locis occasiones imprimendi quaesivit, tandem etiam conclusit, per Tampachum sumtus refundentem Francofurti eas in lucem dare. Unde ut opinarunt ambo ad futuras nundinas autumnales prodibit Ephemeridum nostrarum tomus ab anno 1617 cum impressis 3 reliquis usque in annum 1636 vel certe 33 inclusive. Et haec est potissima caussa, quod calculum noctes diesque urgere cogor una cum fratre, sicque aliis rebus vacare nequeo. Responsorium sane Dn. Keplerus propterea edidit, quam etiam hac occasione mittere alias proposueram. …
… As for me: since in recent months I have dealt a great deal with Mr Kepler, in person and by letter, about publishing our Ephemerides, I have at last decided to hand them over to him, computed at first for 10 years, so that a first volume of Ephemerides can be published as soon as possible. And he, after looking for various chances of printing in various places, has at last decided too to bring them out at Frankfurt through Tampach, who will refund the costs. So, as both of them thought, a volume of our Ephemerides from the year 1617 will come out at the coming autumn fair, with the 3 others already printed, up to the year 1636, or at any rate to 1633 inclusive. And this is the chief reason why I am forced to press on with the calculation night and day, together with my brother, and cannot attend to anything else. Mr Kepler has indeed published his replyKepler's answer to Bartsch's open letter of 1628, printed at the front of the Sagan edition of Bartsch's Ephemeris (1629). for this reason, which I had otherwise meant to send on this occasion as well. …
Noluerim operam meam sociam denegare Dn. Keplero, qui praeter alias promissiones non contemnendas praemium laboris non exiguum ipse erogat. Plura quidem meditamur, sed adhuc incerta sunt omnia. Quamprimum in reliquis certi aliquid conclusum fuerit, non celabo. …
I should not like to refuse Mr Kepler my partnership, since, besides other promises not to be despised, he himself pays no small reward for the labour. We are planning more, but everything is still uncertain. As soon as anything certain is decided about the rest, I shall not hide it from you. …