Manuscript Notes Made by Readers of De le Stelle Fisse

The numerous printings of Piccolomini’s De le Stelle Fisse, some of them independently of De la Sfera del Mondo, testify to its success and popularity. Evidently, then, the book’s constellation maps found favour among contemporary readers. The present chapter seeks to gain insight into the wider range of ways in which pre-modern readers used Piccolomini’s maps, by examining manuscript notes in two copies of De le Stelle Fisse, one printed in 1553 and the other in 1570. These two volumes were chosen due the fact that these specific annotations reflect a set of very different and interesting motivations of their users.