Sphaera civitatis

Title: Sphaera civitatis, authore Magistro Iohanne Caso Oxoniensi, olim Collegii Diui Iohannis Praecursoris socio

Author: Case, John, d. 1600.

Imprint: Oxoniae : Excudebat Iosephus Barnesius, 1588.

Date: 1588

Bibliographical references: STC (2nd ed.) / 4761; Madan, Oxford Books, I. p. 25-26.

Physical description:  [36], 740, [12] p.

Source of image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sphaera_Civitatis.jpg

Digital copy: on EEBO

Caption (Newberry Library, Chicago): 'John Case's famous frontispiece depicts Queen Elizabeth standing above a diagram of a Ptolemaic universe, within which the planets represent the moral traits of good government: Majesty, Prudence, Fortitude, Religion, Mercy, Eloquence, and Abundance. At the center is "Immovable Justice." Elizabeth is positioned like God outside the created order, capably guiding it. Case was a scholar at Oxford, and his book is an Aristotelian treatise on politics.'

Student project: This image needs to be put in context in Case's work of 1588 and compared to the cosmological dedications of other works from the period, including Galileo's Siderius nuncius and particularly Harvey's De motu cordis.