Edition Open Sources is dormant
In 2013, an agreement between the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and the University of Oklahoma Library, both of which conserve large rare book collections, led to the launch of Edition Open Sources, a relaunch of the Sources series of the original Edition Open Access platform.
The series typically presents a primary source—relevant for the history and development of knowledge—in facsimile, transcription, or translation. The original sources are complemented by an introduction and by commentaries reflecting original scholarly work. The sources reproduced in this series may be rare books, manuscripts, documents or data that are not readily accessible in libraries and archives.
Notable in this series, among others, is Pseudo-Proklos’ Sphaera: Die Sphaera-Gattung im 16. Jahrhundert by Johanna Biank. This edition investigates the reception and transformation of a classical cosmological text—falsely attributed to Proclus—within the Renaissance tradition of astronomical teaching. Drawing on a rich corpus of manuscript and print commentaries, Biank reconstructs the diverse ways in which early modern scholars engaged with the Sphaera genre, offering new insights into the intellectual networks, didactic practices, and cultural contexts that shaped its dissemination. The volume combines rigorous source criticism with digital facsimiles, making it a model for philologically grounded and historically embedded editions.
All Sources volumes are listed here:
Sources 14
Al-Hawārī’s Essential Commentary
We give an edition and English translation of al-Hawārī’s book, together with a passage-by-passage mathematical, conceptual, and historical commentary and an introduction to Arabic arithmetic to put it in context.
Sources 13
Niccolò Cusano. Scritti matematici
L’opera costituisce la prima traduzione italiana degli Scritti matematici di Niccolò Cusano
Sources 12
Pseudo-Proklos’ Sphaera
Neue Ansätze zur Autorschaft, Verbreitung und zum Kontext von Pseudo-Proklos’ Sphaera
Sources 11
Science in Court Society
Introduction and digital reproduction of a standard reference work in Renaissance mechanics
Sources 10
Quantum Gravity in the First Half of the Twentieth Century
A collection of the earliest contributions to quantum gravity research
Sources 9
Theory, Practice, and Nature In-between
Critical edition of Antonio Vallisneri’s manuscript Primi Itineris Specimen (1705)
Sources 8
Alvarus Thomas und sein Liber de triplici motu
Bearbeiteter Text und Faksimile des Liber de triplici motu von Alvarus Thomas
Sources 7
Alvarus Thomas und sein Liber de triplici motu
Untersuchung zum Leben und Werk von Alvarus Thomas im frühen 16. Jahrhundert
Sources 6
Metallurgy, Ballistics and Epistemic Instruments
A new edition of Nicolò Tartaglia’s "Nova scientia" shows how the emergence of theoretical ballistics was a consequence of the technological innovations that took place in the frame of the practice of iron casting at the turn from the fifteenth to the sixteenth century.
Sources 5
The Role of Gravitation in Physics
The Chapel Hill conference also marked the establishment of the Institute of Field Physics, directed by Bryce and Cécile DeWitt. The conference was the inaugural conference of this institute.
Sources 4
Bernardino Baldi "In mechanica Aristotelis problemata exercitationes"
"In mechanica Aristotelis problemata exercitationes" written by Bernardino Baldi is reprinted with an introduction and commentary. (italian)
Sources 3
Bernardino Baldi’s In mechanica Aristotelis problemata exercitationes
"In mechanica Aristotelis problemata exercitationes" written by Bernardino Baldi is reprinted with an introduction and commentary.
Sources 2
The Equilibrium Controversy
This study reviews a historical discussion about the question of whether a balance in equilibrium, after having been deflected, returns to its original position.
Sources 1
Guidobaldo del Monte's Mechanicorum Liber
The book is a comprehensive treatise on mechanics dealing with the five simple machines.
