A study of these sections of De revolutionibus is contained in HendersonJ. A., On the distances between Sun, Moon, and Earth according to Ptolemy, Copernicus and Reinhold, Yale Dissertation, 1973. My remarks are based on this work which is, I believe, the first research on Copernicus adequately and correctly to make use of the manuscript.
2.
The Latin version is published as Nicolai Copernici Opera Omnia I. Nicolai Copernici De revolutionibus codicis propria auctoris manu scripti imago phototypa. Varsoviae–-Cracoviae 1973. The English version is Nicholas Copernicus Complete Works I. The Manuscript of Nicholas Copernicus' On the Revolutions Facsimile. London-Warsaw-Cracow 1972.
3.
A study of Copernicus's use of Werner in his precession theory is given in “On Copernicus's Theory of Precession” which will appear in a volume of papers on Copernicus Edited by WestmanRobert S. for the University of California Press.
4.
One exception is the table of the mean anomaly of Mars (f. 146) which is a half-sheet of E pasted in conjugate to f. 153 and replacing a leaf of D. Books IV, V, and VI contain numerous corrections in the manuscript, and still more in the printed edition, but there is no evidence for a version earlier than the basic text of the manuscript.
5.
This is considered in the paper cited in ref. 3.
6.
Copernicus's values of the obliquity are analyzed in the paper cited in ref. 3.
7.
Copernicus does not give calendar dates for observations nos 1, 2, 5, and 6. In III, 2 he merely says that the altitude of Spica (no. 1) was taken in 1525, but in III, 12 he gives a specimen computation of the precession and the longitude of Spica for 16 April 1525. It is possible, but not certain, that this was the exact date of the observation. Observation no. 2 is given only as ten years before no. 1, that is, 1515, with no date specified. The vernal equinox of 1515 (no. 5) is given as 186;5,30 days before the autumnal equinox (no. 3) of 14 September 1515, 6.30 a.m., and this yields 12 March 1515, 4.18 a.m. However, the vernal equinox (no. 4) of 11 March 1516, 4.20 a.m. is said to follow the autumnal equinox (no. 3) by 178;53,30 days. Thus, using the intervals or the dates, the period between the vernal equinoxes is either 364;59 days or 365 days 0;2 hours, that is, nearly a quarter day short either way, and clearly impossible. This will give some idea of the problems encountered in Copernicus's own reports of his observations. The entrance of the Sun into Scorpio 15° (no. 6) is said to follow the autumnal equinox (no. 3) by 45;16 days; this would be 29 October 1515, 12.54 p.m.
