Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was one of the leading members of the 17th century Scientific Revolution. Typical of the intellectual fluidity of his time, the highly devout Kepler was an astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, and physicist whose goal was, as he wrote, to shed the “light of reason” on God’s master plan of the universe. As part of his legacy, he is credited with describing the laws of planetary motion which Newton incorporated into his laws of gravitation. If not of primary scientific importance, Kepler’s Somnium is perhaps his most intriguing work. Published posthumously by his son in 1634, Somnium, or Dream, tells of an imaginary voyage to the moon and is generally accepted as the first Science Fiction novel. Though wrapped in the guise of a fantasy, Somnium speculates on a host of scientific problems: overcoming Earth’s gravitational field, surviving the vacuum of space and Moon’s geography. Somnium was originally written in Latin, and English versions are extremely scarce. Our rare edition with original illustrations was translated by Edward Rosen and published by the University of Wisconsin in 1967. Condition: Fine. Waxed paper wrapper lost. Dimensions: 6" x 8" x 1".