182 leaves, 8vo (220 x 158 mm). In Italian. Written in cursive in dark ink. Written in the right-hand column with notes and diagrams in pencil and ink in the left column.  (Fading to first part, some minor staining, a few quires becoming disbound.) 18th-century paste-paper covered boards (worn).

 

A series of astronomy lectures presumably in Oriani’s hand, with a note on the front free endpaper from Professor Rossi attributing the manuscript to Oriani. Comprising some 36 lessons with additional information about physics and astronomy at the end, likely delivered to his students at the college of Brera. Oriani studied astronomy under Joseph Louis Lagrange and was ordained a priest in 1776. He joined the Jesuit-operated Brera Observatory and was later appointed by Napoleon as director of the Milan Observatory in 1802. He used his calculations to prove that Uranus was a planet rather than a comet, and was named a member of the French Academy of Science, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a member of the Berlin Academy.