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Creasy Spines

“Every crease is a story.”

Illustration of the kind of find described. We don't reproduce press photographs.
Marginalia· c. 1590

Galileo’s young hand in a 1551 Almagest

By the Editors · As reported by Colombia One, 4 March 2026

FoundFlorence, Italy

Tucked inside Almagest (Latin edition, 1551) by Ptolemy

Historian Ivan Malara was studying a 1551 Latin edition of Ptolemy’s Almagest at the National Central Library of Florence when a handwritten copy of Psalm 145 on a blank page reminded him of Galileo’s writing. Dense notes in the margins pointed the same way. Specialists, including Galileo scholar Michele Camerota, agreed the annotations are Galileo’s, probably from around 1590, two decades before his telescope. They show a young scholar who both studied and challenged Ptolemy.

This is our summary of a find reported in the press. For the full story, photographs and any updates, read the original report in Colombia One.

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