<p style='text-align: justify;'>Oronce Fine (1494-1555) was a prolific author on mathematics, instruments and astronomy, among other things, and held, from 1531, the chair of mathematics at the newly established Collège Royal (known since 1870 as the Collège de France) in Paris. He is credited with the promotion of mathematics through his numerous publications and instruments. He also made and sold his own instruments, encouraged others to make their own by cutting out pages from his practical manuals, and worked as editor and overseer in printing houses. Fine published on a range of topics, and was interested in practical concerns as well as abstract debates, so while he is remembered for theoretical achievements, such as giving the value of pi correct to four significant figures, he also worked extensively with instruments and maps. While traditionally Fine's competence as a mathematician has been questioned, recent assessments have emphasised how he represented Renaissance mathematical culture, encompassing geometry, surveying, optics, cosmography, cartography, and astronomy. In cartography, Fine produced a cordiform, or heart-shaped, projection which was often used by later map-makers. The<i> Canonum astronomicorum libri II</i> introduces various general rules (or 'canons') by which the various positions of the Sun and the planets may be determined. The first canon of the first book is to determine the greatest declination of the Sun from the circle of the equator, a value which has varied among astronomical authors. Fine says that his observation agrees with the most recent authors, Johannes Werner, author of mathematical, astronomical and geographical works as well as a skilled instrument-maker, and Domenico Maria da Novara, a prognosticator at Bologna with whom Copernicus lodged when he was studying there. This figure shows an instrument described by Fine for use in finding the maximum declination of the Sun. While Fine describes this quadrant as being divided 'in the customary manner', the instrument is rather larger than many quadrants, with a diameter of some three cubits. This potentially unwieldy instrument was to be aligned along the meridian, as explained in the text and indicated visually in the figure with north (<i>Septentrio</i>) marked at one edge of the instrument. The method described by Fine for finding the maximum declination of the Sun by observation required two observations of the meridian altitude of the Sun to be made ' one at Winter solstice and one at Summer solstice. These two observations, to be made half a year apart, are both shown in this single figure, and the relevant lines are labelled according to the solstice at which the particular observation was made.</p>
