"It was only the third new set of planetary tables in European history. And whereas Copernicus's and Ptolemy's tables were more or less equally accurate, Kepler's were some 50 times more so. Within a few years, it was possible to pinpoint the time of transit of Mercury across the face of the sun so that it was possible to observe it in transit for the first time in human history. Of course, Kepler's theories were more difficult, especially since he had incorporated logarithms, which had only been invented a few years earlier. Much of the book, therefore, was made up of explanatory text that told the reader how to use the tables. ...The printing ...was finished on time in September 1627 ...but he was not optimistic ...noting, "There will be few purchasers, as is always the case with mathematical works, especially in the present chaos.""
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James R. Voelkel, Johannes Kepler and the New Astronomy (2001) p. 117
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler
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