Sold Antiques

M-11328: (Image: 19 x 22’’)  “PLANISPHÆRIUM CŒLESTE Secundum Restitutionem Hevelianam et Halleianam [Celestial Planisphere According to the Restoration of Hevelius and Halley]”,  Amsterdam: Pieter Schenk, c. 1705.  Engraved map with original hand-coloring.

This elaborate double hemisphere celestial map depicts the constellations of the northern and southern hemispheres.  Most of the constellations are depicted as figures according to classical mythology, with more recently named ones in the southern hemisphere rendered as scientific instruments.  The outer borders are decorated with six inset diagrams among clouds, showing the planetary models of Tycho Brahe, Ptolemy, and Copernicus, as well as the illumination of the moon by the sun, the revolution of the earth around the sun, and the effect of the moon on tides.  A key to magnitudes of stars is in the center.  The selection and style of the constellations were based upon Firmamentum Sociescianum sive Uranographia (1687) by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius, whose name is noted in the subtitle of the chart.  The subtitle indicates that the chart also draws on the work of Edmund Halley, the astronomer for whom Halley’s Comet is named.  The format of the map derives from Georg Christoph Eimmart, a Nuremberg astronomer.