Doppelmayr, Johannes Gabriel | With diagrams illustrating the planetary systems of Copernicus, Tycho, and Riccioli

Doppelmayr, Johannes Gabriel

Atlas novus coelestis in quo mundus spectabilis, et in eodem tam errantium quam inerrantium stellarum phoenomena notabilia, circa ipsarum lumen, figuram, faciem, motum, eclipses … secundum Noc. Copernici, et ex parte Tychonis de Brahe, hypotthesin … descropta exhibentur. Nuremberg: Heirs of Homann, 1742 

Folio (570 x 355 mm, uncut). Title-page printed in red and black with engraved vignette, additional engraved allegorical title after J.J. Preisler by J.C. Reinsperger, 30 full-sheet, handcolored engraved celestial charts and diagrams, some incorporating miniature world maps or spandrel illustrations of astronomical observatories, maps and letterpress on guards; very occasional browning or discoloration, chiefly marginal, a few scattered short marginal tears. Contemporary calf-backed blue wastepaper boards; quite rubbed, head and foot of spine lost, front hinge cracked (but secure).

Doppelmayr, an acclaimed astronomer, was born in Nuremberg in 1677. He was a member of the Royal Society of London and the Academies of Berlin, Vienna and St Petersburg. He visited astronomers in many countries, and in addition to the star charts and selenographic map, the atlas includes "diagrams illustrating the planetary systems of Copernicus, Tycho, and Riccioli; the ecliptic theories of Kepler, Boulliau, Seth Ward and Mercator; the lunar theories of Tycho, Horrocks and Newton, and Halley's cometary theory" (DSB).

PROVENANCE

The Library of the Earls of Macclesfield (North Library bookplate with pressmark 116.H.14; Sotheby's London, 15 March 2007, lot 3135)