Search Results: Celestial from Donald Heald Rare Books

Nuremburg: J. B. Homann, 1730. Hand-coloured engraving. Good condition, margins re-backed to restore several minor losses and tears. A dramatic star chart by Doppelmayr illustrating the autumnal and early winter zodiacal signs: part of Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and part of Capricorn. Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr (1677-1750) was a Nuremberg astronomer and mapmaker, who made globes, star charts, moon charts and completed Homann's Atlas Coelestis in 1742. This is part V of a group of six showing the entire panorama of the night sky as known and represented in the early 18th century. The stars are differentiated according to magnitude, and there is an extensive star index on each side of the chart. Johann Batiste Homann (1663-1724) began his professional life as an engraver for others, founding his own cartographical firm in 1702. He brought back to life German mapmaking, which virtually ceased in the early 16th century, using Dutch cartography as his guide and starting point.