Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia

Los 49
05.02.2026 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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$ 33 020
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
VeranstaltungsortVereinigtes Königreich, London
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ID 1540297
Los 49 | Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia
Schätzwert
$ 30 000 – 50 000
HEVELIUS, Johannes (1611-1687) [and KOOPMANN-HEVELIUS, Elisabetha (1647-1693)]. Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia. Gdańsk: [Johannes Zacharias Stoll,] 1687 [and/or 1690].

First edition of Hevelius's innovative star atlas, being the plate volume only of Hevelius's Prodromus Astronomiae. These exquisitely drawn and composed constellation plates are after the model of Johann Bayer's work and rival him in accuracy. However, they further depict adjacent constellations and are shown from an extra-terrestrial point of view, with the direction of stars reversed from their more usual depiction. Seven of the constellations introduced by Hevelius in this work are still recognized today: Canes Venatici, Lacerta, Leo Minor, Lynx, Scutum, Sextans, and Vulpecula.

Hevelius died in 1687 and this star atlas was completed under the editorship of his widow, Elisabetha. Elisabetha by this time had been managing Hevelius's observatory for over twenty years, since her marriage to Johannes in 1663. By all accounts she was motivated to wed the elder man by their shared passion for astronomy. This atlas typically appears as part of the larger work dated 1690 which also includes a preface (Prodromus) and a catalogue of stars (Catalogus Stellarum Fixarum). However, the discrete nature of the atlas and the date on the engraved and separate title-page has led Nick Kamas to suggest that it was “was likely published separately in limited circulation in 1687” (Star Maps, pp. 164–5). Some of the engravings may be the work of Hevelius himself according to DSB. Exhibited: "The Heavens Revealed," Chapin Library, Williams College, 2003.

Oblong atlas folio (367 x 440mm). Engraved allegorical title-page and dedicatory engraving to John III Sobieski, King of Poland both by Charles de la Haye after Andreas Stech, two engraved folding plates depicting the celestial hemispheres, and 54 engraved plates of constellations (soft vertical folds from previous binding format, some pale spotting to title and penultimate plate, tiny edge repairs to first three plates, tiny marginal chip to first constellation plate, repaired stub tears to folding plates and pl. 7, pls. 20 and 31 toned, about 10 plates slightly short at outer margin and likely supplied). Modern calf gilt to style.
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