Selenographia

Los 23
05.02.2026 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
VeranstaltungsortVereinigtes Königreich, London
Aufgeldsee on Website%
ID 1540272
Los 23 | Selenographia
Schätzwert
$ 30 000 – 50 000
HEVELIUS, Johannes (1611-1687). Selenographia: sive lunae descriptio; atque accurata, tam macularum eius, addita est, lentes expoliendi nova ratio. Danzig: Andreas Hünefeld for the author, 1647.

First edition of Hevelius’s lavish lunar atlas, the first of its kind. The very fine Honeyman copy, with Hevelius's portrait and 111 plates. Hevelius was the son of a wealthy Danzig brewer and at first he studied law, but beginning in 1639 he devoted himself to astronomy. Hevelius would go on to self-finance both his private observatory, one of the finest of its time, and his superb and superbly illustrated publications. Selenographia was named for Selene, goddess of the Moon, and was the first of these lavish publications. It contains the results of four years' observations from the cutting-edge observatory at his house in Danzig, using instruments of his own construction.

Hevelius describes his instruments in detail, recounts his observations of the planets and discusses lunar markings and libration, an irregularity of the moon's motion. The Selenographia ends with a description of a mounted lunar globe, “perhaps the first of its kind, permitting the representation of librational movements” (DSB). Many of the names given to lunar features by Hevelius are still in use. The fine engravings depicting his instruments and lunar maps are by his own hand. Some copies contain only 110 plates. STC German H1033. Exhibited: "The Heavens Revealed," Chapin Library, Williams College, 2003.

Folio (329 x 218mm). Title printed in red and black. Additional engraved title by Jeremias Falck after Adolf Boÿ with portraits of Alhazen and Galileo, engraved portrait of Hevelius by Jeremias Falck after Helmich van Twenhuysen, 111 engraved plates by Hevelius, 20 of which are printed on the versos of other plates, 3 of which are double-page, and plate 21 complete with volvelle, 26 in-text engravings. (Lacking half-title, scattered few very minor spots.) Near contemporary blindstamped vellum, spine gilt. Custom chemise and quarter morocco slipcase. Provenance: two instances of early and technical marginalia to the plates (shaved on fig.D) – gilt shelfmark to spine, “C / I—27” – D.G. Seidel (small ownership inscription neatly deleted on title) – H.C. Solms (small ownership signature on title, armorial bookplate inscribed “Comes to Solms”) – Robert B. Honeyman, Jr., 1897-1987 (acquisition note recording purchase in 1931, morocco bookplate; his sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 6 November 1979, lot 1672) – with Bernard Quaritch Ltd. in 1999.
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