Andreas Cellarius | Harmonia macrocosmica seu atlas universalis et novus, Amsterdam, 1708, contemporary hand-colouring

Andreas Cellarius

Harmonia macrocosmica seu atlas universalis et novus, totius universi creati cosmographiam generalem, et novam exhibens. Amsterdam: G. Valk and P. Schenk, 1708 

Folio (504 x 298 mm), title-page printed in red and black, additional engraved allegorical title, contents leaf, 29 engraved celestial charts, additional title and charts all coloured by a contemporary hand, mounted on guards, contemporary calf-backed boards, paper label with manuscript title to upper board, some loss and repairs (mostly caused by oxidisation of green pigment), neatly rebacked retaining some of original spine, endleaves renewed

A FINE COPY OF ONE OF THE MOST FASCINATING ACHIEVEMENTS FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF DUTCH CARTOGRAPHY. The Harmonia macrocosmica is the only atlas of the period dealing with astronomy. Unlike the later celestial atlases, the Cellarius charts demonstrated various ancient and contemporary cosmological ideas, rather than just the names and positions of the stars. The purpose of the book was to assess different attempts to discover the underlying harmony of the universe. The charts represent the highest levels of seventeenth-century astronomical thought, with the diagrams showing aspects of the three great theories on the nature of the universe: the Ptolemaic, the Copernican, and the Brahean. The present volume is a first edition, second issue: identical—save for the change of date—with the first issue of 1660.

PROVENANCE:

Winkler Bücherei, Innsbruck: bookplate

LITERATURE:

Koeman IV, Cel 3; Brown Astronomical Atlases, pp. 40-41