Lot 39
  • 39

Hevelius, Johannes

Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

Selenographia: sive lunae descriptio; atque accurata, tam macularum ejus, quam motuum diversorum, aliarumque omnium vicissitudinum, phasiumque, telescopii ope deprehensarum, delineatio. Danzig: Printed for the author, by Hunefeld, 1647



Folio (13¼ x 8½ in.; 335 x 215 mm) Title printed in red and black, additional engraved title-page with historiated border incorporating figures of Alhazen and Galileo, fine engraved portrait of Hevelius after Helmick à Iwenhusen by Falck, 108 (of 111) engraved astronomical plates on 89 leaves (3 plates folding), 26 text engravings, all of the astronomical engravings made by the author. Calf antique, plain endpapers, red-sprinkled edges.

Provenance

The counts Czarnecki, of Poland (engraved armorial bookplate and pressmarks; cf. Konarski, Armorial la noblesse polonaise titree, p. 170) — sold, Sotheby's, 7 June 1988, lot 143

Literature

BYU/Hevelius 1; Cinti 120; Honeyman sale 4:1642

Catalogue Note

First edition of the first complete lunar atlas, comprising the results of four years' observations made from Hevelius's specially built observatory at his home in Danzig. Besides giving illustrations of the moon in all her phases, Selenographia includes an account of Hevelius's instruments and telescopes.