Bayer, Johann

Uranometria, omnium asterismorum continens schemata, nova methodo delineata, aereis laminis expressa. Augsburg: Christophorus Mangus, 1603



Folio (13½ x 9⅞ in.; 343 x 251 mm). Engraved title, 3 preliminary leaves of text, and 51 engraved double-page star maps by Alexander Mair on guards throughout, letterpress descriptive text printed on map versos, woodcut printer's device on last page, woodcut head-pieces and decorative initials; light soiling and small stains to title margins, mended marginal tear and wormtrack in map 17 without loss, map 18 torn at center fold affecting image but without loss, a few other small marginal tears, occasional light marginal soiling, ink smudges on verso of map 19. Seventeenth century vellum, panelled in gilt with coronets at the corners, red sprinkled edges; upper joint split at foot, soiled with a few rust spots.

Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax (engraved armorial bookplate dated 1702)  —  A. Freeman (bookplate laid in and pencilled exlibris dated "January 1882" — Samuel Verplanck Hoffman (1866-1942, bookplate laid in, sale, Christie's, 12 November 1975, lot 13, ex-NY Historical Society) — bookseller's ticket of William Wesley and Son, London

VD17 39:125032X; D.J. Warner, The Sky Explored, pp. 18-19; Zinner 3951

First edition of the first accurate star atlas, the first collection of star maps engraved on a grid so that star positions can be read off to fractions of a degree. It was also the first to use the modern system of identifying the stars within a constellation by the use of Greek letters for the brighter stars and Roman letters for the fainter ones.

Bayer's main sources for star positions were the recent observations of Tycho Brahe and of Pieter Dierkzoon Keyser (with regard to the southern hemisphere). The artist Alexander Mair clearly found some inspiration in the Jacobo De Gheyn engravings in the Aratea published by Hugo Grotius in 1600, but most of Bayer's constellation figures are quite different from De Gheyn's, and generally more attractive. Many have no known prototype.