Hevelius, Johannes

Prodromus astronomiae, exhibens fundamenta, quae tam ad novum plane & correctiorem stellarum fixarum catalogum construendum... nec non novas & correctiores tabulas solares... utpote refractionum solarium, parallaxium, declinationum, angulorum eclipticae & meridiani, ascensionum rectarum & obliquarum, horizonti Gedanensi inservientium... quam additus est uterque catalogus stellarum fixarum, tam major ad annum 1660, quam minor ad annum complectum 1700 — Firmamentum Sobiescianum, sive Uranographia totem coelum stellatum. Danzig: Johannes-Zacharias Stoll, 1690



2 parts in one volume, folio (14¼ x 8⅝ in.; 362 x 218 mm). Each part with an elaborate full-sheet allegorical engraved frontispiece incorporating the figures of various celebrated astronomers including Hevelius, Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe, Ulugh Beg, and Copernicus, engraved portrait of Hevelius by Lambert Visscher after A. Stech, one engraved plate following M4 , 2 large folding engraved charts of the celestial hemispheres and 54 fine full-sheet engraved star charts, half-title; a very little light browning; fold separations to the 2 folding charts.  Contemporary calf, spine gilt in seven compartments, marbled endpapers, red-sprinkled edges.

BL STC German XVIIc. H1022; Houzeau & Lancaster 12781; Linda Hall/Out of This World 22

First edition, published posthumously, with an introduction by Hevelius's widow Elisabeth. The manuscript of Prodromus astronomiae was one of the few items saved from the devastating 1679 fire at Helvelius's home observatory.

Prodromus astronomiae "is by far the most widely known of [Hevelius's] compendia of observations. ... It is a catalogue of 1,564 stars arranged alphabetically under constellation names and by stellar magnitude within constellations. Latitude, longitude, right ascension, and declination are given. ... Hevelius named eleven new constellations formed of stars not included in earlier groupings; seven of these names are still used" (DSB).

The outstanding suite of star plates may have been engraved in part by the author. They are unique among star atlases in depicting "the constellations as they would appear on a globe, that is, from the outside looking in, rather than from a geocentric point of view, as Bayer and most others adopted" (Linda Hall). Not surprisingly, Hevelius's engravings were often adapted by contemporary globemakers like Eimmart, Gerhard, and Valck. A fine copy.