Schiller, Julius

Coelum Stellatum Christianum Concavum ... Sociali opera Ioannis Bayeri IC Uranometriam novam priore accuratiorem suppeditantis. [Bound with his:] Coelum Stellatum Christianum ... Matthiae Kageri, Picturam primo concinnantis. Scalpello, qua Imagines, Lucae Kiliani; qua Stellas, Casparis Schecksii. Augsburg: Andreas Aperger, 1627



Two issues of the same work. Oblong folio (12⅜ x 15½ in.; 314 x 394 mm). First engraved title with a cloudy view of the Sun on the Ecliptic amidst the stars signed by Kilian, second title with a view of Christ in majesty seated with saints and biblical personages, 49 (misnumbered "LIV") engraved constellation maps and 2 engraved maps of the northern and southern skies in each issue for a total of 102 maps with letter-press explanations facing, the 51 maps in the second issue bearing engraved Christian iconography by Kager after Kilian; some marginal soiling, tear in first leaf D mended affecting text, an occasional marginal tear not affecting text or image, occasional light marginal spotting, two worm punctures in gutter margin of first title. Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin, decorated in a panel design, with gold-stamped episcopal supralibros on both covers with initials "S A Z L," red edges; fore-portion of lower cover mended, soiled, a few wormtracks, ties gone.

VD17: 23:295255U (misreading "convexum" for "concavum" in title) & 14:641663G; Warner, Sky Explored, pp. 231-232; Zinner 5078 (both issues); copies of the unillustrated at NYPL and University of Illinois, copies of the illustrated at Huntington Library and Adler Planetarium, while Linda Hall and LC have both.

First edition, both issues of  Schiller's christianised star atlas,  with two suites of star maps, with and without figural illustration. The suite with figural illustration has the same orientation as the unillustrated suite, and is therefore not a counterproof as is sometimes found.

"Viewed simply as a collection of celestial maps it was the best available until Hevelius published his atlas 60 years later. ... His atlas, essentially a revision of Bayer's Uranometria, was based on the latest — the most extensive and the most accurate — astronomical information. Among his authorities were Tycho Brahe, Franciscus Pissero's revision of Tycho's catalogue as published by Grienberger, Galileo's telescopic observations of the Pleiades, and Simon Marius' telescopic observations of the Andromeda nebula. Kepler, it must be remembered, had not yet issued the expanded version of Tycho's catalogue and it was not apparent that he would ever do so (in fact, the Tabulae Rudolphinae appeared in the same year, 1627).

"Schiller's atlas was the outcome of the ideas and work of several men, extending over a quarter of a century. The need for a new atlas, with revised star positions and constellations, was discussed by Bayer, Schiller, and Raymond Minderer, a doctor of medicine also at Augsburg. Bayer then undertook the astronomical revisions while Schiller, in correspondence with the Jesuits Johann Baptist Cysat, Paul Guldin, and Matthew Rader, converted the Greco-Roman constellations into Judeo-Christian ones. Wilhelm Schickard, the astronomer and professor of Oriental languages at Tübingen, supplied the Arabic letters and star and constellation names. Kaspar Schecks positioned the stars on the copper plates, Johann Mathias Kager drew the constellation figures, and Lucas Kilian engraved them. Finally Jacob Bartsch [Kepler's son-in-law] supplied various astronomical tables and, after Schiller's death, supervised publication" (Warner).