BEVIS, JOHN. [URANOGRAPHIA; OR THE CELESTIAL ATLAS. LONDON: CA. 1750]

Oblong folio (15 x 19 1/4 in.; 385 x 485 mm).  Engraved frontispiece showing Frederick Prince of Wales dressed as Caesar accepting a copy of the atlas from Urania, 51 engraved star charts with printed arms of the dedicatees (either academic institution or nobleman) beneath each image; frontis edges a little ragged and generally rubbed, index leaf (often lacking) with some marginal reinforcement, no title page (only found in a few copies). Modern calf and marbled boards.

For Brevis’s discovery of the Crab Nebula, see N. V. Mayall, The Story of the Crab Nebula Science, vol. 137, no. 3524, 1962, p. 91 seq. Brown, Astronomical Atlases, Maps & Charts pp. 51--52, 57--58.

FIRST EDITION OF A TRULY RARE CELESTIAL Bevis spent the years 1747-1749 working on the star charts and endeavoring to attract subscribers as the project was to be costly. He managed 5 subscribers who ordered 30 copies. Unfortunately only a few proofs or complimentary copies were issued, with Bevis going bankrupt in 1750 due in part to  the high cost of the engravings.  The plates passed to the creditors and were later probably used for the Atlas Celeste 1786, itself a very rare work.

A small number, perhaps 6 copies, were listed in Bevis' estate at the time of his death in 1771. 

The Uranograhia Britannica was based on Bayer’s Uranometria but includes about 5 times as many stars, with Bayer’s positions corrected. The last two plates represent the northern and southern hemispheres.