SCHILLER, Julius.

Coelum stellatum Christianum [second title: Coelum Stellatum Christianum concavum]. Ad majorem Dei Omnipotentis, sanctaeque eius tam triumphantis, quàm militantis Ecclesiae gloriam obductis gentilium simulachris ...

Augsburg, Andreas Aperger, 1627. Oblong folio, pp [iv], 134, [without the errata leaf sometimes found], with (included in the pagination) an engraved title, an engraved plate of Arabic names, and 51 magnificent star maps including two hemispheres, additionally, counterproof of first title, second engraved title, duplicate of privilege leaf, duplicate plates of the two hemispheres, followed by counterproofs without figures of these two, and two sets of the remaining 49 star charts in counterproof, one with figures, the other before the addition of the constellation figures, giving a total of 157 engraved plates (including titles); the repeat of the privilege leaf with restored upper and lower margins, and a tear, outer half of the penultimate leaf of tables replaced in good facsimile, the ultimate leaf with restored outer margin with small loss of text, nonetheless a fine copy, carefully washed, still crisp, in contemporary vellum over paste-board, red edges, new endpapers. FIRST EDITION, A UNIQUE COPY WITH TWO SUITES OF THE STAR MAPS IN COUNTERPROOF, OF WHICH ONE IS AN UNRECORDED VERSION STRUCK AFTER THE CHRISTIAN CONSTELLATION FIGURES HAD BEEN ADDED. 'The production of a counterproof map is a two-step process; after the paper print is made from the engraved copper plate, and while the ink is still wet, a second print is made from the first one. This second print, or counterproof, thus resembles the original metal plate, and both of these are mirror images of the first paper print' (Warner). Our copy, which we believe to be unique, has (a) the suite of star-maps printed directly from the Christianised copper-plates. This suite is the Coelum stellatum Christianum of the title and appears as in Warner (b) a counterproof suite, the Coelum stellatum concavum of the title, which differs from (a) in that it has been taken from the copper-plates before the Christian constellation were added and is therefore 'avant l'image'. The Christianum of the title refers to the accompanying text which has been Christianised and which accompanied (b) when issued as a separate volume. This suite appears as in Warner and (c) an unrecorded suite of counterproofs of the copperplates with the Christian figures added, which is to say a suite of the counterproofs of (a). Our copy includes in the case of each map first the accompanying explanatory text, then the respective plates from series (a), then from (c) then from (b). The two counterproof suites show the stars as we see them and may therefore be called 'geocentric' while the standard plates show the sky as imagined on a stellar globe. Copies with both (a) and (b) are rare. The Honeyman copy for example has only (a). We know of no other examples of (c).Schiller's great Christianised star atlas was a part of the Counter-Reformation attempt to de-paganise the heavens and substitute Judeo-Christian imagery believed to be conducive to piety. For example, the twelve zodiacal signs became the twelve apostles. Schiller's maps are distinguished by a good graduation of stellar magnitudes, three new stars, and several newly discovered nebulae. 'While some of these, seen through newly invented telescopes, have since proven to be ghosts, others proved true. The most interesting of these objects is the great nebula in Andromeda, now known as M31. This object, clearly visible to the naked eye, was not reported by Ptolemy, and it was apparently not noticed by any of the medieval or Renaissance astronomers whose work followed from his. Nor, surprisingly, was it noted by Tycho Brahe, even though he had observed a great many non-Ptolemaic stars ...'In considering Schiller's atlas it is convenient to distinguish between the scientific content and the religious orientation. Viewed simply as a collection of celestial maps it was the best available until Hevelius published his atlas 60 years later. Schiller was not himself an astronomer, but a cartographer who used the observations of others. 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).The two hemispheres, here each bound in thrice (once as counterproof 'avant l'image') were republished by Cellarius in 1660. In that printing they reached wider circulation, than they did in Schiller's first edition.Kenney Rare Astronomical Books 169 (Christianum, one run of maps); Warner pp. 229-32 (listing two issues); Zinner 5078; NUC records one copy only, Library of Congress (Rosenwald 1317, '49 plates'); OCLC adds Huntington, Adler Planetarium and Linda Hall Library; no further location in RLIN; copies of Coelum stellatum Christianum concavum are to be found at Library of Congress and Linda Hall (bound with the Coelum stellatum Christianum, and at New York Public Library and the University of Illinois.

• GBP 65,000.00 > Andere Währungen
• Bestellnummer: S271

• Antiquariat: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)