A masterpiece from the Golden Age of celestial cartography
Andreas Cellarius. Harmonia Macrocosmica of 1660
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The demythologization of the heavens
With the aid of the telescope, it was possible to see stars that were not visible to the naked eye and to determine their positions with greater accuracy. As a consequence, the number of known stars rose from about 17,000 in around 1800 to some 300,000 by around 1900. The number of constellations depicted on globes and in atlases also increased - no less than 99 constellations feature in the monumental Uranographia published by Johann Elert Bode (1747-1826) in 1801, for example. Over the course of the 19th century, however, the figures illustrating the constellations would slowly disappear from professional celestial atlases. Some of the newly formed constellations fell into disuse, but it would take until the beginning of the 20th century before there was any consensus concerning the number and limits of the constellations. At a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1928, the number of constellations was officially fixed at 88.
The Harmonia Macrocosmica - Genesis, contents and appreciation
The publication of Andreas Cellarius' Harmonia Macrocosmica in 1660 forms the final chapter of an ambitious cartographic project initiated 25 years earlier by the Amsterdam publisher Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664), namely, the publication of an atlas in several volumes which described not only the surface of the Earth but the whole of Creation, including the cosmos and its history. The seeds of this plan had been sown nearly a century earlier by the renowned cartographer Gerard Mercator. In 1569, in the foreword to his Chronologia, Mercator stated his intention to publish an all-encompassing "cosmography", a multi-volume atlas that would describe not only ancient and modern geography, but also the seas, the cities of the world, the firmament and chronology. Mercator published the first four volumes of his atlas between 1585 and 1589, with a supplementary fifth volume being published by his son Rumold (c. 1545-1599) in 1595. Following Mercator's death, his project was taken up by a succession of publishers, but it would be Johannes Janssonius who finally turned it into reality. In 1636 Janssonius and Henricus Hondius published the first version of their Novus Atlas, featuring some 320 maps in four languages. In 1650 Janssonius added a fifth volume, a nautical atlas with supplemental maps of the eastern hemisphere. A further volume was published between 1658 and 1662 and included the cartography of the ancient world. With the addition of Andreas Cellarius' Harmonia Macrocosmica in 1660 and an eight-volume compilation describing a number of cities (published in 1657), Janssonius' "description of the world" - in the meantime entitled the Novus Atlas absolutissimus - was now complete in terms of the form originally envisioned by Mercator almost 100 years previously. In the foreword to his celestial atlas, which he dedicates to the English king Charles II, Andreas Cellarius explains that he originally drafted the plates and celestial maps contained within it solely for his own use, and for lovers of astronomy, but that after repeated appeals from the publisher, he had decided to make them available to a wider public.
Page [1] [2] [3]
Page [1] [2] [3]
The demythologization of the heavens
With the aid of the telescope, it was possible to see stars that were not visible to the naked eye and to determine their positions with greater accuracy. As a consequence, the number of known stars rose from about 17,000 in around 1800 to some 300,000 by around 1900. The number of constellations depicted on globes and in atlases also increased - no less than 99 constellations feature in the monumental Uranographia published by Johann Elert Bode (1747-1826) in 1801, for example. Over the course of the 19th century, however, the figures illustrating the constellations would slowly disappear from professional celestial atlases. Some of the newly formed constellations fell into disuse, but it would take until the beginning of the 20th century before there was any consensus concerning the number and limits of the constellations. At a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1928, the number of constellations was officially fixed at 88.
The Harmonia Macrocosmica - Genesis, contents and appreciation
The publication of Andreas Cellarius' Harmonia Macrocosmica in 1660 forms the final chapter of an ambitious cartographic project initiated 25 years earlier by the Amsterdam publisher Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664), namely, the publication of an atlas in several volumes which described not only the surface of the Earth but the whole of Creation, including the cosmos and its history. The seeds of this plan had been sown nearly a century earlier by the renowned cartographer Gerard Mercator. In 1569, in the foreword to his Chronologia, Mercator stated his intention to publish an all-encompassing "cosmography", a multi-volume atlas that would describe not only ancient and modern geography, but also the seas, the cities of the world, the firmament and chronology. Mercator published the first four volumes of his atlas between 1585 and 1589, with a supplementary fifth volume being published by his son Rumold (c. 1545-1599) in 1595. Following Mercator's death, his project was taken up by a succession of publishers, but it would be Johannes Janssonius who finally turned it into reality. In 1636 Janssonius and Henricus Hondius published the first version of their Novus Atlas, featuring some 320 maps in four languages. In 1650 Janssonius added a fifth volume, a nautical atlas with supplemental maps of the eastern hemisphere. A further volume was published between 1658 and 1662 and included the cartography of the ancient world. With the addition of Andreas Cellarius' Harmonia Macrocosmica in 1660 and an eight-volume compilation describing a number of cities (published in 1657), Janssonius' "description of the world" - in the meantime entitled the Novus Atlas absolutissimus - was now complete in terms of the form originally envisioned by Mercator almost 100 years previously. In the foreword to his celestial atlas, which he dedicates to the English king Charles II, Andreas Cellarius explains that he originally drafted the plates and celestial maps contained within it solely for his own use, and for lovers of astronomy, but that after repeated appeals from the publisher, he had decided to make them available to a wider public.
Page [1] [2] [3]
Andreas Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica
Hardcover, 32 x 53 cm (12.6 x 20.9 in.), 240 pages
$ 150.00
$ 150.00
The divine sky: history`s most beautiful celestial atlas
The northern stella hemisphere with the terrestial hemisphere lying between