Catalog Archive
Auction 112, Lot 67

"Typus Corporis Lunaris Panselini, Una cum Maculis, Faculis, Montibus…", Kircher, Athanasius

Subject: Moon

Period: 1682 (published)

Publication: d'Onder-Aardse Weereld

Color: Hand Color

Size:
13 x 14.2 inches
33 x 36.1 cm
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This marvelous engraving is an early view of the moon graphically depicting its craters based on the observations of Kircher and Christoph Scheiner in 1636 and 1650. Putti in a cloud background hold aloft the banner-style title cartouche. Kircher's masterpiece, titled Mundus subterraneus (The Underground World), was the first serious effort to describe the physical makeup of the earth, proposing theories (sometimes fantastic) in the areas of physics, geography, geology, and chemistry. Published in a Dutch edition of Kircher's famous Subterranean World by Johann Waesberger.

References:

Condition: A+

Estimate: $800 - $1,000

Sold for: $900

Closed on 9/28/2005

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