Subject: Celestial
Period: 1705 (circa)
Publication: Atlas Contractus
Color: Hand Color
Size:
22 x 19 inches
55.9 x 48.3 cm
Magnificent double hemisphere celestial chart showing the northern and southern sky with constellations in allegorical form derived from Hevelius. The banner between the two hemispheres is a key showing the relative magnitude of the stars depicted. The diagram at upper right shows the relation between the moon and the tides, and a counter-balancing diagram at bottom left illustrates the monthly orbit and illumination of the moon. The diagram in the bottom right corner represents day and night on the earth, and the remaining three diagrams show the planetary hypotheses of Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, and Ptolemy.
References: Warner p. 222; Kanas #6.9.
Condition: B
Original color with light soiling, a tear in bottom margin that just enters neatline and has been closed with archival tape, and a few separations and tiny holes along centerfold that have been professionally repaired. There are two cracks (1" and 1.5") adjacent to the centerfold between the hemispheres caused by the oxidation of the green pigment that have been closed with archival material.