Burritt's Atlas Designed to Illustrate the Geography of the Heavens was conceived as an inexpensive, pictorial representation of the night sky. His book, based on English sources, brought European celestial cartography to the United States. This lot contains the two hemisphere charts from the atlas, which are centered on the north and south equatorial poles. The charts portray the stars that are visible to the naked eye for each month of the year. The maps include a scale indicating the size of stars between one and six as well as clusters and nebula. Beside the stars and constellations, the Milky Way is prominently shown. Northern Circumpolar Map for Each Month in the Year details the constellations of Ursa Major and Minor, Draco, the Lynx, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Andromeda, and Auriga, while Southern Circumpolar Map for Each Month in the Year shows the constellations of the Phoenix, Dorado, Apus, and Ara.

References: Kanas, p. 277-279.

Condition: B+

Original color. Both maps have minor soiling, two slight creases, and a few small spots within the image. The southern map also includes faint color offsetting and a 1" tear in the bottom left corner, well away from image. These are very nice examples considering the atlas is nearly always found in poor condition.