This magnificent pair of celestial charts illustrates the northern firmament, north ecliptic pole to ecliptic, and southern firmament, south ecliptic pole to ecliptic. The constellations are per the catalogue of Johannes Hevelius and include Virgo, Leo, Gemini, Ursa Major, Aries, Libra, and Sagittarius in the north and Orion, Scorpio, Taurus, Eridanus and the Southern Cross in the south. There are also exotic constellations such as the Peacock, Toucan, and a lovely unicorn called Monoceros. At both sides of the charts are tables of the constellations with their magnitudes and the locations of their main stars. The corners of the northern chart are decorated with vignettes of the astronomical observatories of Tycho Brahe at Hven, at Paris, of Hevelius at Danzig, and of Eimmart at Nuremberg. The corners of the southern chart are decorated with vignettes of the astronomical observatories at Greenwich, Copenhagen, Cassel, and Berlin. Size varies slightly.

Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr was a professor of mathematics at the Aegidien Gymnasium in Nuremberg. Doppelmayr and Johann Baptist Homann were frequent collaborators in producing celestial and astronomical charts for atlases. This chart was engraved between 1735 and 1742 and appeared in the two major compilations of Dopplemayr’s works published by Homann Heirs; Atlas Coelestis in quo Mundus Spectabilis... in 1742, and the revised edition Atlas Novus Coelestis... in 1748. Read more about Doppelmayr's life and accomplishments here.

References: Kanas #7.8.3; Warner p. 64, 1C & 1D.

Condition: B+

Excellent impressions and color with a pair of tiny worm holes on each sheet. The northern sheet has a few small spots of foxing, and the southern sheet has light toning along the centerfold.