This magnificent celestial chart illustrates the southern firmament, south ecliptic pole to ecliptic. The constellations are shown as figures from classical mythology per the catalogue of Johannes Hevelius and include Orion, Scorpio, Taurus, Eridanus and the Southern Cross. There are also exotic constellations such as the Peacock, Toucan, and a lovely unicorn called Monoceros. The corners of the chart are decorated with vignettes of the astronomical observatories at Greenwich, Copenhagen, Cassel, and Berlin.

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, 1D.

Condition: B

A sharp impression with contemporary color, some extraneous creasing, a large dampstain in the bottom quarter of the sheet, and some mildew stains in the top corners of the sheet.