Uranometria, omnium asterismorum continens schemata, nova methodo delineata, aeris laminis expressa

BAYER, Johann. Uranometria, omnium asterismorum continens schemata, nova methodo delineata, aeris laminis expressa. Ulm, sumptibus Iohannis Görlini, 1661. Small folio (33,5 x 22 cm) & Explicatio characterum aeneis Uranometrias imaginum, tabulis, insculptorum, addita, & commodiore hac forma tertium redintegrata. Ulm, for Johann Wolfgang Beuerlin, 1697.

Small 4to (18,5 x 14,5 cm). Contemporary half vellum, carboards covered with contemporary pink paper, handwritten title on spine, speckled edges. (Some soiling, oldtear to plate 7 clumsily restored, title leafuntrimmed.). Atlas : Title and 51 double-page engravings (with handwritten numbering and title in ink on each page, front and back). Text volume : Title, [10], 94 pp. Manuscriptownership Joannis Leonardi Schoerlyon the title page.

Third edition of the first printed celestial atlas, by the German lawyer and passionate ofastronomy Johann Bayer (1572-1625).

First published in 1603, Bayer’s Uranometria opened a new age in the history of celestial cartography. Until Bayer’s Uranometria, aesthetic and astrological concerns presided over the elaboration of celestial maps. The positions of the stars were most often taken from the catalogues of Ptolemy or al-Sufi. The constellations are represented by stylised figures in the tradition of Germanicus, i.e. the Latin translation of Aratos’ Greek poem on the constellations, the Phaenomena. The positions were sometimes not indicated or incorrectly indicated, bending to the figurative requirement of an arm, a sword, a face, the outline of a mythological character or animal, rather than to astronomical accuracy.

The Uranometria inaugurates the series of great celestial atlases of the 17th and 18th centuries, combining precision of data and artistic quality. It was based on the star catalogues, maps and figures of its predecessors, but the beauty of its engravings, its use of Tycho Brahe’s star catalogue - which began to circulate in manuscript form from 1592 onwards - and the establishment of a system of star nomenclature gave it a lasting impact. Bayer divided 1,277 stars into Ptolemy’s 48 constellations, assigning them a letter of the Greek alphabet (or the Latin alphabet when the number exceeds 24). He assigns the Greek letters in order of magnitude, so that the brightest star in the eye of Taurus (Aldebaran) becomes ‘a Tauri’, etc. These letters are placed on the maps, as well as in a table accompanying each map containing the nomenclature, descriptions and magnitudes of the stars in each constellation. The brightest stars are also given their ancient Arabic names, to facilitate their identification.

The Uranometria became an indispensable reference, even though many later celestial atlases invented new constellations, adopted new projection systems, and used different artistic styles. One of the scientific functions of star charts is to provide a system of coordinates on which to plot the movements of the planets. 

The atlas contains 51 plates engraved by Alexander Mair, of which 49 constellation maps and two hemispheres, the forty-ninth plate showing the twelve new southern constellations discovered over expeditions towards the end of the sixteenth century by the two Dutch navigators, Peter Dirckszoon de Keyser and Frederick De Houtmann.

The atlas comes with the fourth edition of the separate text interspersed throughout the atlas. Only the first edition of Bayer’s Uranometria has the text on the back of the maps. Published separately for the first time in 1624, it was intended to facilitate consultation while looking at the map.

Provenance: handwritten ex-libris Joannis Leonardi Schoerly Med. Doctoris 1709

References : BnF, Figures du ciel, pp. 81-109