Jamieson, Alexander. A celestial atlas: comprising a systemic display of the heavens in a series of thirty maps. London, 1822, pl. 25.

Further Out: Recent Acquisitions of Celestial Atlases

An Exhibition of Rare Books from the Collection of the Linda Hall Library And a Supplement to Out of This World

Strauch, Aegidius. Astrognosia synoprice et methodice in usum academicum adornata. Wittenberg, 1659.

Aegidius Strauch was a Lutheran astronomer and professor at Wittenberg. His little Astrognosia was probably intended for classroom use. It contained 32 small engraved plates of the constellations, plus three other plates of the moon, planets, and solar system. The star maps are copied unabashedly from Bayer’s Uranometria, which one modification: Strauch occasionally combined two or three Bayer plates into one. For example, Bayer had placed Auriga, Perseus, and Triangulum on three separate plates; in Strauch’s volume we find them all on one tiny plate (see below).

Auriga, Perseus, and Triangulum. Image source: Strauch, Aegidius. Astrognosia: synoptice et methodice in usum academiarum adornata. Wittenberg: Sumptibus autoris / Literis Jobi Wilhelmifincelil, 1659, pl. 10.

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Perseus (much reduced). Image source: Bayer, Johannes. Uranometria. Augsburg: Excudit Christophorus Mangus, 1603.

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In this first edition of his atlas, Strauch published the text in oblong form, so that the plates could be bound in without folding. In later editions (see the next item), he reverted to normal book format, and the plates had to be folded in.

Gemini, Cancer, and Canis Major. Image source: Strauch, Aegidius. Astrognosia: synoptice et methodice in usum academiarum adornata. Wittenberg: Sumptibus autoris / Literis Jobi Wilhelmifincelil, 1659, pl. 18.

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Ophiuchus. Image source: Strauch, Aegidius. Astrognosia: synoptice et methodice in usum academiarum adornata. Wittenberg: Sumptibus autoris / Literis Jobi Wilhelmifincelil, 1659, pl. 15.

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