Strauch, Aegidius. Astrognosia synoprice et methodice… Editio secunda, priori multo auctior ed. Wittenberg, 1668.
In this second edition of his little handbook of the stars and constellations (see item 3 for the first edition), Strauch changed from an oblong format to the more normal upright format, which means that the 35 oblong engraved plates had to be folded to fit into the text. But the plates are exactly the same as in the first edition, the only difference being that the paper on which the plates were engraved has a lot more margin at top and bottom.
One of the oddities of both Strauch editions is that four of the plates were printed upside down, compared to the Bayer originals. This was not an accident or a printer’s error, because the plate numbers are printed right side up. Thus Pegasus is shown flying through the sky right-side up, whereas in Bayer, and every other star atlas, Pegasus is depicted upside down. Similarly Hercules, who usually rides upside down just above the shoulder of Ophiuchus, is here shown right-side up. For these two constellations the inversion makes some sense. But why Scorpius and Cynus should be depicted upside down is difficult to explain.
For all its small size, the plates in the Strauch atlases are remarkably clear. In many ways the 12 southern constellations invented by Keyser and Houtman are easier to make out in Strauch than in the original plate in Bayer, which was many times larger.