1801 Bode Constellation Star Chart (1 results)

Very good. Deckled edges. Original platemark. Blank on verso. Original centerfold. Some foxing to left and lower left margins. A few minor margin tears - reinforced on verso - not impacting image. Size 24 x 34 Inches. An exceptional example of the 1801 Johann Elbert Bode elephant folio celestial, constellation, or star map of Pegasus, Equuleus, and Delphinus. Considered the largest and most dramatic celestial maps of their era, possibly ever published, Bode's gigantic star charts detail thousands of stars, nebulae, and clusters. Constellations are dramatically represented in pictorial form, as was the convention of the previous century. Many of the newly discovered nebulae, double stars, star clusters discovered by European astronomers in the late 18th century, such as Lacaille, Lalande, Messier, and Herschel, are identified. Bode presents this map on a conic geocentric projection in which most constellations are seen as from Earth. The current example is spectacularly colored gold highlighting of important stars. Publication History and Census Bode's constellation maps are extremely scarce tp the market. Issued in Berlin in 1801 for publication in Johann Elert Bode's Uranographia . References: Kanas, N., Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography, 6.5.4, pages 183-4.