"[Untitled - Moon]", Kircher, Athanasius

This marvelous engraving is an early view of the moon graphically depicting its craters based on the observations of Kircher and Christoph Scheiner in 1636 and 1650. This example is quite uncommon, as the engraving typically includes a banner-style title cartouche at top, held aloft by putti. Kircher's masterpiece, titled Mundus subterraneus (The Underground World), was the first serious effort to describe the physical makeup of the earth, proposing theories (sometimes fantastic) in the areas of physics, geography, geology, and chemistry.

References: cf. De Vorsey (Mercator's World Vol. 8 No. 2) pp. 28-31.

Condition: B+

A nice impression on a clean, bright sheet with the watermark of a coat of arms with a horn and the initials "WR." There is a professionally repaired tear that enters 3.5" into image at right.