Catalog Archive
Auction 172, Lot 48

"Typus Corporis Lunaris Panselini, una cum Maculis, Faculis, Montibus...", Kircher, Athanasius

Subject: Moon

Period: 1682 (circa)

Publication: Mundus Subterraneus…

Color: Hand Color

Size:
12.9 x 14.1 inches
32.8 x 35.8 cm
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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. Putti in a cloud background hold aloft the banner-style title cartouche. 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: De Vorsey (Mercator's World) Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 28-31.

Condition: A

A nice impression with some extraneous creasing adjacent to the centerfold and marginal soiling.

Estimate: $800 - $950

Sold for: $900

Closed on 4/17/2019

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