Catalog Archive
Auction 177, Lot 31

"Phaenomena Motuum Irregularium quos Planetae Inferiores Venus et Mercurius ad Annum Salutis MDCCX...", Doppelmayr/Homann

Subject: Solar System

Period: 1716 (circa)

Publication: Grossen Atlas uber die Gantze Welt...

Color: Hand Color

Size:
22.6 x 19.3 inches
57.4 x 49 cm
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Interesting celestial chart showing the irregular motions of Earth, Mercury and Venus per the Copernican model during the year 1710. Along the left and right edges of the sheet are linear charts depicting the transit of Mercury across the Sun on November 5, 1710 and the (predicted) transit of Venus across the Sun on June 6, 1761. In the center is a circular chart of the solar system with pinwheel lines radiating out to chart Venus and Mercury's locations during orbit for particular dates in 1710. Inside the chart is an elaborate allegorical scene of the planets orbiting the sun with Terra Mater (Earth) being pulled through the heavens in a chariot, the wheel of which is a small map of the South Pole. This plate was first published in Homann’s Atlas von hundert Charten (1712), and reprinted for his Grossen Atlas (1716) and the Atlas Coelestis in 1742.

Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr was a professor of mathematics at the Aegidien Gymnasium in Nuremberg. Doppelmayr and Johann Baptist Homann were frequent collaborators in producing celestial and astronomical charts for atlases. This chart was engraved between 1735 and 1742 and appeared in the two major compilations of Dopplemayr’s works published by Homann Heirs; Atlas Coelestis in quo Mundus Spectabilis... in 1742, and the revised edition Atlas Novus Coelestis... in 1748. Read more about Doppelmayr's life and accomplishments here.

References: Kanas #7.8.3.

Condition: A

Nice impression and color on watermarked paper with a couple of minor printer's creases and a few tiny worm holes in blank areas of the image that have been professionally infilled. Light toning along the edges of the sheet.

Estimate: $240 - $300

Sold for: $220

Closed on 4/29/2020

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