Haemisphaerium Stellatum Australe Antiquum / Haemisphaerium Stellatum Boreale Antiquum

A nice pair of celestial charts from Atlas Coelestis Seu Harmonia Macrocosmica del Cellarius, first published by Janssonius in 1660. 

His connection with the Janssonius publishing firm dates from around 1645. In this year Jodocus Janssonius, Johannes’s son, published Cellarius’s Architectura Militaris, a work on fortifications. In 1652 the Amsterdam publisher Gillis Jansz. Valckenier published Cellarius's Regni Poloniae … with 21 maps.

In 1660, Joannes Janssonius added a celestial atlas to his Atlas Major, the beautiful Harmonia Macrocosmica by Andreas Cellarius. In 1661 the atlas was republished as a separate publication. The plates of the Harmonia Macrocosmica were reprinted (without the Latin commentary) in 1708 by the Amsterdam publishers Valk and Schenk. 

The Harmonia Macrocosmica is the most beautiful celestial atlas ever published and is one of the notable masterworks from the Golden Age of Dutch cartography. The first part of the atlas contains engravings depicting the world systems of Claudius Ptolemy, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe. At the end are star maps of the classical and further constellations.

Andreas Cellarius was born in 1596 in Neuhausen and educated in Heidelberg. He emigrated to Holland in the early 17th century, and in 1637 moved to Hoorn, where he became the rector of the Latin School. The work consists of a series of Celestial Charts begun by Cellarius in 1647 and intended as part of a two-volume treatise on cosmography, which was never issued.

Cellarius' charts are the most sought after of celestial charts, blending the striking imagery of the golden age of Dutch Cartography with contemporary scientific knowledge. The present examples come from the Valk & Schenk edition of Cellarius' atlas, which is unchanged from the 1661 edition. The 1660 and 1661 editions can be distinguished by the inclusion of a plate number in the lower right corner of the 1661 edition. The Valk & Schenk edition can be distinguished by the addition of the printer's name (Valk & Schenk) in the titles of the maps.

From a strictly astronomical point of view, the table Haemisphaerium stellatum boreale antiquum "reproduces in convex polar ecliptic projection the stars, divided into classes of six magnitudes and positioned for 1660, belonging to the boreal sky and visible up to a latitude of 30 ° south. The outer diameter of the hemisphere is about 40.5 centimeters. The reference grid provides graduated scales of one degree of longitude units placed on both the ecliptic and the outer circumference. The line of the Colurus Solstitiorum and that passing through the Ecliptic Pole connects the two points of the equinoxes are defined by a graduated scale with notches of one degree of latitude. Are also drawn the Arctic Circle, the Tropic of Cancer, the equator and the ecliptic. In addition to the Ptolemaic constellations are drawn with their mythological characters Antinous, the rivers Tigris, Euphrates and Jordan, Apes, Gyraffa, and the rarely represented constellations of Cancer Minor and Sagitta Australe" while the table Haemisphaerium stellatum australe antiquum: "reproduces in convex polar ecliptic projection the stars, divided into classes of six magnitudes and positioned for 1660, belonging to the southern sky and visible up to a latitude of 30 ° north. The outer diameter of the hemisphere is about 40.5 centimeters. The reference grid provides graduated scales of one degree of longitude units placed on both the ecliptic and the outer circumference. The line of the Colurus Solstitiorum and that passing through the Ecliptic Pole connects the two points of the equinoxes are defined by a graduated scale with notches of one degree of latitude. The Antarctic polar circle, the Tropic of Capricorn, the equator and the ecliptic are also traced. In addition to the Ptolemaic constellations are drawn with their characters Cruzero, Columba Noachi, Monoceros Unicornis, the twelve constellations observed by the sailors Keiser and Houtman and made official in Bayer's Uranometria of 1603, and the rarely represented constellations of Cancer Minor, Sagitta Australe and Gallus" (see F. Stoppa, Atlas Coelestis.com).

Magnificent proofs, printed on contemporary laid paper, finely hand-colored, with full margins, in perfect condition.