Atlas, designed to illustrate the geography of the heavens, comprising the following maps or plates. . . .

[ASTRONOMY -- ATLAS]. BURRITT, Elijah H.

Edité par Published by Huntington and Savage, 216 Pearl St.,, New York:, 1835

A propos de cet article

Imperial 4to. 16 x 14 in. [10 leaves], 8 engraved plates (2 double-page, 7 hand-coloured (minor foxing, edgewear, faint tidemark to lower margin of first few leaves)). Original printed yellow softcovers, mounted on thicker paper stock, cover art woodcut of astronomer gazing at the stars w/ telescope, testimonials printed on back cover (soiling, edgewear, rubbing, tide-mark to lower margin, bumping to corners, pencil drawings by child on verso of some plates trying to reproduce some of the figures), still G copy. First edition, thus, stated "New Edition," which in actuality was an updated and revised edition with new engraved plates executed by W.G. Evans of New York (fl. 1830-1845), who also engraved the famed Map of Lewis & Clark's Track Across the Western Portion of North America in 1842, revised by Archibald M'Vickar. Burritt (1794-1838), an American astronomer and mathematician created his textbook and the later atlas as a low-cost alternative to celestial globes which were often too expensive for many schools in Jacksonian America. The atlas could be purchased for $ 1.25 at the time, and the Geography of the Heavens textbooks, and Atlases would prove immensely popular in classrooms up until 1876. Adapting most of his constellation figures from Alexander Jamieson's A Celestial Atlas (1822), Burritt included a plan of the Solar System, Celestial maps of the skies in January-March, October-December, April-June, July-September, South Pole, North Pole, and Planisphere of the Whole Heavens on Mercator's Projection. This was the last decorative celestial reference in the 19th century, and even served as inspiration of H.P. Lovecraft who notes it as prized possession in letter to Maurice Moe in 1915. See: Kidwell, Elijah Burritt and the Geography of the Heavens, Sky & Telescope, Vol. 69, January (1985), pp. 26-28; Boston University Art Gallery, Celestial Images: Antiquarian Astronomical Charts and Maps from the Mendillo Collection (2005), 75.

N° de réf. du vendeur 53619

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Atlas, designed to illustrate the geography of the heavens, comprising the following maps or plates. . . .
• Éditeur: Published by Huntington and Savage, 216 Pearl St.,, New York:
• Date de parution: 1835
• Édition: Edition originale
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Celestial Atlas