Johan Blaeu (b. 1596, d. 1673, Dutch engraver)
Tycho Brahe (b. Skåne 1546, d. Prague 1601)
Le Grand Atlas: "ATLAS MAIOR, sive cosmographia blauiana qua solum, salum, coelum, accuratissime describuntur. Amsterdam: Labore & Sumptimus 1665. Large folio (app. H. 57.5 x L. 37 cm). Incomplete. Half title, title-page with engraved and hand-coloured vignette; [17], 1–106 pp., lacking one text leaf (99–100 pp.). Illust. with 21 engraved and cont. hand-coloured plates of maps, architectural drawings and instruments (11 double folio, 10 folio). 54–56 pp. missing from atlas. Many text leaves with browning, illustrations with light or minor browning and some leaves yellowed edges due to age. Jutland appears with marginal dampstains. 1 leaf [95] loose. Bound in cont. full vellum with gilt boards, spine and edges.
Enclosed hand-coloured engraving “Arcis Uraniburgi”. Double-framed in plexiglass. App. 59×48 cm. (2)
In the late 16th century, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) established two observatories on the island of Hven, near Copenhagen.
This section from Johan Blaeu's “Grande Atlas” [in Latin “Atlas Major”] describes and illustrates Brahe's astronomical instruments. The engravings were revised from wood-cuts originally published in Brahe's own “Astronomiae Instauratiae Mechanicae” (1598), with the descriptions in Latin. The section also gives a map of Hven and plans and descriptions of Brahe's two observatories, Uraniborg and Stelleborg.
Blaue's “Atlas Maior” is called “the greatest and finest atlas ever published”, and a main part of the section here present was devoted to the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, due to the fact that he educated Joan Blaeu's father Willem Blaeu. In 1595 Willem Blaeu stayed for six months at Brahe's island Hveen, where he became closely acquainted with the astronomical work of Brahe. Some of the astronomical instruments of Brahe here presented, in particular the “Mecanica”, set new standards for description of technical apparatus.
21 illustrations in bound order: Dania Regnum. + Iutia olim Cimbrica Chersonesus. + Pars Australior Iutiæ Septentrionialis, in qua Dioeceses Ripensis et Arhusiensis. + Pars Borealior Iutiæ Septentrionalis, in qua Dioeceses Alburgensis et Viburgensis. + Fionia vulgo Funen. + Lalandia, Falstria et Mona Insulæ in Mari Balthico. + Zeelandia Insula Danicarum Maxima. + Insula Hvæna, sive Venusia, à Guiljelmo Blaev, cum sub Tychone Astronomiæ operam daret, delineata. + Ortographia Præcipuæ Domus Arcis Uraniburgi. + Ichnographia Præcipuæ Domus Uraniburgi. + Sextans Astronomicus Prout Altitudinibus Inservit. + Armillæ Æqvatoriæ. + Instrumentum Parallaticum, sive Regulæ Ptolemaicæ Nic. Copernici. & Instrumentum Parallaticum Tychonis Brahe. + Armillæ Æqvatoriæ. + Effigies Tychonis Brahe O.F. Ædificii et Instrumentorum Astronomicorum Structoris. [Anno] Domini 1587, Ætatis suæ 40. + Stellaburgum sive Observatorium Subterraneum, a Tychone Brahe. + Iconographia Stellæburgi. + Armillæ Æqvatoriæ Maximæ Sesqualtero Constantes Circulo. + Sextans Astronomicus Trigonicus pro Distantiis Rimandis. + Quadrans Magnus Chalibeus in Quadrato etiam chalibeo compræhensus, unaque Azimuthalis. + Quadrans Volubilis Azimuthalis.
Books and manuscripts, 14 March 2023
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