The frontispiece to an 18th century celestial atlas

FLEISCHMANN, August Christian.

[The frontispiece of 'Mercurii Philosphici Firmamentum Firmianum'.]
Frankfurt, 1730. Fine original hand colour with gold highlights. 145 x 160mm.

A little wear to edges of the margins, small printer's crease.

An allegorical scene, drawn by Fleischmann as the frontispiece to Corbinianus Thomas's celestial atlas, 'Mercurii Philosphici Firmamentum Firmianum'. It depicts Urania standing by a celestial globe, as Fame holds up a portrait of Leopold Anton von Firmian, Archbishop of Salzburg, to whom the atlas was dedicated. Under the globe are other surveying instruments. Behind, seated on a cloud are the gods Jupiter and Mercury.
Corbinianus Thomas (1694-1767), a Benedictine monk, was Professor of Mathematics and Theology at the University of Salzburg. His star atlas was first published in 1730 at Frankfurt, with a second edition at Augsburg the following year. He used an odd system for nomenclature: Bayer Greek letter for the star, Roman numeral for the magnitude and Arabic numeral for the star catalogue reference.

KANAS: 7.7, 'beautiful illustrations'; WARNER, p.251.
Stock ID : 21474