The first printed star atlas

PICCOLOMINI, Alessandro.

De le stelle fisse libro uno; Doue di tutte le XLVIII Imagin celesti minutissimamente si narra...
Venice: heirs of Giovanni Varisco, c.1595. 4to (150 x 200mm), contemporary limp vellum with title on spine in old ink; 30 leaves (title and numbers 2-32, with 29 & 30 not called for), with woodcut emblem on title and 2 diagrams; pp. 48 with 47 woodcut star charts, as called for (xvi not used, xxiii misnumbered xiiii); 48 tables on 69 numbered leaves; (6)pp.

Worming on front cover, old ink mss. on front pastedown; some spotting and staining throughout.

Alessandro Piccolomini's treatise 'Of the Fixed Stars' was first published in 1540 by Giovanni Varisco. The 47 star maps depict all the Ptolemaic constellations apart from Equuleus, without using figures. He introduced the use of letters to identify the stars, as popularised by Bayer.


Stock ID : 22956