In 1742, the noted mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer Johann Doppelmayr brought to the world his remarkable – as well as remarkably beautiful – Atlas Coelestis in quo Mundus Spectabilis, an exquisitely illuminated compendium of everything known about astronomy at that time. In thirty plates, the Atlas offered to the natural philosophers of the mid eighteenth century a detailed visual presentation of the contemporary knowledge of the constellations, planets, moons, and comets as they were then understood.
In his new book Phenomena, Giles Sparrow, FRAS, presents Doppelmayr’s thirty Atlas Coelestis plates in vivid, large format reproductions that are then extensively annotated to provide the modern reader with an understanding of not only what the Atlas conveyed to the readers of its day but also the significance of this information understood from our own modern day perspective. Naturally, an overview of Dopplemayr’s life and work, as well as a history of astronomy not only to the time of the Atlas but continuing up to the present day, are also included so as to provide the reader with a well-rounded understanding of the work, its author, and its significance to science of astronomy.
For anyone interested in the history of astronomy, cartography, or of early modern science in general, as well as all who relish the opportunity to spend time with a truly gorgeous book, this new presentation of Doppelmayr’s Atlas is a book well worthy of consideration.
