Hemisphaerium Coeli Australe

Nuremberg, Johann Baptist Homann, c. 1730. Copper engraving, 48.5 x 58.5 cm, original hand-colour, refreshed; margins pressed where they had been folded back for framing; blank verso. Doppelmayr became professor of mathematics at the Aegidien-Gymnasium in Nuremberg in 1704, and enjoyed a close working relationship with the founder of the Homann firm, Johann Baptist Homann. Astronomical plates prepared by Doppelmayr appeared in early editions of Homann’s general atlases before being collected together and published as the ‘Atlas Coelestis’ by the Homann Heirs in 1742. The southern sky is flanked by stellar tables and views of some of the most renowned observatories of the day, including the Greenwich Observatory in London founded by Charles II and the Round Tower in Copenhagen, built by Christian IV of Denmark in 1642 - both of which are still standing. Some of the constellations, meanwhile, are no longer recognised, including Halley’s ‘Robur Carolinum’ (named in honour of Charles II, after the oak tree where he sought refuge after the battle of Worcester). On our map it can be found adjacent to the ship Argo, which had yet to be divided into three component parts (hull, poop deck and sails). Kanas, Star Maps (3rd edition) p. 235 Map