Full Color - Gold Heightened Example
Finely colored and gold heighted example of Uranographia, sive Astrorum Descriptio, the masterwork celestial atlas created by the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode.
Bode was born in Hamburg in 1747 and became interested in astronomy at a young age. He was a prolific astronomer and wrote numerous books on the subject, including a popular guide to the night sky called "Vorstellung der Gestirne" ("Presentation of the Stars"). Bode is best known for his popularization of Bode’s law, or the Titius-Bode rule, an empirical mathematical expression for the relative mean distances between the Sun and its planets.
"Uranographia" is Bode's most famous work and is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful celestial atlases ever produced. The atlas consists of two charts of the celestial hemispheres and 18 charts of groups of the constellations.
The two charts of the celestial hemispheres show the entire sky as seen from Earth, one for the northern hemisphere and one for the southern hemisphere. The charts are beautifully detailed, with each star and constellation labeled and depicted in exquisite detail. The charts also include a grid of lines that represent the celestial coordinates, allowing astronomers to precisely locate objects in the sky. Bode's Uranographia introduced a new way of organizing the constellations. Instead of grouping the constellations based on their mythological associations, as was traditional, Bode grouped them based on their location in the sky.
In 1774 Bode established in the well-regarded Astronomisches Jahrbuch (“Astronomic Yearbook”), which would go on to produce 51 yearly volumes. He became director of the Berlin Observatory in 1786. In 1776 he propounded a theory of the solar constitution similar to that developed in 1795 by Sir William Herschel. He gave currency to the empirical rule known as Bode’s law, which was actually announced by Johann Daniel Titius of Wittenberg in 1766. This law was an important factor in the discovery of the minor planets, most of which are located between Mars and Jupiter.
One of the more unusual features of Bode's work is his illustration of a number of "new" constellations based upon modern science and scientists from the 18th Century, including a number first named by French Astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille. These include, among others:
- Telescopium Herschelii
- Quadrans Muralis
- Tubus Astronomicus
- Norma Regula
- Microscopium
- Globus Aerostaticus
- Apparatus Chemicus
- Machina Electrica
- Aparatus Sculptoris
- Officina Typographia
- Pyxis Nautica
- Antlia Pneumatica
- Octans Nautica
- Horologium Pendulum
- Pluteum Pictoris
The 18 charts of groups of the constellations show the constellations in groups, with each group representing a different region of the sky. These charts are also highly detailed, with each star and constellation labeled and depicted in intricate detail. The atlas includes the following 20 maps:
- Coelum Stellatum. Hemisphaerium Arietis
- Coelum Stellatum. Hermisphaerium Librae
- Ursa Minor; Cepheus; Draco; Rangifer; Custos Messium; Camelopardalus Tab. III. et V
- Cassiopeja; Andromeda; Traingulum majus et minus; Persus; Honores Friderici; Lacerta
- Auriga; Lynx; Telescopium Herschelii
- Ursa major; Leo minor
- Bootes et Mons Maenalus; Corona Borealis; Come Berenices; Canes Venatici; Quadreans Muralis
- Hercules, Cerebus et Ramus; Vultur et Lyra; Cygnus; Saggitta; Vulpecula et Anser
- Ophiuchus seu Serpentarius; Serpens Ophiuchi; Aquila et Antinous; Seutum-Sobiesi; Taurus Poniatovii
- Delphinus; Equuleus; Pegasus
- Picsces; Aries et Musca
- Taurus; Gemini; Orion; Canis minor; Harpa Georgii
- Cancer; Leo; Sextans Uraniae
- Virgo; Libra; Turdus Solitarius
- Scorpius; Sagittarius; Corona Australis; Lupus; Ara; Norma et Regula; Tubus Astronomicus
- Capricornus; Aquarius; Piscis Notius; Microscopium; Globus aerostaticus
- Cetus seu Monstrum Marinum; Eridanus Tab. XVII., XVIII., et XX; Apparatus Sculptoris; Machina electrica; Apparatus Chemicus
- Lepus; Canis major; Argo navis, Tab. XVIII. XIX. et X; Sceptrum Brandenburgicum; Caela Scalptoris; Columba; Monoceros; Officina Typographica; Pixis Nautica et Lochium Funis
- Hydra seu Serpens Aquaticus, Tab. XIV., XVIII., et XIX; Crater; Corvus; Centaurus, Tab. XIX., et XX; Felis; Antlia Pnevmatica
- Phoniz; Toucan; Nubecula minor; Hydrus; Horologium Pendulum; Reticulus; Nubecula major; Mons Mensae; Xiphias; Pluteum Pictoris; Piscis volans; Chamaeleon; Robur Caroli II; Crux; Apis; Circinus; Triangulum australe seu Libella; Apus seu Avis Indica; Octans Nautica; Pavo; Indus; Grus
Rarity
Bode's atlas is scarce on the market, with the last example of the atlas at auction referenced in RBH being an example at Christies in 2015.
We are not aware of any other full color examples being offered at auction.
Johann Elert Bode (1747-1826) was born in Hamburg. His first publication was on the solar eclipse, August 5, 1766. This was followed by an elementary treatise on astronomy entitled Anleitung zur Kenntniss des gestirnten Himmels, the success of which led to his being summoned to Berlin in 1772 for the purpose of computing ephemerides on an improved plan. In 1774, Bode started the well-known Astronomisches Jahrbuch, a journal that ran to 51 yearly volumes.
Bode became Director of the Berlin Observatory in 1786, where he remained until 1825. There he published the Uranographia in 1801, a celestial atlas that aimed both at scientific accuracy in showing the positions of stars and other astronomical objects, as well as the artistic interpretation of the stellar constellation figures. The Uranographia marks the climax of an epoch of artistic representation of the constellations. Later atlases showed fewer and fewer elaborate figures until they were no longer printed on such tables.
Bode also published a small star atlas, intended for astronomical amateurs (Vorstellung der Gestirne). He is credited with the discovery of Bode's Galaxy (M81). Comet Bode (C/1779 A1) is named after him; its orbit was calculated by Erik Prosperin. From 1787 to 1825 Bode was director of the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut. In 1794, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In April 1789, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.