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Description

A striking star chart centered on Sagittarius [The Centaur], marvelously engraved and delicately colored. It shows the featured constellation as well as Scutum Sobieski [the Shield of Sobieski] in color with neighboring stars and constellations without color. Jamieson's work is one of the finest of its kind in the early 19th century. Alexander Jamieson published A Celestial Atlas Comprising A System Display of the Heaven. This work was published in London by G & W.B Wittaker, T. Caddell and N. Hailes in 1822.

Sagittarius is usually described as a centaur, though several myths place the constellation as another entity. Regardless, the constellation almost always represents an archer of some sort in the western tradition. Scutum Sobieski was a constellation first described in the 17th century and named to commemorate the victory of Polish King John Sobieski in the 1683 Battle of Vienna.

The chart includes a colored Sagittarius and Scutum as well as uncolored parts of the constellations of Capricorn, Aquarius, Antinous, Ophiuchus, Serpens, Scorpio, Australis, and Microscopium. The Milky Way, which reaches its brightest near the tip of Sagittarius's arrows, is also shown. The ecliptic positions are shown, as well as the equinoctial line. This forms part of a marvelously colored set of Jamieson works on the Zodiac signs.

This edition of Jamieson's work was later used for Urania's Mirror, a collection of star cards with punched holes so one could line them up with the constellations.