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Description

The Earliest Depiction of Herschel's Little Telescope on a Printed Star Chart

Detailed star chart of the constellation Taurus and neighboring constellations, from Fortin's Atlas Celeste de Flamsteed . . , published in Paris.

John Flamsteed was the first Astronomer Royal at the London Observatory, winning out over Edmund Halley and Isaac Newton. He made a copious and thorough study of the heavens, but refused to publish his works, despite the urgings of his colleagues, including Halley and Newton. Finally, his life's work was published posthumously in 1728, in what is now an extremely scarce to rare work.

This later French edition was a tremendous success and is perhaps the most popular French language Celestial Atlas of the 18th Century.

States

This map is from the 1795 French third edition of Flamsetted, which has the "Petit Telescope de Herschel" which was first mapped in 1789. Underlined stars also apparently distinguish this edition.