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Title: St. Paul’s Cathedral
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1809
Description: Ackermann, R., The Microcosm of London, Vol. III, London 1809-1810 Plate no. 80

Title: Scorpio
Format: print: engraving
Date: 1603
Description: From Johann Bayer’s “Uranometria” (1603), the first ‘true’ star-atlas. This and other copper-engraved images from the book demonstrate a notable feature of this atlas: the sheer beauty of the plates. Alexander Mair, the artist, clearly found some inspiration in the De Gheyn engravings in the Aratea published by Hugo Grotius in 1600, but most of Bayer’s constellation figures have no known prototype. Significantly, each plate has a carefully engraved grid, so that star positions can be read off to fractions of a degree. These positions were taken, not from Ptolemy’s catalog, but from the catalog of Tycho Brahe, which had circulated in manuscript in the 1590s, yet not printed until 1602. Another important feature of the atlas was the introduction of a new system of stellar nomenclature, Bayer assigning Greek letters to the brighter stars, generally in the order of magnitude.

Title: Galileo, illustration of the use of the compass, from Le Operazione del Compasso Geometrico et Militare (The Operation of the Geometric and Military Compass), Padua, 1606
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1606
Description: Galileo designed his geometric and military compass (“compasso geometrico e militare”) in 1597. Known in English as the sector, the compass was widely used until the invention of logarithmic tables. In Galileo’s model, an arc could be inserted between the two arms of the compass to make the instrument into a quadrant. A plumb bob could be attached.

Title: Plate from “Ansei kenbunshi”
Format: photograph: print
Description: Fire following the great earthquake of 1855 near Tokyo (the “Ansei earthquake”). Accounts of the disaster were suppressed by the government, making them today extremely rare. This plate is from “Ansei kenbunshi” (Observations of the Ansei Era), printed in Tokyo, 1856. George W. Housner book collection.

Title: An early observation of weather conditions in Siena
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1798
Description: An early observation of weather conditions at the time of an earthquake in Siena, Italy, May 26, 1798. The published account of this earthquake is one of the first such to adopt an empirical approach to understanding the phenomenon. George W. Housner Rare Book Collection.

Title: Foundling Hospital, The Chapel
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1808
Description: Ackermann, R., The Microcosm of London, Vol. II, London 1809 Plate no. 37

Title: Court of Common Pleas, Westminister Hall
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1808
Description: Ackermann, R., The Microcosm of London, Vol. I, London 1808 Plate no. 23

Title: Galileo, title page from Istoria e Dimostrazioni intorno alle Macchie Solari (History and Demonstration concerning Sunspots), Rome,1613
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1613
Description: With this book, the author proudly announces himself for the first time as “Galileo Galilei Linceo” --a member of the Lincean Academy, to which he had been elected in 1611. The Lincei was one of the first scientific academies and was founded in Rome in 1603 by Duke Federico Cesi. The lynx for which the academy was named was famous for its sharp eyesight and symbolized the ability of the new science to see more deeply into the secrets of nature. It appears on the title page surrounded by a wreath, probably of laurel, and surmounted by a crown, probably that of the Cesi family.

Title: Galileo, the moon from Sidereus Nuncius (The Sidereal Messenger), Venice, 1610
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1610
Description: An engraved illustration of features of the moon’s surface, as seen by Galileo with his telescope. He was able to describe the roughness of the moon’s surface and the position of spots and prominences on the light and dark sides.

Title: Sagitta
Format: print: engraving
Date: 1603
Description: From Johann Bayer’s “Uranometria” (1603), the first ‘true’ star-atlas. This and other copper-engraved images from the book demonstrate a notable feature of this atlas: the sheer beauty of the plates. Alexander Mair, the artist, clearly found some inspiration in the De Gheyn engravings in the Aratea published by Hugo Grotius in 1600, but most of Bayer’s constellation figures have no known prototype. Significantly, each plate has a carefully engraved grid, so that star positions can be read off to fractions of a degree. These positions were taken, not from Ptolemy’s catalog, but from the catalog of Tycho Brahe, which had circulated in manuscript in the 1590s, yet not printed until 1602. Another important feature of the atlas was the introduction of a new system of stellar nomenclature, Bayer assigning Greek letters to the brighter stars, generally in the order of magnitude.

Title: Galileo, title page from Dialogo...sopra i due Massimi Sistemi del Mondo, Tolemaico, e Copernicano (Dialogue concerning the Two Chief World Systems, the Ptolemaic and the Copernican), Florence, 1632
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1632
Description: Galileo’s intent with this book was to present the two world systems, the Ptolemaic and the Copernican, in easy to understand, dialogue form. His optimism concerning the acceptance of the Copernican system was misplaced; one year later he was brought to trial and forced to abjure his ideas.

Title: Somerset House, Strand
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1809
Description: Ackermann, R., The Microcosm of London, Vol. III, London 1809-1810 Plate no. 73

Title: The Mint
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1809
Description: Ackermann, R., The Microcosm of London, Vol. II, London 1809 Plate no. 55

Title: Hamilton, Sir William, “Campi Phlegraei: Observations on the Volcanos of the Two Sicilies”, plate 37.
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1779
Description: One of 54 plates by Peter Fabris illustrating volcanis activity in the region of Naples. Sir William Hamilton was at this time royal envoy to the Count of Naples and pubished his investigations of volcanos for the Royal Society.

Title: Chelsea Hospital
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1810
Description: Ackermann, R., The Microcosm of London, Vol. III, London 1809-1810 Plate no. 98

Title: Fire in London
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1808
Description: Ackermann, R., The Microcosm of London, Vol. II, London 1809 Plate no. 35

Title: Hand-painted illustration from the autograph album of Johann Jakob Frisch
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1624
Description: Frisch was a nephew of Johannes Kepler. The album was kept by Frisch while a law student at the University of Tubingen (from 1624 to 1631), where Kepler himself also had studied. Autograph entries are typicaly in Latin, and range from a few lines of verse or prose to elaborate miniature illustrations, comic and serious. Kepler’s autograph is included in the book within a Latin inscription dated 1625.