Tabula Selenographica in qua Lunarium Macularum exacta Descriptio secundum Nomenclaturam Praestantissimorum Astronomorum tam Hevelii quam Riccioli Curiosis Rei Sidereae Cultoribus exhibetur…
By: Johann Baptiste Homman / Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr
Date of Original: 1742 (Published) Nuremberg
Original Size: 19.5 x 23 inches (50.2 cm x 59 cm)
This magnificent double hemisphere fine print reproduction of the surface of the Moon by Homman and Doppelmayr has its origins in the works of Johannes Hevelius, a brewer from Gdansk, who in 1647 published the first treatise devoted entirely to the Moon.
Hevelius was a scientist in the true meaning of the word. He made his own lenses and constructed his own telescopes, observing the Moon on every clear night for several years. He then drew his observations and engraved and published them himself. Both spheres depict the surface of the same side of the moon and are filled with topography, using place names following the nomenclature of Riccioli on the right and Hevelius on the left. Riccioli named the features of the moon for famous people and scientists, while Hevelius named them after geographical features on earth.
Different lunar phases are represented between the two images and additional lunar phases are represented in the four corners. The upper right quadrant features Diana, goddess of the moon, and in the upper left quadrant cherubs using a telescope. If you turn the map 90 degrees counter-clockwise and examine the sphere on the left, you may notice that the lower center of the sphere resembles the Mediterranean Sea. Hevelius named the landform in the middle of the region Sicilia, and the crater in its center M. Aetna. A panel below the spheres describes the Moon, its features and the cartographers’ observations in Latin.
Inventory #10748
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