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a painting of a group of people sitting around a tablean illustration of a diagram of the planets in a circlean old map of the world with the sun in the middlea picture of a drawing of a spiral in the middle of a circlean old map of the world with a pink circle on itan old map of the world in pink and gold on a white backgroundan image of a diagram of the solar system in the middle of a bookan old map of the world with a picture of the sun in the middlean image of a diagram of the solar system in the middle of a bookan old map of the world with a circular designan illustration of a diagram of the layers of the earthan old map of the world with a ring around itan old map of the world with the sun in the middle of itan old map of the world on display in a museuman old map of the world with all the names of the countriesan old map of the world with the sun in the middlean old map of the world with all the names of the countriesmap of the world with a cat in a cage on top of itan old map of the world in pink and yellow on a white backgroundan old map of the moon and its phases with a sun in the middlean illustration of a map of the world in a bookan old book with a pink and yellow circle on itan old map of the world with a lot of people on itan old map of the world with all the stars in itan old map of the sky with animals and other animalsan old map of the world with a lot of animals on itan old map of the world with a lot of people around itan old map of the sky with animals and other animals on itan antique map of the world with all the major planetsan old map of the world with all the stars in itan old book sitting on top of a table next to a white wallthe front cover of a book with an image of a plant
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232 - CELLARIUS (Andreas). *Harmonia macrocosmica seu Atlas univer…
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Estimate €18,000 - €20,000
Sale commission
Description
CELLARIUS (Andreas). *Harmonia macrocosmica seu Atlas universalis et novus, totius universi creati Cosmographiam generalem, et novam exhibens*. Amsterdam, Gérard Valk and Pierre Schenk, 1708. Folio (515 x 315 mm), cardboard spine with red paper (19th-century binding). Binding damaged, spine missing, corners worn. [1] title leaf printed in black and red, a fine allegorical frontispiece engraved by Frederik Hendrik van Hove, [1] table leaf and 29 magnificent double-page maps, all mounted on tabs and watercoloured in period colours. Minor pinholes or marginal foxing. A slight tear (with no loss of material) at the lower fold of plates 8 and 25. A minor tear of no consequence on the outer margin of plate 10. A very fine copy, very well preserved, of one of the masterpieces of celestial cartography. This second edition, by Valk & Schenk, reproduces the plates from the original 1660 edition of Andreas Cellarius’s *Harmonia Macrocosmica*. Magnificently engraved and richly illustrated, the maps not only depict the positions of the stars and constellations, but also set out the cosmological theories of the great astronomers of the time, notably Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe and Nicolaus Copernicus. A true synthesis of the astronomical discoveries of the 16th and 17th centuries, Cellarius sets out the geocentric, geo-heliocentric and heliocentric models that vied for the explanation of the cosmic order. Beyond its scientific merit, the work bears witness to the philosophical and religious debates sparked by the Copernican revolution: Copernicus’s heliocentric hypothesis challenged Ptolemy’s geocentric model, which had been accepted for centuries and was regarded as consistent with the traditional interpretation of Scripture. A major testament to the modern scientific revolution, the *Harmonia Macrocosmica* reflects the intellectual and religious debates sparked by the gradual abandonment of traditional cosmology in favour of new theories of astronomy. Interesting provenance: an engraved bookplate reading ‘Guill. de Nerville’ and a handwritten bookplate reading ‘F. de Nerville / Paris 20 Nov. 1910’ : Louis François Ferdinand Guillebot de NERVILLE (1858–1931), telegraph engineer, professor at the École supérieure des Postes et Télégraphes and subsequently at the École des Ponts et Chaussées, first director of the École d’applications d’électricité (which became the École supérieure d’électricité or Supélec), one of the pioneers of electricity in France, a specialist in electrical metrology, he was involved in defining international electrical units and, from 1886, headed the Central Electricity Laboratory, which he transformed into a major centre for research and training; he also contributed to the development of telegraph networks and international submarine cables.
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About the sale MONTIGNAC – 31st BOOK SALE – Day 1 of 4 – Nos. 1 to 549
Auction location
Auction time 08/19/2026 at 11:00 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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