Hevelius selenographia frontispiece of a book

Frontispiece of johannes hevelius, selenographia 1647. Johannes hevelius scientist of the day linda hall library. Selenographia, sive lunae descriptio selenography, or a description of the moon is a milestone work by johannes hevelius, printed in 1647. The 17thcentury astronomer who made the first atlas of. The italian astronomer niccolo zucchi even showed a copy of the book to the pope. In his treatise hevelius reflected on the difference between his own work and that of galileo galilei. The frontispiece to this, hevelius s second important work after selenographia see lot 154, depicts the author sitting at a table pointing to a diagram of a cometary orbit with his observatory in the background. This work of hevelius influenced his contemporary european astronomers, and the selenographia was the standard reference on selenography for over a century.

The engraved frontispiece by jeremias falck depicts portraits of alhazen and galileo. Hevelius included 40 engravings representing the moon in different phases. On the right, holding a telescope, is galileo, portrayed in middle eastern dress. When protestant johannes hevelius johannes hevelius selenographia first appeared in 1647, pope innocent x admired the book so much he wished it hadnt been written by a heretic. Selenographia contains detailed descriptions with illustrations of the surface of the moon. Elisabeth hevelius scientist of the day linda hall library. Depiction of ibn alhaytham left holding a geometrical diagram and symbolising knowledge through reason and galileo galilei right, holding a telescope and symbolising knowledge through the senses. But long before hevelius began tracking the stars, he made his mark as an observer and mapper of the moon.

A tall, thick quarto, printed in a large, rich font and filled with lovely engravings, many executed by hevelius himself, it has to be the most elegant book on the moon ever printed. Published in 1647, selenographia made hevelius a celebrity of sorts. Hevelius published his observations and drawings in 1647s selenographia. Giambattista riccioli, sj, a catholic priest and scholar who lived in northern italy authored the present scheme of latin lunar nomenclature. Click on image or caption above to see image in the zoom viewer. On the left appears ibn alhaytham, a leading medieval islamic astronomer and optical theorist. Johannes hevelius 16111687, a polish astronomer, founder of the modern selenography. Of course, like copernicus before him, hevelius believed that that the earth orbited the sun. On the frontispiece of this book, hevelius celebrates not the triumph of a european scientific revolution, but a much broader heritage. Hevelius remarked that the quality of galileos representations. Hevelius history of science book collection woodson. His selenographia was published in 1647, 43 years before the star atlas second image. When hevelius published a book about the instruments of his observatory, the machina coelestis 1673, he included two large engravings that showed johannes at one side of an octant second image and a sextant third image, and elisabeth at the other.