8 April 2006

I had a NY Map Society meeting at the Humanities Division of the NYPL today so went upstairs to check out the rare maps they currently have on display. There are a lot of nice maps including a few that show California as an island off the west coast of the US. They also included two large format (larger than coffee table books if they had such things back then) books from the 1600 showing astronomy maps.

The first was a book labeled

Andreas Cellarius
"Planispherum Ptolomacium sive machina orgium mundi ex hypothesi Ptolomaicia in plano disposita"
Ptolemy's System of the Planetary System
Plate 1

and

Andreas Cellarius
"Scenographia Systematis Copernicani"
View of the Copernican System Plate 5

from

Harmonia macrocosmica seu atlas
Harmony of the Universe
Amsterdam: Jan Jansson 1661

They obviously depicted the earth-centered and sun-centered theories on the structure of the solar system.

Next to these maps were a pair of star charts in a marine atlas but the explanatory material notes that they are to large to be of practical use on a ship and were probably intended for armchair navigators.

The maps are

John Seller
"Borealis hemisphaerii tabulam"
Northern Hemisphere chart

and

John Seller
"Australis hemisphaerii tabulam"
Southern Hemisphere Constellation Chart

from

Atlas Maritimius
Maritime Atlas
London: John Darby 1675

Although this atlas was printed in London most of the test is in Latin (I think). There is some tabular ephemeris data in the corners of the pages that is in English. There is a note in Latin in the upper right corner with a date in advance of the publication of the book which assumedly says that the positions of the stars are valid through that date.

Cor Caroli is depicted with a large red heart wearing a crown around it and is a dedication of the map (atlas?) to King Charles I who had been beheaded in 1949.

Before leaving the library I checked out the map stuff they have for sale in the museum shop. There is a box with two globes attached to ribbons that look like they are intended for Christmas tree ornaments. One has a map of the world and the other a map of the constellations. They sold for $25 for the pair.

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On the way home I stopped at Coliseum Books and saw three items of interest.

Many Skies: Alternative Histories Of The Sun, Moon, Planets, And Stars by Arthur R. Upgren. I gather from the dust jacket and what I read at Amazon.com that the book is a what would the universe be like today if this had happened back then instead of what did happen. This book isn't even on order yet at the library but Upgren has two other books on the stars that I have on reserve now.

Amazon.com says this book isn't available in hardcover yet but I found The Mystery of the Tunguska Fireball by Surendra Verma on the shelves in paperback. The book description on Amazon.com says:

Part scientific detective story, part planetary science text and part physics lesson by subterfuge, Surendra Verma waltzes the reader through the process of scientific debate' Guardian.

The last book is not an astronomy book but is related in a way. The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer (Great Discoveries) by David Leavitt is another biography about the man who broke the German Enigma code during World War II. I have this one on reserve at the library and should have it in about a week, assuming the copy that is supposedly on the shelves hasn't gone missing as happens to many of my reserves.