Bode Allgemeine Beschreibung Gestirne 1801 Constellations Uranographia 1ST ED NR

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OFFERED WITH NO RESERVE A BEAUTIFUL COMPLETE EXAMPLE IN THE PUBLISHER’S ORIGINAL BOARDS OF THE EXTREMELY RARE AND IMPORTANT 1801 FIRST EDITION OF JOHANN BODE’S ‘ALLGEMEINE BESCHREIBUNG UND NACHWEISUNG DER GESTIRNE,’ PRINTED IN QUARTO AT BERLIN, ADORNED WITH ONE INSERTED PLATE OF THE PROGRESS OF VENUS AND JUPITER IN THE SKIES OF 1774, AND, AMAZINGLY, CATALOGUING 17,240 STARS. THIS IS THE VERY RARE COMPANION VOLUME TO BODE’S GREAT ‘URANOGRAPHIA,’ WHICH WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASTRONOMICAL ATLAS OF THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES. FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE PRINCE & PRINCESS DE LA TOUR D’AUVERGNE-LAURAGUAIS. The full title reads as follows: “Allgemeine Beschreibung und Nachweisung der Gestirne nebst Verzeichniss der Geraden Aufsteigung und Abweichung von 17240 Sternen, Doppelsternen, Nebelflecken und Sternhaufen. / von / J.E. Bode, / Konigl. Astronom, Mitglied der Akademien und Societaten der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, London, Petersburg, Stockholm und Utrecht, wie auch der Berlinischen Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde. / (zu dessen Uranographie gehorig.) / Berlin 1801. / Beym Verfasser /// Description et Connoissance Generale des Constellations avec un Catalogue de l’Ascension Droite et de la Declinaison de 17240 Etoiles, Doubles, Nebuleuses et Amas d’Etoiles. / par / J.E. Bode, / Astronome Royal, Membre des Academie et Societes des Sciences de Berlin, Londres, St. Petersbourg, Stockholm et Utrecht, et de la Societe des Scrutateurs de la Nature a Berlin. / (Pour servir de suite a son Uranographie.).” In English, this reads as follows: “Description and General Compendium of the Constellations with a Catalogue of the Right Ascension and Declination of 17,240 Stars, Doubles, Nebulae and Star Clusters. / by / J.E. Bode, / Royal Astronomer, member of the Academy and Societies of Science at Berlin, London, St. Petersbourg, Stockholm and Utrecht, and of the Society of the Scrutineers of Nature at Berlin. / (To serve to follow [as a supplement] his ‘Uranographia.’). Johann Elert Bode (19 January 1747 – 23 November 1826) was a German astronomer known for his reformulation and popularization of the Titius-Bode law. Bode determined the orbit of Uranus and suggested the planet's name. Bode was born in Hamburg. As a youth, he suffered from a serious eye disease which particularly damaged his right eye; he continued to have trouble with his eyes throughout his life. He began his career with the publication of a short work on the solar eclipse of 5 August 1766. This was followed by an elementary treatise on astronomy entitled Anleitung zur Kenntniss des gestirnten Himmels (1768, 10th ed. 1844), the success of which led to his being summoned to Berlin in 1772 for the purpose of computing ephemerides on an improved plan. There he founded, in 1774, the well-known Astronomisches Jahrbuch, 51 yearly volumes of which he compiled and issued. He became director of the Berlin observatory in 1786, from which he retired in 1825. There he published the Uranographia in 1801, a celestial atlas that aimed both at scientific accuracy in showing the positions of stars and other astronomical objects, as well as the artistic interpretation of the stellar constellation figures. The Uranographia marks the climax of an epoch of artistic representation of the constellations. Later atlases showed fewer and fewer elaborate figures until they were no longer printed on such tables. Bode also published another small star atlas, intended for astronomical amateurs (Vorstellung der Gestirne). He is credited with the discovery of Bode's Galaxy (M81). Comet Bode (C/1779 A1) is named after him; its orbit was calculated by Erik Prosperin. From 1787 to 1825 Bode was director of the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut. In 1794, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In April, 1789 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. Bode died in Berlin on 23 November 1826, aged 79. THIS 1801 FIRST EDITION OF BODE’S VERY RARE AND IMPORTANT ‘AL... read more

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