Description
Johann Bayer's Uranometria Celestial Maps
Perhaps the most influential book in celestial maps, Johann Bayer's Uranometria set long-lasting standards in the world of astronomy. Most importantly, this was not just a book of pictures of the skies, but a map of them, an atlas. He included a carefully engraved grid so that the maps could be read and followed to a fraction of a degree. Also, Bayer was the first to use Greek letters to designate stars, commonly in order of magnitude. From that, he named the stars using the Greek letter he had given it coupled with the constellation name , i.e. alpha Tarui. The recently applied, professional hand coloring is of very high quality. The sky, grid lines, and gold image border are are colored using gouache, which is a type of paint consisting of a high ratio of pigment to water along with an inert material, such as chalk. Gouache is heavier and more opaque than traditional watercolor. The pictorial constellations themselves are painted with watercolor (most likely), allowing the paper and star symbols to show through. The stars have been painted in a luminous gold which reflects light. They are printed on chain-linked, watermarked paper that measures ~ 12 ¼" by 16"