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Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
Thomas, Corbinianus (1694-1767) Mercurii Philosophici Firmamentum Firmianum Descriptionem et Usum Globi Artificialis Coelestis.
Frankfurt & Leipzig: [no printer], 1730.
First edition, oblong octavo, lacking typographical title page, illustrated with hand-colored frontispiece and eighty-four hand-colored plates of constellations, heavenly bodies, tools, charts, celestial maps, and armillary spheres, many folding; some browning to text, bound in half alum-tawed leather and paper boards, 7 3/4 x 6 1/4 in.
Thomas was a Benedictine monk from Salzburg, who contributed some novel representations of the constellations in this work, described by the Linda Hall Library as, "one of the unsung treasures of celestial cartography." The catalogers praise his rendering of Andromeda, and note the separate plate dedicated to Camelopardalis (a constellation of a camel). Indus and Pavo, seen in the southern sky, rarely achieved separate depiction. Thomas even invented the constellation Corona Firmiana to honor his patron, the Archbishop of Salzburg.
Honeyman sale VI 2975; Linda Hall, Out of This World, 24; https://stars.lindahall.org/tho.htm
