Star Maps

Book excerpt: The beauty and awe generated by the celestial void captures our imagination and delights our aesthetic sense. Antiquarian map societies are prospering, and celestial maps are now viewed as a specialty of map collecting. This book traces the history of celestial cartography and relates this history to the changing ideas of man’s place in the universe and to advances in map-making. Photographs from actual antiquarian celestial atlases and prints, many previously unpublished, enrich the text. The book describes the development and relationships between different sky maps and atlases as well as demonstrating contemporary cosmological ideas, constellation representations, and cartographic advances.