VISUAL COMMUNICATION HISTORY BLOG

The Book of Fixed Stars is an astronomical text written by Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (Azophi) around 964. The book was written in Arabic, although the author himself was Persian. It was an attempt to create a synthesis of the comprehensive star catalogue in Ptolemy’s Almagest (books VII and VIII) with the indigenous Arabic astronomical traditions on the constellations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Fixed_Stars

This is a star atlas by British author Alexander Jamieson, published in 1822. The atlas includes 30 plates, 26 of which are constellation maps with a sinusoidal projection. Some of the plates are hand-colored. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Celestial_Atlas

Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, ("Theatre of the Orb of the World") is considered to be the first true modern atlas. Written by Abraham Ortelius and originally printed on 20 May 1570 in Antwerp, it consisted of a collection of uniform map sheets and supporting text bound to form a book for which copper printing plates were specifically engraved. The Ortelius atlas is sometimes referred to as the summary of sixteenth-century cartography. The …