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Lot description
This celestial engraving is from Corbinian Thomas's Mercurii philosophici firmamentum Firmianum descriptionem et usum globi artificialis coelestis. The work was published in Augsburg in 1731 by Merz und Mayr. Linda Hall Library described the work as, "one of the unsung treasures of celestial cartography." The plates in the work depicted celestial globes, wind rose, lunar map (after Hevelius), map of Salzburg, and constellation maps with zodiac signs. He used a nomenclature system developed on Coronelli's globes that included a Bayer Greek letter, Roman numeral for magnitude, and Arabic numeral for reference to a star catalog. The plates were engraved by A. C. Fleischmann, J. C. Bernd, and J. Hering. Corbinianus Thomas (1694-1767) was a Benedictine monk, astronomer, mathematician, professor, and librarian. Thomas was one of the first celestial cartographers to place Camelopardalis to its own plate and the first to place some of the southern constellations to their own plates as well, including Indus and Pavo. He invented a constellation of his own, Corona Firmiana, to honor his patron, the archbishop of Salzburg.