Urania's Star Charts: The Original Astronomical Illustrations

Thirty-two full-colour plates that turn the night sky into a gallery of gods, beasts, and heroes, Urania's Star Charts is one of the most charming star atlases ever made.

First published in 1824 as Urania's Mirror, and reproduced here from the colour plates of the 1825 edition, it began as a boxed set of parlour cards. Each constellation is drawn as its mythological figure - a hunter, a great bear, a chained princess - with every star pierced with a hole sized to its brightness, so that, held up to a candle, each constellation glows against the dark just as it does overhead.

The stories of the figures themselves reach back thousands of years, to the Greeks and the Babylonians before them. Here they are as the ancients drew them and the nineteenth century loved to picture them: Orion with his club and shield, the swan and the serpent, the twelve figures of the zodiac wheeling through the year.

In this edition, each plate comes with text that tells its story, presenting the myth behind the name, the stars that compose it, and the lore handed down through millennia. More than a guide to the constellations, Urania's Star Charts is a record of how people have read meaning into the heavens for as long as they have looked up.

Book Features:

• A facsimile of the 32 illustrated constellation plates from the 1825 Urania's Mirror.
• Constellations from Ursa Major to the full zodiac, drawn as the figures of myth.
• Accompanying original astronomical commentary and the classical fables of each constellation.
• A large-format edition for stargazers, artists, and collectors of vintage and antiquarian star charts.
• A unique gift and coffee table book for astronomers, star lovers, and admirers of celestial art.