[Movable book] Rubie, G.
The British Celestial Atlas
Estimate: £500 - £800
Auction: 18 June 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
London: Baldwin & Cradock [and others], 1830. First edition, 4to (31.5 x 24.5cm), viii 180 pp., 20th-century roan-backed cloth, top edge gilt, others untrimmed, 3 engraved plates with movable volvelles, 13 further engraved plates (including 12 monthly star charts) bound in at rear, bookplate, a few spots to title-page, movable plate 1 offset and possibly re-threaded, plates at rear spotted
Footnote
‘Notably, this atlas was organized using a series of monthly star charts … Bode was the first person to show how the sky changes month by month in an astronomy textbook he wrote in 1768. Rubie was one of the first persons to pick up on this idea in his own atlas’ (Kanas, Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography, p. 188, cat. no. 6.5.5.7).