Astronomical Images : Terrestrial globe

Peter Apian

Astronomical Images

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This title-page opens the 1550 edition of Peter Apian's <i>Cosmographia</i>. Originally printed in 1524, the work provided a wide-ranging guide to the fields of astronomy, cartography, geography, navigation and instrument-making, here united under the overarching subject of cosmography. <i>Cosmographia</i> went through more than forty editions and included details of discoveries in the New World as well as paper instruments known as volvelles, which featured spinning circular parts. Apian's work was edited and corrected by his student Gemma Frisius soon after its initial publication; Frisius' edition was first published in 1529. Both Apian and Frisius were interested in instruments: Apian published many manuals relating to them, including his vernacular <i>Instrument Buch</i> (1533), and Frisius is noted as an instrument-maker. <i>Cosmographia</i> made frequent reference to instruments and so it is appropriate that this title-page focuses on them. The figure shows, in miniature, a pocket dial (perhaps also incorporating a compass), a quadrant and a pillar dial. These are dwarfed by the large terrestrial globe that dominates the page, as a symbol of cosmography. All together, the image stakes a claim for cosmography as a discipline that depends on instrumental measurement.</p>