Highlights of the Adler Planetarium: Rare Books & Works on Paper

The Adler’s Rare Book Collection contains over 3,000 volumes, from
first printed editions of medieval astronomical texts to star atlases and astrophysical
works that shaped our modern view of the Universe. 

Takamagahara ZusetuAdler Planetarium

The Sky We All Share

The Adler Planetarium seeks to connect people to the Universe and to each other under the sky we all share. The Rare Book Collection is one of the Adler's best examples that this mission is an extension of humankind's enduring connection to the sky; every culture throughout time has looked up at the stars and worked out their place among them.

Banneker's almanac, for the year 1795 : being the third after leap year : containing (besides every thing necessary in an almanac) an account of the yellow fever, lately prevalent in Philadelphia, with the number of those who died, from the first of August till the ninth of November, 1793. (1794) by Banneker, BenjaminAdler Planetarium

Sharing the World's Stories

For the Adler Planetarium, there are not enough opportunities to exhibit the collection of over 3,000 rare books in physical exhibitions. The importance of digitizing these books comes for the ability to share them, and their unique and diverse stories and histories, with the public online across the world. Here we proudly present a small selection of these books.

Clarissimi uiri Iginij Poeticon astronomicon : opus vtilissimmu[m] foeliciter incipit.Adler Planetarium

Portraying Constellations

These are possibly the earliest printed depictions of the classical Western constellations. They illustrate the first printed version (dated 1482) of "Poeticon Astronomicon", a work about constellations written around the second century AD. 

Albumasar De magnis coniunctionibus : annorum reuolutionibus ac eorum profectionibus, octo continens tractatus.Adler Planetarium

Messages in the Stars

A primary motivation for observing and studying the sky was to decipher what the stars and planets had to tell about earthly affairs and individuals' fates and fortunes - the subject of astrology. This is the first printed edition (dated 1489) of an important astrological treatise written by the Persian astronomer and astrologer Albumasar in the ninth century. 

De revolvtionibus orbium coelestium : libri VI. In qvibvs stellarvm et fixarvm et erraticarvm motvs, ex veteribus atq recentibus obseruationibus, restituit hic autor. Prætera tabulas expeditas luculentasq addidit, ex quibus eosdem motus ad quoduis tempus mathematum studiosus facillime calculare poterit. Item, De libris revolvtionvm Nicolai Copernici narratio prima, per Georgium Ioachimum Rheticum ad Ioan. Schonerum scripta.Adler Planetarium

Revolution in the Sky

In 1543, Copernicus published "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres). This diagram, taken from the second edition of 1566, illustrates the revolutionary idea presented in the book: contrary to what was generally believed at the time, the Earth does not sit at the center of the Universe. Rather, it orbits the Sun together with the other planets.

Sidereus, nuncius : magna, longeque admirabilia spectacula pandens, suspiciendaq[ue] proponens vnicuiq[ue], praesertim vero philosophis, atq[ue] astronomis / quae a Galileo Galileo ... perspicilli nuper a se reperti beneficio sunt obseruata in lunae facie, fixis innumeris, lacteo circulo stellis nebulosis, apprime vero in quatuor planetis circa Iouis stellam disparibus interuallis, atq[ue] periodis, celeritate mirabili circumuolutis; quos, nemini in hanc vsq[ue] diem cognitos, nouissime auctor deprehendit primus, atque Medicea sidera nuncupandos decreuit.Adler Planetarium

Galileo Pirated

In March 1610, Galileo Galilei published "Sidereus Nunclus", in which he reported groundbreaking discoveries with the telescope. He discovered the Moon has a rough surface just like the Earth, Jupiter has satellites, and the Milky Way is formed by myriads of stars. The book was an overnight sensation and sold out quickly. A publisher from Frankfurt did not take long to produce this pirate version. Interestingly, many subsequent textbooks reproduced the rougher woodcut illustrations of the pirate edition, not the original engravings.

Tabulae Rudolphinae, : quibus astronomicae scientiae, temporum longinquitate collapsae restauratio continetur; a phoenice illo astronomorum Tychone ex illustri & generosa Braheorum in regno Daniae familiâ oriundo equite, primum animo concepta et destinata anno Christi MDLXIV: exinde observationibus siderum accuratissimis, post annum praecipue MDLXXII, quo sidus in Cassiopeiae constellatione novum effulsit, seriò affectata; variis quo operibus, cùm mechanicis, tùm librariis, impenso patrimonio amplissimo, accedentibus etiam subsidiis Frederici II. Daniae regis, regali maginficentiâ dignis, tracta per annos XXV; potissimum in insula freto Sundici Huenna, & arce Uraniburgo, in hos usus à fundamentis extructâ: tandem traducta in Germaniam, inque aulam et nomen Rudolphi imp. anno MDIIC. / Tabulas ipsas, jam et nuncupatas, et affectas, sed morte authoris sui anno MDCI desertas, iussu et stipendiis fretus trium imppp. Rudolphi, Matthiae, Ferdinandi, annitentibus haeredibus Braheanis; ex fundamentis observationum relictarum; ad exemplum ferè partium jam exstructarum; continuis multorum annorum speculationibus, & computationibus, primùm Pragae Bohemorum continuavit; deinde Lincii, superioris Austriae metropoli, subsidiis etiam ill. provincialium adjutus, emendavit, perfecit, absolvit; ad[que] causarum & calculi perennis formulam traduxit Ioannes Keplerus, Tychoni primùm à Rudolpho II. imp. adjunctus minister; indè[que] trium ordine imppp. mathematicus: ...Adler Planetarium

Completing the Temple of Astronomy

In this book from 1627 Johannes Kepler presents a set of tables to predict planetary positions. The frontispiece (illustration opposite the title page) shows Kepler in his studio, at the lower left corner of the temple of astronomy. On his desk sits a model of the temple's dome, signifying that Kepler is completing the work of his predecessors. Note also Kepler's handwriting on the bottom. He signed and dedicated this copy of the book to Benjamin Ursinus. Ursinus had introduced Kepler to a new mathematical tool that he used in the book: logarithms. 

The discovery of a vvorld in the moone, or, A discourse tending to prove that 'tis probable there may be another habitable world in that planet.Adler Planetarium

Shoot for the Moon

In this book, seventeenth century scholar John Wilkins speculates about traveling to the moon, and discusses its habitability. Wilkins was one of the founders of the Royal Society of London and a keen supporter of Copernicus' ideas. According to the latter, the Earth is just another planet orbiting the Sun. This led Wilkins and other writers of the period to think there might be other inhabited worlds like the Earth.

De vero telescopii inventore, cum brevi omnium conspiciliorum historia : ... Accessit etiam centuria Observationum microcospicarum [sic].Adler Planetarium

Who invented the telescope?

This seventeenth-century book proposes two candidates for the title of the inventor of the telescope: Hans Lipperhey and Saccharias Jannsen. The author, Petro Borel, gives preference to the latter. The telescope seems to have emerged around 1608 in the Dutch city of Middleburg, where both Jannsen and Lipperhey worked as spectacle makers. But it most likely resulted from various contributions, not simply from the effort of a single inventor. 

Corporu(m) (C)oelestium MagnitudinesAdler Planetarium

How big are the stars & planets?

This hand-colored plate from Andreas Cellarius' 1661 astronomical atlas, "Harmonia Macrocosmica", shows the relative sizes of the planets and stars to that of the Earth, according to the old geocentric theories of Ptolemy.  

Ioannis Bayeri Rhainani I.C. vranometria : omnivm asterismorvm continens schemata, nova methodo delineata, aereis laminis expressa / Ioannis Bayeri.Adler Planetarium

First Modern Star Atlas

Johannes Bayer's "Uranometria" -originally published in 1603 - is generally regarded as the first modern star atlas. It presents forty-eight constellations from Antiquity plus twelve "new" constellations identified by European oceanic navigators in the Southern skies. The hand-colored plate shown here depicts the old constellation of Bootes, the Herdsman. 

"Effigies Tychonis Brahe O.F. Aedificii et Instrumentorum Astronomicorum..."Adler Planetarium

A Nobleman in His Observatory

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) ran the most sophisticated astronomical observatory that existed before the invention of the telescope. He called this observatory the Uraniborg. It was built around 1580 in the Danish island of Hven. This image shows Brahe dressed as a nobleman next to Uraniborg's mural quadrant. These and other instruments allowed him and his assistants to measure the positions of the stars and the planets with great accuracy.  

Johannis Hevelii epistola, de cometa : Anno M DC LXXII, Mense, Martio, & Aprili, Gedani Observato / Ad Illustrem & Celeberrimum Virum, Dn. Henricum Oldenburgium, Reg. Societ. Secretarium, Amicum honorandum. Cum privilegio Sac. Caesar. & Reg. Pâlon. Majestatum.Adler Planetarium

Saved from the Flames

This book compiles three decades of astronomical observations by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687). Almost all of the original copies were lost during a fire that burned Hevelius’s house to the ground while he and his wife were absent. Fortunately, many of Hevelius’s works and letters were saved by one of his daughters, who threw them out the window during the fire.

"Eigentliche Vorstellung des Neu-entstandenen Cometen-Liechts"Adler Planetarium

Fire in the Sky

This broadside shows the Halley comet (before it was known as such) over Nuremberg in 1682. It combines scientific elements with astrological speculation. By this time, comets were commonly regarded as omens. Publishers took advantage of the interest and anxiety they raised by selling these popular publications.

Johannes Hevelii Prodromus astronomiae : exhibens fundamenta, quae tam ad novum planè & correctiorem stellarum fixarum catalogum construendum, quàm ad omnium planetarum tabulas corrigendas omnimodè spectant; nec non novas & correctiores tabulas solares, aliasâque plurimas ad astronomiam pertinentes / Quibus additus est uterque Catalogus stellarum fixarum, tam major ad annum 1660, quàm minor ad annum completum 1700. Accessit corollarii loco Tabula motus lunae libratorii.Adler Planetarium

A Magnificent Sky

This work is "Firmamentum Sobiascianum", likely the most beautiful star atlas ever produced. It combines accurate astronomical measurement with exquisite artistic renditions of the constellations. The author, Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687), was not only an accomplished astronomer and maker of astronomical instruments, but also a skillful draughtsman and engraver.

Die Wunder Gottes in der Natur, bey Erscheinung der Cometen, oder, Besondere Anmerckung der vornehmsten Cometen, oder, Strobel-Stern : welche sich sowohl vor als nach Christi Geburt am Firmament des Himmels haben sehen lassen ... / aus den Schriften des erfahrnen und gelehrten Philosophi Conr. Wolffh. LycosthenesAdler Planetarium

Celestial Mysteries

Konrad Lykosthenes (1518-1561) wrote extensively about terrestrial and celestial wonders. This work is dedicated to celestial phenomena, particularly comets. The fanciful illustrations testify to how intriguing, mysterious, and even frightening comets looked to Lykosthenes' contemporaries. 

An original theory or new hypothesis of the universe : founded upon the laws of nature, and solving by mathematical principles the general phænomena of the visible creation; and particularly the via lactea / by Thomas Wright.Adler Planetarium

Unveiling the Milky Way

In this book the British teacher and landscaper Thomas Wright (1711-1786) speculates about the distribution of stars in space and presents different models to explain the Milky Way. William Herschel would later pursue these investigations on the basis of systematic observations, thus helping pave the way to modern galactic astronomy.

A compendious system of astronomy : in a course of familiar lectures : in which the principles of that science are clearly elucidated, so as to be intelligible to those who have not studied the mathematics : also trigonometrical and celestial problems, with a key to the ephemeris, and a vocabulary of the terms of science used in the lectures : which latter are explained agreeably to their application in them / by Margaret Bryan.Adler Planetarium

Affirming Women in a Man's World

Margaret Bryan was a British teacher, natural philosopher, and writer who ran private schools from young women in the early 19th century. In a scholarly environment dominated by men, Bryan was recognized as a proficient educator who mastered astronomy and related sciences of her time. She is portrayed in the frontispiece of her "Compendious System of Astronomy" together with her two daughters. The scientific instruments emphasize that the pursuit of science did not have to be exclusively male. 

Bode's "Uranographia"Adler Planetarium

The End of an Era

Johanne Bode's "Uranographia" (1801) was the last great atlas combining figurative renditions of the constellations with the accurate mapping of the sky. More than 17,000 stars are represented in this work, which also includes a great number of nebulae discovered by William Herschel. Several now obsolete constellations can be found in Uranographia, including Frederick's Glory, Felis the Cat, the Printing Shop, and the Hot Air Balloon. 

Credits: Story

Thank you to the staff of the Adler Planetarium, and to photographer Steve Pitkin, for their assistance in creating these images of our collection and this exhibition.

Visit us here: http://www.adlerplanetarium.org

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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