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Summary

Theoria Motum Per Etepicyclvm

Finely engraved celestial map showing Claudius Ptolemy's model of the Lunar Cycles, from the 1708 Valk & Schenk edition of Andreas Cellarius' Harmonia Macrocosmica.

Striking celestial chart illustrating the Ptolemaic model of lunar motion. The epicycles of the moon are shown as the moon revolves along its various orbits. The central diagram is bordered by the signs of the Zodiac and surrounded by superb engravings of clouds filled with putti, the title banners, and two smaller diagrams.

Andreas Cellarius was born in 1596 in Neuhausen and educated in Heidelberg. He emigrated to Holland in the early 17th Century, and in1637 moved to Hoorn, where he became the rector of the Latin School. Cellarius' best known work is his Harmonia Macrocosmica, first issued in 1660 by Jan Jansson, as a supplement to Jansson's Atlas Novus. The work consists of a series of Celestial Charts begun by Cellarius in 1647 and intended as part of a two volume treatise on cosmography, which was never issued.

Cellarius' charts are the most sought after of celestial charts, blending the striking imagery of the golden age of Dutch Cartography with contemporary scientific knowledge.