Sagittarius & Corona Australis (Microscopium & Telescopium) Pl 24 Sidney Hall Astronomy Constellation Art Card Framed 8x5.5".
Framed Appx 8x10"
There's peeping holes on the stars to match and ID in the night sky. What's your favorite constellation?
Pre-owned in decent used condition. Please review photos for detail. As is.
Check other listings for:
Pegasus & Equuleus Pl 15
Scorpio Pl 22
(Microscopium & Telescopium)
Pisces Pl 27
Monoceros Canis Minor & Atelier Typographique. Pl 31 (Doesn't have a black backing cardboard)
I have 6 of 32 collection plate punched art card (Urania's Mirror).
History per Wiki:
Urania's Mirror; or, a view of the Heavens is a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards, first published in November 1824.[1][2] They are illustrations based on Alexander Jamieson's A Celestial Atlas,[2] but the addition of holes punched in them allow them to be held up to a light to see a depiction of the constellation's stars.[1] They were engraved by Sidney Hall, and were said to be designed by "a lady", but have since been identified as the work of the Reverend Richard Rouse Bloxam, an assistant master at Rugby School.[3]
Urania's Mirror illustrates 79 constellations on 32 separate cards. Some of the illustrated constellations are now obsolete, as are some of the subconstellations, such as Caput Medusæ (the head of Medusa, carried by Perseus).[2] Urania's Mirror was originally advertised as including "all the constellations visible in the British Empire",[1][4] but, in fact, it left out some southern constellations. By the second edition (1825), advertisements merely claimed illustration of the constellations visible from "Great Britain".[4] Some cards focus on a single constellation, others include several, with Card 32, centered on Hydra, illustrating twelve constellations (several of which are no longer recognised). Card 28 has six, and no other card has more than four.[2] Each card measures 8 inches by 5+1⁄2 (about 20 by 14 cm).[4] A book by Jehoshaphat Aspin entitled A Familiar Treatise on Astronomy (or, to give its full name, A Familiar Treatise on Astronomy, Explaining the General Phenomena of the Celestial Bodies; with Numerous Graphical Illustrations) was written to accompany the cards.[2] The cards and book came in a box illustrated with a woman almost certainly intended to be Urania, muse of astronomy.[4] The cards and book were originally published by Samuel Leigh, 18 Strand, London,[4] although, by the fourth edition, the publishing firm had moved to 421 Strand and changed its name to M. A. Leigh.[5]
P.D. Hingley calls Urania's Mirror "one of the most charming and visually attractive of the many aids to astronomical self-instruction produced in the early nineteenth century".[4] On its main gimmick, the holes in the stars meant to show the constellation when held in front of a light, he notes that, as the size of the holes marked correspond to the magnitude of the stars, a quite realistic depiction of the constellation is provided.[4] Ian Ridpath mostly concurs. He describes the device as an "attractive feature", but notes that, due to the light at the time being provided primarily by candles, many cards likely burned up due to carelessness when trying to hold them in front of the flame. He notes three other attempts to use the same gimmick—Franz Niklaus König's Atlas céleste (1826), Friedrich Braun's Himmels-Atlas in transparenten Karten (1850), and Otto Möllinger's Himmelsatlas (1851), but states that they lack Urania's Mirror's artistry.[2]