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2024

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Book (facsimile), Astronomicum Caesareum

This is a Book (facsimile). It was published by McGraw-Hill.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Smithsonian Libraries and Archives as part of Tools: Extending Our Reach.

It is dated 1540. Its medium is leather-bound paper boards, paper, string.

Astronomicum Caesareum (The Astronomy of the Caesars), created by the German printer, mathematician, and cartographer Peter Apian, is one of the most lavish books on astronomy of all time. This folio, printed over an eight-year period, contains detailed astrological and astronomical data and charts, including twenty-one movable disks called volvelles. The volvelles, sewn one atop another, can be rotated to align such givens as planetary positions and eclipses on calendars. This work was an important tool, employed to calculate future astrological/astronomical events. For example, the volvelle on the right, adorned with a many-headed dragon, can be rotated to predict solar eclipses, while its intricate counterpart on the left makes it possible to forecast full and partial eclipses of the moon.

It is credited Courtesy of Smithsonian Libraries, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Library.

  • Telescope, Transit of Venus
  • brass, iron, glass.
  • Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, 2006.0182.02-03.
  • 14.2012.72
  • Drawing, Studies of a dragon
  • brush and watercolor, pen and black ink on laid paper; verso: black chalk,....
  • Museum purchase through gift of various donors and from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund.
  • 1938-88-2601

Our curators have highlighted 2 objects that are related to this one.

  • Solar Wall
  • H x W: 182.9 x 210.8 cm (6 ft. x 6 ft. 11 in.).
  • Courtesy of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).
  • 27.2012.1

Its dimensions are

H x W x D (closed): 45.8 × 32.6 × 5.2 cm (18 1/16 × 12 13/16 × 2 1/16 in.) H x W x D (open): 45.8 × 63.9 × 14.2 cm (18 1/16 × 25 3/16 × 5 9/16 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Tools: Extending Our Reach.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/35460731/ |title=Book (facsimile), Astronomicum Caesareum |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=23 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>