Milestones of Science Books

LOHRMANN, Wilhelm Gotthelf and SCHMIDT, J. F. Julius.

Mondkarte in 25 Sektionen von Wilhelm Gotthelf Lohrmann mit einer Beschreibung der einzelnen Karten von Dr. J. F. Julius Schmidt. Zweite Auflage bearbeitet von Dr. Paul Ahnert, Sternwarte Sonneberg.

Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1963.

3rd Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. Item #002656

4to (336 x 278 mm). Text volume: 30, [2] pp. including portrait frontispiece and final leaf of publishers ads. Original publisher's printed wrappers. 25 collotype plates after engravings of lunar map sections, all in loose sheets in original publisher's folder with printed front board over cloth (very light soiling of boards and spine). First plate creased at left upper corner, text and plates otherwise clean and bright. Fine copy. ----

Ashworth, The face of the moon, Linda Hall 23; Whitaker, p.116. - Second reissue of the 1878 edition. Lohrmann completed the drawings for all 25 sections of his moon map by 1836, but he died before he could secure their publication. In 1851 Lohrmann's publisher, J.A. Barth, asked Julius Schmidt if he would edit the remaining sections. Schmidt agreed, but it took him almost 30 years to complete the task. The first four sections, which had been published in 1824, were re-engraved, and, as they are virtually identical to the originals, we may conclude that the remaining sections are faithful to Lohrmann's intentions. Schmidt's edition of Lohrmann's map was finally published in 1878 and reissued in 1892. (Linda Hall 23).
"One of the most attractive features of Lohrmann's maps is the use of multiple levels of shading to indicate light and dark areas of the moon ... Schmidt did depart from Lohrmann in the nomenclature used on the map. Many additional features had been named in the fifty years since Lohrmann worked, by Mädler, Schmidt, and Birt, and Schmidt thought it proper to incorporate these changes' (Ashworth). 'Here we find, for the first time in lunar maps, the use of hachures to indicate the length and steepness of the slopes of the various features. This technique had... the drawbacks of being extremely labour intensive and, ideally, requiring an artistic engraver who was sensitive to the telescopic appearance of the lunar surface. Variations in surface reflectivity are indicated by carefully applied stippling. South is up, thus following Schröter's convention" (Whitaker, Mapping and Naming the Moon p. 116). - Visit our website to see more images!

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