The Strasbourg forgery

VAN LANGREN, Michiel Florentszoon.

Plenilunii Lumina Austriaca Philippica.

[Strasbourg]: 1645.

No Binding. Very Good. Item #003217

[Strasbourg], [ca. 1645]. 477 x 406 mm. Single broad sheet of laid paper with engraved lunar map, paper with grapes watermarks. Very little even browning, a few insignifican spots, central vertical fold, faint vertical crease, a few minute holes (only visible when the map is held up to light). Overall a fine copy of this rare lunar map. ----

Exceptionally rare Strasbourg forgery of Michiel Van Langren's pioneering map of the Moon, obviously copied directly from a third-state example of the original in the library of the University of Strasbourg. A Flemish astronomer and engineer born into a well-known family of cartographers, Van Langren set out to create a more accurate, scientific representation of the lunar surface based on the latest telescopic observations. Based on 30 of his own drawings of various lunar phases, his work was one of the first maps of the Moon. Although the text beneath his original map, published in a limited run in 1645, explicitly forbade unauthorized copies, this example appears to be just that. Van Langren based his place names on saints, royalty, scientists, patrons, and other people of note. He even named one of the seas, Mare Langreni, after his own family. "This copy, which is devote of the five quotations and lengthy explanatory text of the original, is clearly a counterfeit map, not only because of the missing legend, but also because the engraving is inferior and the transcription sloppy, several names being mis-spelled or absent. An intriguing point is that six of Van Langren's original names have been replaced by entirely new names" (Whitaker, p.40-41). References: Ewen A. Whitaker, Mapping and Naming the Moon, 1999, p. 40-43.

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