Lacaille’s southern planisphere of
1756
A copy of Nicolas Louis de Lacaille’s
planisphere on which his 14 new southern constellations were
first published. They are mixed in with the old Ptolemaic
figures and the newer additions by Keyser, de Houtman, and
Plancius. The original engraving appeared in the Mémoires of the
Académie Royal des Sciences, which was dated 1752 but
actually published in 1756. This copy is from Jean
Fortin’s Atlas Céleste and gives constellation names in French, as did
Lacaille’s original. Greek letters have been added to
this version; these did not appear on Lacaille’s
planisphere until its second edition, published in 1763 in Coelum Australe Stelliferum. On that 1763 edition Lacaille Latinized the
constellation names but otherwise the figures were the same as
in 1756. Fortin’s Atlas
Céleste, first published in
1776, was highly popular, going through three editions, and it
is in this form that Lacaille’s inventions would have
been most widely disseminated. (Author’s collection.)
© illustration and text Ian Ridpath.
All rights reserved.
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