1833 1st Edition Atlas Designed to Illustrate the Geography of the Heavens

1st Edition - Atlas Designed to Illustrate the Geography of the Heavens - 1833.

This is the first edition that was published in February of 1833, which has blue paper covers with a small printed label on the front cover. There are only about six copies of the first edition known to exist making this a very rare atlas.

When I compared the 1st and 2nd editions the following differences were noted.

1. The triangles that Burritt placed above and below Sirius on plate 2 in the 2nd edition are not present in the 1st edition, or later editions. In Burritt’s text book he describes two triangles associated with Sirius, one of them being the well known Winter Triangle.

2. The northern polar chart in the 2nd edition outlines the big and little dippers with heavier stippled lines that are not present in the 1st edition.

3. There are a number of errors or omissions in the Bayer designations on the charts in the 1st edition. For example on plate 2 the star Markeb is labeled as τ Argo Navis in the 1st edition and then corrected to κ Argo Navis in the 2nd edition.

4. Stars brighter than 5th magnitude are engraved with a gray stippled background in the 1st edition. In the 2nd edition the gray stippled backgrounds are absent.