(Covers to) La sfera del mondo di M. Alessandro Piccolomini. Di nuouo da lui ripolita, accresciuta, & fino a sei libri, di quattro che erano, ampliata, & quasi per ogni parte rinouata, & riformata. Con priuilegio. In Venetia per Giovanni Varisco e compagni, MDLXVI (1566).

• Main Author: Piccolomini, Alessandro, 1508-1578
• Format: Map
• Language: unknown
• Published: Giouanni Varisco & Compagni 1566
• Subjects: North Pole; Stelle
• Online Access: https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~298715~90069929; https://media.davidrumsey.com/MediaManager/srvr?mediafile=/Size4/RUMSEY~8~1/171/11667001.jpg

The first star atlas, here in a later edition. The sphere of the world, by the Italian cardinal Alessandro Piccolomini, produced in 6 parts (Libro primo-Libro sisto), four of which were expanded, and almost every part revised and updated. With star charts and tables. Piccolomini produced the first star atlas in 1540, as a guide to the recognition of the stars in the night sky, the charts of the constellations shown without the mythologic figures for the benefit of the precision with which the stars are placed, divided in four sizes, and named with Western symbols in progression, starting with the brightest star. On his maps Piccolomini indicates the stellar magnitudes, the direction of the equatorial pole and the direction of daily rotation of the celestial sphere, which with the modification subsequently made by Bayer remains in use today. The work proved wildly popular, with twelve editions in Italian and Latin within the 16th century. This 1566 edition, with woodcut title page, decorated with vignette at the center, presents 252 pages of bibliographic description, 47 pages of woodcut detailed star charts and tables in pages 25-94. Stars are identified by letters for a given constellation, supplemented by a graduated scale, not always the same, and the indication of the north pole. The tables are preceded by a section where each constellation is briefly described by listing the stars, their position and the most important mythological references "Con quale grado del Zodiaco nascano et tramontino le principali Stelle del cielo". Bound in limp parchment, with manuscript titling on spine. See note field above.