Copperplate engraving. 210x305 mm. Finely hand-painted. Top left shows, Plate XIV, bottom right, J. Lodge sculp. and centre Aries. First published in Augsburg in 1603, Bayer's Uranometria was one of the great celestial atlases of the 17th century. It was the first atlas to introduce the current nomenclature of stars. An important feature of Bayer's atlas was the introduction of a new system of star nomenclature. Bayer assigned Greek letters to the brightest stars, generally in the order of magnitude, so that the brightest star in the Eye of Taurus became alpha Tauri (and the brightest star in Centaurus became our familiar alpha Centauri). Bayer's cards are rarely offered separately on the market. Our specimen is from an English edition, presumably from the late 17th, early 18th century. Good condition