Throughout history people have sought ways in which to 'map' the heavens. From the sources of mathematics and mythology sprang the classic star chart, the finest examples of which are at once scientific document and minor art form. In this illustrated work, Peter Whitfield reveals some of the ways in which the structure of the universe has been conceived, explained and depicted. With examples ranging from the Stone Age to the Space Age - ancient observatories, the angelic visions of Dante, images from the Copernican revolution, the rationalized heavens of Newton and Flamsteed, to modern deep space technology - he offers a challenging exploration of the tension between rigorous scientific knowledge and the contiuing search for cause, certainty and harmony in the universe. This is a companion volume to "The Image of the World", and the text is designed to be accessible to the non-specialist reader. Publication coincides with a British Library summer exhibition, "The Earth and the Heavens: The Mapmaker's Art".
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Patterned after his Image of the World (1994), an album of historical maps of Earth, the latest Whitfield looks up to the stars, as celestial illustrators through the ages have depicted them. Starting from chiseled Babylonian representations of the Zodiac, Whitfield proceeds to the illumination-type pictures of Ptolemaic spheres, dating from medieval Europe, before devoting most of the book to the period from Copernicus through the mid^-nineteenth century. By that time, cartographic sobriety had banished pictures from astronomical maps, but only after a bacchanal of color and fancy reigned as figures of classical constellations--and some weird innovations like royal coats of arms--overwhelmed the stars. The telescope gradually gained the upper hand over the palette, and Whitfield's text ably records the advance of scientific accuracy over astrologic artistry. Of his score of images, most come from the British Library, a sponsor of this colorful work that should have particular appeal to map lovers. Gilbert Taylor
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