231 - FLAMSTEED (John). Celestial Atlas, approved by the Royal Academy of Sciences, and published under the privilege of that Society. Second edition. Paris, Deschamps and the Author, 1776. In-4, speckled half-basane, smooth decorated spine, red title label, red edges (contemporary binding).

FLAMSTEED (John). Celestial Atlas, approved by the Royal Academy of Sciences, and published under the privilege of that Society. Second edition. Paris, Deschamps and the Author, 1776. In-4, speckled half-basane, smooth decorated spine, red title label, red edges (contemporary binding). Second edition of this famous celestial atlas—the first in French—featuring 30 double-page copperplate engravings. John Flamsteed (1646–1719), a renowned British astronomer and founder of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, determined the positions of nearly 2,800 stars with remarkable precision for the time. His *Atlas Coelestis* was published in London in 1729; for this 1776 edition, the maps were reduced in size by the engineer Jean Fortin. Minor flaws in the binding; otherwise, a pleasant copy. Appraiser: Mr. Dominique Courvoisier