Accurate depiction of the topography of the Moon was accomplished by mid-century in this lunar atlas by Hevelius. It set a new standard for precision that remained unmatched for a century. 40 stunning copper-plate engravings portray topographical relief along the Moon’s shadow-line, or terminator, at every conceivable angle of solar illumination. They represent the appearance of the Moon, along the terminator, over a period of five years.
A double-page plate depicts the entire lunar surface as a summative representation of the individual topographical studies. Rather than comprising a naturalistic portrait of how the Moon actually appears, this map is a composite record of the shadows cast by the passing of light moving back and forth, in both directions, during opposite lunar phases.
Hevelius named 275 lunar features, but his nomenclature scheme, based on classical terrestrial geography, was not widely adopted.
This 1st edition was added to the University Libraries on the occasion of the investiture of David L. Boren as the 13th president of the University of Oklahoma, September 15, 1995.