Capricorn poster – Uranographia Brittanica – John Bevis – 1750

John Bevis Capricorn poster – Uranographia Brittania – John Bevis – 1750

The Zodiac is a belt-like area of the sky that follows the path of the Sun around the earth. The belt is divided into twelve signs, each occupying 30 degrees of the zodiac. The signs usually, but not always, appear in the form of animals or humans and roughly correspond to the star constellations.

Capricorn is the name given to the tenth astrological sign in the zodiac. Capricorn is the Latin name for Horned Goat. In astrology, the animal, as in this print, is commonly represented as a sea-goat: a mythical creature that is half goat and half fish. Under the tropical zodiac, the Sun transits this area from about December 21 to January 21 the following year, and under the sidereal zodiac, the sun transits the constellation of Capricorn from approximately January 16 to February 16. In astrology, Capricorn is considered an earth sign, negative sign, and one of the four cardinal signs. Capricorn is said to be ruled by the planet Saturn.

John Bevis’s Uranographia Brittanica, also known as  ‘The forgotten star atlas’ is a rare piece of work that is lucky to have survived at all.

Bevis, born in Salisbury, Wiltshire was a doctor, electrical researcher and astronomer. He is best known for discovering The Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant in the constellation of Taurus in 1731. His consuming interest in astronomy saw him take part in the observations of Halley’s Comet in 1759 and the transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769.

In 1750, armed with the many star transits he had transcribed over the years, he began work on an ambitious project to create what he intended to be the finest Star Atlas produced up to that time. Bevis worked on his monumental atlas for four years, between 1747 and 1751. Along with his own work, Bevis compiled, updated and incorporated the work created by Bayer in his Uranometria and Hevelius’s 1690 atlas, Uranographia.

Bevis, with the financial backing of an instrument-maker based in London named John Neale, spent four years, between 1747 and 1751, creating 51 beautifully detailed, engraved celestial charts. It was titled Uranographia Brittanica being an exact Survey of the Heavens.

In 1750, Neale was declared bankrupt and the copperplates were sequestered by the London Courts of Chancery. While Bevis escaped the implications of the bankruptcy, his atlas was fated never to be published. However, Bevis did retain a number of pulls of the charts, which upon his death in 1771, were given to his executor, John Horsfall. At Horsfall’s death in 1785, the catalogue for the sale of his estate listed six copies of the 51-chart set. There are now thought to be just 23 sets known to have survived (Kilburn, Pasachoff and Gingerich, p. 119).

The work Bevis put into the atlas would no doubt have given him much greater notoriety. Kevin Kilburn in his book ‘The forgotten star atlas’ wrote: Bevis’s atlas was the last atlas to be ecliptic-orientated, rather than the equatorial system used in modern star maps. As such it would soon be outdated. Nevertheless, it stands as one of the great, albeit forgotten star atlases.

An original folio of the 51 hand-coloured engraved celestial charts sold in 2008 for a staggering £58,500.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears, or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a print and a frame for a great price.