ARATUS (c.315-240 BCE) and Jakob van GHEYN (1596-1641, artist). Arataea sive signa coelestia. Amsterdam: Joannes Jansson, 1621.

First edition of the separate suite of van Gheyn's engravings of the constellations. These images were first used to illustrate Grotius's 1600 edition of Aratus, the ancient astrological poet, which was the very first engraved star atlas. They were also used as models from Bayer's 1603 Uranometria. The compositions are based on the famous suite of woodcuts which illustrate early editions of Hyginus and other astrological texts; they are "perhaps the finest illustrations of the individual Hyginus constellations" (Warner). The artist, Jakob ven Gheyn, had studied in Haarlem under Hendrik Golzius. Warner, The Sky Explored (1979), p 93 1a.

Folio (310 x 202mm). Letterpress title and 44 plates, one unnumbered (some browning, a few small spots). Contemporary limp vellum. Provenance: small stamp of lyre on title.