Joseph Georg Böhm, 1863

BÖHM, Joseph Georg (1807-1868). Die sogenannten Kunst-Uhren (Planeten-Uhrwerke) auf der kaiserlich-königlichen Sternwarte zu Prag. Restaurirt, beschrieben und erklärt. Prague: Haase, 1863.

First edition of a privately-printed photographic catalogue of astronomical clocks from the Prague Observatory, never before seen at auction. The clocks were designed and made by the Jesuit priest Johannes Klein (1684-1762), an instrument maker in Prague. They include a Tychonic clock, a Copernican clock, a universal geographical clock, and the "Trauttmansdorff" clock. The photographs are of both the clocks themselves and also of detailed drawings of their working mechanisms. Klein’s clocks were modelled on instruments designed by Johann Baptist Homann (1664-1724), a German engraver and cartographer who was appointed Imperial Cartographer to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in 1715. Böhm, director of the Prague Observatory, carried out the restoration of the clocks and published this work privately as a document of his restorations and researches. KVK records only two copies, Dresden and Staatsbibliothek Berlin; OCLC lists only Berlin.

Folio (364 x 260mm). 18 photographs mounted on card within borders; tissue guards (minor spotting, mostly to text leaves). Contemporary burgundy morocco with gilt title on upper board, all edges gilt, white moiré silk doublures (corners rubbed, spine sunned).