Author: [ZUMBACH VON KOESFELD, Lothar] and Gerard VALK (engraver and publisher).
Title: 't Werkstellige der sterre-konst ...Amsterdam, Gerard Valk, [late 17th or early 18th century (ca. 1701?)]. 4to. With an engraved frontispiece, and 4 folding engraved plates. Further with a few tables in the text, some woodcut decorated initials, and a woodcut floral tailpiece. Contemporary stiff orange-brown sprinkled paper boards.
Description: [1], [1 blank], [2], 140 pp.Late 17th- or early 18th-century astronomical work by the famous globemakers and publishers Gerard and Leonard Valk. The present work is based on Willem Blaeu's standard work on globes, Tweevoudigh onderwijs van de hemelsche en aerdsche globen (first published 1634), with revisions taking into account Johannes Hevelius' observations (Hoogendoorn). Supposedly, Blaeu's work had been out of print and difficult to obtain for quite some time, warranting a new publication on the subject of globes, especially as father and son Valk were publishing their own up-to-date globes.The present scientific work appeared in three editions: two ascribing the engraving and publishing work to Leonard Valk and one (the present) naming Gerard as engraver and publisher. Gerard is most likely the "original" author/compiler of the present work, having published this "first edition" around the turn of the 17th to 18th century, and editions mentioning Leonard would have been published later (the STCN indicates the date of publishing between 1706 and 1730).Gerard Valk (or Valck, 1652-1726) was a Dutch engraver, publisher, cartographer, and globemaker. He worked closely together with his son Leonard (1675-1746) and his brother-in-law, the engraver, cartographer, and publisher Petrus Schenck (the Elder, 1660-1711). Their work, especially the globes, was largely innovative, based on the latest scientific insights and calculations. The present publication functions as an explanation to the production and use of globes, including information on the declination of the sun and stars, how to measure when the sun or certain stars or other celestial bodies rise and set during a calendar year, when to expect a new moon in the years 1603 to 1833, how to determine the exact location based on latitude and longitude of any place on earth, how to accurately depict the world on a globe, and much more. The work is partly based on Planetolabium, dat is planeeten-wyzer (1700) by the German mathematician and astronomer Lothar Zumbach von Koesfeld (1661-1727).With some underlining of the text in brown ink and some pencil annotations in the margins. The boards are rubbed, the corners and edges of the boards are slightly bumped, the paper along the spine and hinges has been restored, some minor water staining in the gutter of the first 3 leaves, resulting in the loosening of the frontispiece near the gutter (not affecting the actual engraving). The edges of the leaves are slightly frayed, the folding plates are very lightly browned and occasionally foxed. Otherwise in good condition.l Hoogendoorn Valk01 1.1; Houzeau & Lancaster 9732 (date 1695); STCN 842450378 (9 copies); WorldCat 69400587, 39531524 (13 copies); cf. Bierens de Haan 4941 (Leonard Valk ed., date ca. 1695); STCN 261677063, 261676849 (8 copies, Leonard Valk ed., 2 different fingerprints).

Keywords: [80CBADC1D9E8] CARTOGRAPHY & EXPLORATION|[80CBADC1D9E8] CARTOGRAPHY & EXPLORATION -> [D1FD79398985] Atlases, Charts, Maps & Globes|[E51AD6E3D609] SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY|[E51AD6E3D609] SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY -> [A03733D4D802] Astronomy & Mathematics|