So Im reading Planet Narnia at the moment, which, without going into too much detail, covers not only my favorite literary chronicles by one of my favorite authors (have you ever read Til We Have Faces??) but also the poetic and mythical purview of a pre-copernican cosmology. Needless to say, its fascinating. Add to that my ongoing obsession with the Zodiac, the recent change in daylight times heralding the approach of spring, and the fact that, over a month after my most recent viewing, I still think of Carl Sagans Cosmos on at least a daily basis, and you will understand why Im currently consumed by thoughts of the heavens. But were it not for all that, I think I would still find these illustrations from Ludwig Preyβingers Astronomic Picture Atlas completely mesmerizing.
Isnt the internet magical? I want these to be everywhere in my life. Believe it or not, this book was published in Germany in 1851; the images were uploaded to The Net by Michael Stoll, a german design professor with a formidable flickr photostream, who must have used magic (or at least some creative license) because look how glowy they all are! But I first saw them on 50 Watts, an amazing source of bizarre, book-related illustration and design, and one of my favorites to browse of an afternoon. Its the best!
images via here
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