Allgemeine Beschreibung und Nachweisung der Gestirne nebst Verzeichniss der Geraden Aufsteigung und Abweichung von 17240 Sternen, Doppelsternen, Nebelflecken und Sternhaufen. (zu dessen Uranographie gehörig). Description et connoissance generale des constellations avec un catalogue del’ascension droite et de la declinaison de 17240 etoiles, doubles, nebuleuses et amas d’etoiles, (pour servir de suite a son Uranographie)

Berlin: Selbstverlag, Chez l’auteur,, 1801. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Printed in German and French with the text in 2 columns. Unbound, sheets folded in signatures, uncut; in absolutely beautiful condition, a phenomenal newly discovered gem. First and only edition of the text volume to Bode’s Uranography published the same year. This text volume was printed separate and apart from the star atlas, which set a new benchmark in the field, proving itself as a true successor to the great atlases of Bayer, Hevelius and Flamsteed. Bode’s atlas is noted for a number of stars lying outside of the constellations, and he proposed the concept of boundaries to these constellations that would, with later adjustments, become “fundamental to astronomy” (Whitfield).

Bode (1747-1826) was director of the Berlin observatory and editor of the Astronomisches Jahrbuch. He played an important role in the development of astronomy in Germany, becoming Royal Astronomer and a member of the Berlin Academy. He gave the name Uranus to Herschel’s newly discovered planet.

DSB II, p. 220; Warner, p. 39; Whitfield, p. 104.