Die populaire und beschreibende Astronomie, durch die Cosmosphäre und die cosmosphärischen Instrumente erläutert. Nach der englischen und französischen Ausgabe, mit Verbesserungen vom Verfasser, Dr. W[ilhel]m Müller [...]

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Full title: Die populaire und beschreibende Astronomie, durch die Cosmosphäre und die cosmosphärischen Instrumente erläutert. Nach der englischen und französischen Ausgabe, mit Verbesserungen vom Verfasser, Dr. W[ilhel]m Müller, Major im Königlich Hannoverschen General-Stabe. Erster oder theoretischer Teil. Mit den Abbildungen der Cosmosphärischen Instrumente. Small square 8vo. pp. [5], 56, [2], f. [1] (folded plate). Bound in original printed publisher’s wrappers (covers included in pagination). Contains engraving. First and only German language edition, simultaneously published in French and English, of this rare advertising catalogue for the ‘Cosmosphere. The plate is only included in the German edition, of which only 3 copies are recorded (Gottingen, Hamburg, Austrian National Library). In 1827 the mathematician Johann Caspar Garthe invented the ‘Cosmoglobe,’ a cosmological model, which consisted of two hemispheres of glass representing the starry sky and into which either a globe, or a tellurium or a planetarium could be mounted. Garthe joined forces with Wilhelm Müller, an engineer in King George III’s German legion, who was tasked with advertising this new model in England. Müller, however, changed certain aspects of the design and patented the model, now called ‘Cosmosphere,’ under his own name in London in 1828 (see Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 13, p. 1175). Garthe promptly accused Müller of plagiarism, followed by years of legal wrangling. In the present work, Müller advertises his ‘Cosmosphere’ as a scientific model which substitutes an orrery, a planetarium, a tellurium, a lunarium, celestial and terrestrial globes, and an armillary sphere. Interestingly, his introduction mentions Garthe’s ‘Cosmoglobe’ several times. Click here to view the Johns Hopkins University catalog record.