The Face of the Moon

23. Lohrmann, Wilhelm Gotthelf (1796-1840).

Mondkarte in 25 Sectionen und 2 Erl uterungstafeln / Herausgegeben von Dr. J.F.Julius Schmidt. -- Leipzig: Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth (Arthur Meiner),1892.

Lohrmann completed the drawings for all 25 sections of his moon map by 1836, but he died before he could secure their publication. In 1851 Lohrmann's publisher, J.A. Barth, asked Julius Schmidt if he would edit the remaining sections. Schmidt agreed, but it took him almost 30 years to complete the task. The first four sections, which had been published in 1824 (see item 15), were re-engraved, and, as they are virtually identical to the originals, we may conclude that the remaining sections are faithful to Lohrmann's intentions. Schmidt's edition of Lohrmann's map was finally published in 1878; the copy exhibited is a reissue.

image - click to enlarge

Schmidt did depart from Lohrmann in the nomenclature used on the map. Many additional features had been named in the fifty years since Lohrmann worked, by Mädler, Schmidt, and Birt, and Schmidt thought it proper to incorporate these changes. Thus in the illustration of the Clavius/Tycho region, the crater names of Deluc, Pictet, and Saussure--all introduced by Mädler--were added by Schmidt. It is instructive to compare the Lohrmann and Schmidt maps in detail, but it should be remembered that the Lohrmann sections are only half the size of Schmidt's.

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