Vorstellung der Gestirne auf XXXIV Kupfertafeln nach der Pariser Ausgabe des Flamsteadschen Himmelsatlas. Johann Elert Bode (1747-1826). Berlin and Stralsund: Gottlieb Augsut Lange, 1782. Oblong 4to., (8 7/8 x 11 5/8 inches). Letterpress title-page and text within ruled borders. Hand-coloured engraved title-page at beginning of plates and 34 engraved plates by Daniel Berger, all with fine hand-colour (plates XII-XVII misbound after plate XXIII). Contemporary calf (worn with loss at the foot of the spine, stained). First edition. Bode "had a great love for practical calculations. In 1786 Bode was appointed royal astronomer, director of the astronomical observatory, and member of the Berlin Academy. He was active in these positions for nearly forty years, until his retirement in 1825. In spite of the renovations which he arranged, the observatory could not compete with those of Paris and London. Bode's literary activity more than made up for the observatory's deficiencies. Besides his tables, his two sky atlases were for a long time indispensable tools for astronomers; the "Vorstellung der Gestirne", which, according to the example set by John Flamsteed's atlas, contained more than 5,000 stars. Bode was almost the only writer to support the then not widely known ideas of Kant, Lambert and Herschel on the infinity of space, the infinite number of inhabited worlds, and the continuous birth and passing away of stars according to natural laws. Bode gave the name Uranus to Herschel's newly discovered planet" (DSB). His later "Uranographia", 1801, listed over 17,000 stars and contained, for the first time, the nebula, star clusters, and double stars discovered by Herschel. Poggendorff I, 218.