Astrolabe Catalogue

The German mathematician Johann Krabbe (1553-?1625) engraved his astrolabe in 1583 as a series of printing plates, from which multiple copies could be made as paper sheets, to be mounted on card or wood. The 16th-century revival of interest in the astrolabe in Europe followed the invention of printing and included a flourishing tradition of making them of printed paper (for example, inventory nos. 34268 and 49296). By definition however these instruments were ephemeral and fragile, and have survived in misleadingly small numbers.

Krabbe’s plate was over twenty years old when he updated it to accompany his book Newes Astrolabium in 1609. Since his appointment as geometer to the princely Duke of Brunswick in 1585 he had been based at Wolfenbüttel. So he has added to his original engraved plate the coat of arms of his patron and his own new details, but without erasing his original signature dated 1583 at Munden (hence there are two versions of his signature immediately next to each other). The new date ‘16 / 09’ falls on either side of the central hole, and in this well-used example has been partly worn away by the turning of the central washer.

These printed sheets were included with his 1609 book so that the purchaser could cut them out and mount them on wood or pasteboard to form the working instrument. This is what has happened in this case. A new edition of Krabbe’s book appeared in 1625, with the same 1583/1609 plates once more supplied with it, indicating over how long a period such printing plates might remain in use. The Museum’s collection also contains the 1625 edition of the book, with the paper sheets intact at the end.

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