Four diagrams on one sheet illustrating the theoretical composition of the solar systems according to Ptolemy, Copernicus, Descartes and Tycho Brahe.

De Fer (1646-1720) was the son of a prominent engraver and produced his first map in 1669. He joined his father's business in 1673 and ultimately took over in 1687. He was a prolific map maker who produced over six hundred separate maps in multiple forms; as separate issues, bound within history and travel books, and as atlases. In the late 17th century he was made Geographer to the Dauphin.

This is a lovely example of de Fer's map showing comparative theories of the solar system, from Ptolemy's ideas that the earth was the centre of the solar system with the other planets orbiting around it, Copernicus with its then heretical concept of the earth orbiting around the sun, Tycho Brahe's strange hybrid concept that the sun orbited around the earth while the other planets orbited around the sun and Descartes' idea that the motion of the planets was governed by a mysterious set of whirlpools and vortices, a theory later disproved by Isaac Newton. [CELEST1581]