A History of Dots: the Black Sun of Das Planeten Buch, 1541

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History of Dots, Part 15

Soft on the Heals of the 1898 Planetary Visits post (earlier today) is this 1541 Books of the Planets (Das Planeten Buch. Von Natur, eygenthumb, und wirckung der siben Planeten…), which was published in Strassburg by Jacob Cammerkander..  It is a collection of medieval German accumulated astro-data and posie, cobbled together by an anonymous author, and strung together for the masses—it was evidently very popular, eager fingers pulling the many editions to pieces (and such), so that very few now exist. 

The dot that I have in mind here is the standard astronomical depiction of the sun, and it appears brilliantly-n-black in the bottom panel close-by the image of Saturn racing across the sky. 

                                                               

 

Comments

[Jeff]

I liked to do pen-and-ink drawings as a kid, and as I finished a very carefully done drawing as a gift for my mother, as I picked up the pen from making the absolutely last line, a big drop of ink fell from the pen and landed in a perfectly round dot, and a very large one, right in the middle of the picture. I stormed away in misery and fury. My mother said, "Well, maybe you can fix it." That made me more furious and miserable, since it was clear nothing was to be fixed. However, when I looked at the picture again, the big black dot made a very dramatic sun, or moon, just above the horizon, and I didn't have to do anything. The picture stood. Improved.

[John Ptak]

Found art. Or intentional. Who knows? I imagine that your mother still has it, yes?