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LUNAR CARTOGRAPHY — RUSSELL, John (1745-1806). [ Lunar Planispheres . London: 1805-6.
LUNAR CARTOGRAPHY — RUSSELL, John (1745-1806). [ Lunar Planispheres . London: 1805-6.] Extraordinarily rare and fine depictions of the full Moon. Two copperplate stipple engravings of a 15-inch diameter (381mm) full Moon, one showing the Moon in flat light, an early state before letters [London, 1805] 499 x 491mm (sheet); the other showing the Moon in a hypothetical oblique light, the state with publisher's line but before correction scale, 'London, Published by Wm. Faden, Novr. 26, 1806', 442 x 428mm (sheet). Both framed. John Russell (1745-1806) was elected Associate of the Royal Academy in 1782, and a full Academician in 1788. Born in Guildford, Surrey, he was apprenticed to Francis Cotes the founder of the Royal Academy. Russell gained success and a certain amount of fame as a portraitist in pastel, earning himself the title of "Painter to the King" following his portraits of the royal physician Dr. Willis, and of Queen Charlotte. However, his overriding passion was the moon. As early as 1764 Russell made telescoping observations of the moon, sketching in pencil what he saw. From his sketches a series of highly detailed maps of the lunar surface emerged: first his large pastel drawings (one of which from 1793 can be seen at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford); in 1797 he published the earliest extant lunar globe Selenographia , mounted in a brass device to display the librations of the lunar orbit; then in November 1805 his brother in law, William Faden (1749-1836) printed the lunar planisphere showing the Moon in flat illuminated by the Sun, followed a year later by an alternative view of the Moon as if each part is lit obliquely, so as to accentuate the topography of the surface. The Moon in flat light 'is clearly far more detailed that any of its predecessors, and the very complex interplay of delicate shadings reveal the hand of a master artist. Indeed, the highly detailed nature and general accuracy of this image have never been surpassed.' (Whitaker, 1999). Both plates would be included in a posthumous publication by his son A description of the lunar planispheres / engraved by the late J.R. from his original drawing (London : W. Russell 1809). It has been commented that 'His drawings are more detailed than anything before and, as "eye to telescope" maps of the moon, they have never been equalled.' (Whitehouse, 2001) All of Russell's cartographic endeavours are rare. We can only trace four copies of the 1809 publication, a further two copies of the loose planispheres in the later state with letters, and the directly comparable early state of the Moon in flat at Oxford. THE MOON IN OBLIQUE LIGHT IN THIS EARLY STATE IS APPARENTLY UNRECORDED and preceded only by the unfinished proof state held at Oxford (MHS Inv. No. 11959). Cartographic differences to the Mare Nubium and Mare Fecunditatis , along with the lack of letters and a printed correction scale present in the 1809 issues, imply Russell reworked the plates between printings, perhaps to incorporate later observations.