Lubieniecki,Stanislaw.Theatrum Cometicum,duabus partibus constans.1.Quarum prior continet epistolas & communicationes variorum per Europam clarissimorum virorum,cum quibus auctor de hoc argumento contulit...2.Posterior exhibet historiam universalem omnium cometarum a tempore Diluvii ad Ann.1665...

Leiden.Petrus vander Meersche,1681,2 volumes,folio(318 x 205mm.),pp.[26],888,[2],

889-966,[4] ;[10],464,[4 including third frontis.],78,[4],title-pages printed in red and black,with woodcut device on title-pages,engraved portraits of the author and Joannes Ernestus of Rautenstein,3 engraved frontispieces,84 engraved plates including 31 folding and woodcut initials and tailpieces,contemporary speckled calf gilt,spines gilt in compartments.

Lubieniecki's encyclopaedic treatise on comets contains a history of all known comets observed up to1665. The first, and largest, part, comprises Lubieniecki's correspondence with 40 of the leading astronomers of his time, including Guericke, Hevelius and Schott, about the 1664-5 comet.The fine engravings consist of celestial maps showing the paths of comets and the figures of the constellations traversed. ‘Since each map represents the observations of a different astronomer, taken together they illustrate the variety of cartographic traditions popular during the seventeenth century.On many of the maps the choice of constellations, of constellation style, and of constellation names are strongly reminiscent of the celestial globes of Blaeu and Hondius. Several other maps carry the Judaeo-Christian constellations introduced by Plancius. From Rome, Kircher sent a map derived from those of Grienberger.On only a few maps are the stars identified by Bayer letters. None of the maps reflects any of the traditions popular during the previous century' (Warner, The sky explored, p 164).

Stanislaw Lubieniecki (1623-1675) was born in Rakow (now in Germany), Lubieniecki pursued astronomy, and in particular the study of comets, as a hobby. A Polish nobleman who spent much of his life in Hamburg, he is perhaps best known for his Historia reformationis polonicae (History of thePolish Reformation).