In May 2025 I acquired these two prints. One with Orion and the other with Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

On the plates, the constellations are mirrored, as is the case with celestial globes, where you look down on the celestial dome ("as God would see the celestial heavens"). This is remarkable, because it was already common to depict the constellations as they are visible from the Earth's surface.

They are from "The Cyclopaedia: or, Universal dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature" by Abraham Rees, published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown between 1802 and 1820. More precisely, they were published with vol. 21 part 42 of the Cyclopedia, which appeared on July 27, 1812. The plates themselves state the publication date 1 January 1808 (Orion) resp. 1 February 1808 (Ursa Major/Minor) and the publisher "Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme". That, combined with the indication "corrected to the beginning of the Year 1808", indicates that the plates were made in (late) 1807 or (early) 1808. This also follows from the fact that the keyword 'Constellation', described in vol. 9 part 18 and published on March 8, 1808, has a reference to the plates. (Part 17 had been published on November 27, 1807.)

The drawings were made by Lewis Hebert (? – 1842), the engravings were made by Thomas Milton (1743-1827).

The number of nebulae/star clusters placed on the map of Orion in particular is special. In addition to the nebulae of Messier M1, M42, M43, M78 (on Orion) and M81, M82 and M97 (on Ursa Major and Ursa Minor), several objects are drawn that had been discovered by William Herschel (1738-1822).