Paperblanks Celestial Planisphere A6 Cahier Notebook – Squared

Slim, light and wonderfully practical, this Celestial Planisphere A6 cahier notebook from Paperblanks offers 80 squared pages of 100 gsm paper, all perforated for easy removal.

Evocative of an age when the heavens were alive with more than satellites, this cover design is a romantic’s delight. Frederik de Wit’s spectacular map of the heavens was published in the late 17th century and depicts the hemispheres with representations of the constellations and signs of the Zodiac.

The Story Behind the Design

It has been more than 25 years since we began this Paperblanks journey celebrating all eras of human artistry. To commemorate our quarter-century milestone, we looked back to the early days of our history and selected one of our original series to be re-released as a new retrospective edition.

First introduced in 1994, the original Early Cartography series included reproductions of four spectacular maps produced in the Dutch Golden Age, a period of the Netherlands’ dominance in seafaring, trade, science, military and art. With this new Early Cartography release, we are bringing back into the spotlight the skill and imagination of those 17th-century Dutch cartographers.

During the 1600s, this region of Europe was experiencing a cultural and economic boom largely spurred on by the Dutch expansion overseas. Enthusiasm for geography was felt across the whole of Dutch society. In this environment, mapmaking took on a greater artistic and decorative character. Cartography was now not only a source of essential practical tools; it was also a form of art that fused together scientific knowledge, accurate representation, æsthetic appeal and an individual mapmaker’s creative expression. Distinguished artists, engravers, typographers and publishers put the cities of Antwerp and Amsterdam on the cartographic map.

For our Celestial Planisphere cover design we have reproduced a star chart created by Frederik de Wit, a prolific engraver and publisher of the time. His maps had a distinct decorative flair which made them very popular with the public. Populated with fantastical creatures representing the zodiac signs, De Wit’s colourful sky map is an object of great beauty, but its importance went beyond æsthetic pleasures. In a time when seafarers and scientists depended on their ability to identify stars and their position in the sky, star charts were indispensable as navigational and scientific study tools. Also depicted on De Wit’s chart are six diagrams representing different conceptions of the universe, including the Copernican heliocentric theory that wasn’t widely accepted until much later.

During the Dutch Golden Age, the best cartographers succeeded in creating maps equally able to serve a useful function and please art lovers. Along the same lines, we at Paperblanks have always endeavoured to create products that are as useful as they are beautiful. This makes our Early Cartography series re-release a fitting closure to the string of celebrations commemorating our 25th anniversary year.

• Original artwork: Celestial map (star chart) by Frederik de Wit
• Era: 1670–1680
• Region: The Netherlands

Product Details

• Size: A6 – 105 × 148 × 5 mm
• Interior: Squared
• Pages: 80 (40 sheets)
• Paper: 100 gsm acid-free smooth paper
• Binding: Saddle Stitched
• Design: Celestial Planisphere
• Series: Early Cartography
• 300 gsm decorative printed cover
• All pages perforated for easy tear-out
• Saddle-stitch binding in thread colour that matches the cover design
• Decorative front endpapers that showcase the cover design and provide the story behind the cover art
• Name plate
• Weight: 77 g
• Product code: CB1445-5 | ISBN: 9780349714455

About Paperblanks

Paperblanks works with museums, libraries, galleries and artists around the world to faithfully reproduce remarkable artwork, historic bindings and treasured manuscripts, and every notebook is crafted with the same attention to detail, from the paper inside to the finish of the cover.