Celestial Globes and Popular Astronomy Giuseppe Toaldo Translator of Jerome Lalande

This contribution aims to examine the scientific relationship between Giuseppe Toaldo and Jerome Lalande, focusing on two works by the French astronomer which Toaldo translated into Italian. The first text is the Abrege d'Astronomie (Compendio dAstronomia, Padova: Stamperia del Seminario, 1777), addressed to students of astronomy; the second one is the Astronomie des Dames (Astronomia delle Dame, [Venezia]: Giacomo Storti, 1796), written for a female public to which Toaldo interestingly added the appendix Astronomia de' Gentiluomini (Venezia, 1797). These works clearly testify Toaldo's deep interest in the teaching and spreading of astronomy, an interest Toaldo shared with Lalande. The contacts between the two astronomers we will be displaying will also allow us to make some hypothesis about two splendid globes, a terrestrial and a celestial one. It is unknown how they arrived in the library of the Episcopal Seminar of Padova, where they are preserved today.