And now we come to the most fascinating facet of Johannes Kepler`s life, for he holds the honour of being the first ever science-fiction writer, with a book called, colloquially, "Somnium", which is Latin for `The Dream`.
In fact its full title is "Somnium, seu opus posthum de astronomia lunari" and it was written in 1608. However Johannes Kepler never got to see it published, and some think that he would not have wanted it to be, but his son, Ludwig, found the manuscript, and showed it to Jacobus Bartsch, who was the husband of Johannes Kepler`s daughter Suzanna, three years younger than Ludwig, and the third Kepler child to be born (as well as the first to survive infancy). Together, they edited it, and it was published in 1634, four years after Johannes Kepler`s death.
It is an odd tale, and, in many parts, a wistful regrettance of the way that Johannes Kepler would have liked his life to work out. It starts with Kepler himself reading a magical book, about a magician, and falling asleep. He dreams of a young boy, from Iceland, who has a mother so intelligent that people think she must be a witch.
This is a very curious thing to write, as his mother was indeed persecuted for being a witch, accused of poisoning another woman with a drink, whilst Johannes Kepler was at the University of Tubingen. She was arrested, and taken to court, and then imprisoned for over a year. However in 1621 she was released and acquitted. After that we do not know what happened, but it is thought she died, though no records exist. Worse than this though, was the fact that one of his mother`s cousins was actually convicted as a witch, and burned to death in his home town.
Anyway the mother in the book takes her son out in the open air and shows him the night skies, (as his own mother had done), and one night she tells him of a magical island called Levania, which she only knew of because a demon had appeared before her and told her. The way she describes it, we instantly know it as the moon, but she also tells of how, when you are on this island, you can see the Earth rising and falling from view.
The mother seems to support herself by selling many things, including potions and herbs. The father is not mentioned. One day the boy ruins a bag filled with these herbs, and his mother sells him to a seaman. They travel the seas for quite some while, though the boy is frequently affected by the motion of the boat, then one day the seaman has to take a letter to an island, on which lives a strange man. This turns out to be Tycho Brahe, and it is by far the most poignant piece of the work, for the boy speaks lovingly of how he is treated kindly on the island, and, because he has a gift for astronomy, the older man spends much time encouraging him into better and better discoveries, and at night they sit up and watch the stars and the planets for hours on end, developing of a very great friendship, and, almost, perhaps, a father-son relationship, something that Johannes Kepler never had, for his father left home when the young boy was only five, and is believed to have died fighting in the Netherlands, though there is no proof of that.
The boy is there with Tycho Brahe for many years, but then, suddenly, he finds out he must leave, and you can feel the regret in those words, much as Johannes Kepler must have felt when he also had to leave.
The next piece brings the boy back to Iceland, where his mother is still alive. He shares with her many of the things that Tycho Brahe has told him and she tells him tales that the demons told her, things that few human people knew. She also reveals that she can travel in time, and cover huge distances in moments, and that there was a way to get to the Island of Levania, though humans have to be sedated, in order to survive the journey, the lack of air, and the cold in between - this being the first depiction of the hazards of space travel. The book then goes into much detail of scientific facts about the moon and the planets, which were later found by astronomers to be true, as well as a few things that were almost certainly added for effect to make a better story. We know that in its original form, written whilst Johannes Kepler was a student, it was far more factual, and that he added the dream sequences, along with the idyllic time with Tycho Brahe, a while later. We just do not know why.
And then, very suddenly, the Kepler in the book wakes up. Some believe that there was more to the book when it was a manuscript, but, for whatever reason, his son chose not to add that, or maybe to destroy it, and to tack on the very abrupt end instead.
To our card, and I am delighted to fill another gap, for we used the sectional part of this set as our Card of the Day on the 27th of August 2023 and so now we can add the version with the "two astronauts". That page remains the home page though, and it also tells of the other versions, by Topps in America and O-Pee-Chee in Canada.
Our original British Trade Index part three (RB.31, published in 1986) lists the two as :
Man On The Moon. 89 x 63. Unnd, (74) ... ABF-59.
Two sections, issued 1969.
1. First section. Scene on back with picture of two astronauts. 1-19 - and then there is a list of titles
2. Second section. Sectional picture on back with picture of spaceship. 20-74 - with another list
In our updated British Trade Index this set is also there, because it was just issued before the cut off date of that volume, which is 1970. However it is a very small description, and it reads
MAN ON THE MOON. 1969. 89 x 63. Unnd (74). Two sections. See HA-27. ... AAB-510