Exploration of the Moon invention of the telescope, an increasing number of people began to recognise the Moon as a sphere, though many believed that it was "perfectly smooth". In 1609, Galileo Galilei drew one of the first telescopic drawings of the Moon in his book and noted that it was not smooth but had mountains and craters. Later in the 17th century, Giovanni Battista Riccioli and Francesco Maria Grimaldi drew a map of the Moon and gave many craters the names they still have today. On maps, the dark parts of the Moon's surface were called "maria" (singular "mare") or seas, and the
Of a Fire on the Moon oil painting by René Magritte. Mailer describes seeing this painting in Chapter 5 ("A Dream of the Future's Face") of the first part ("Aquarius"). "In the foyer was a painting by Magritte, a startling image of a room with an immense rock situated in the center of the floor." The 1970 dust jacket cites that the painting is part of a private collection. Of a Fire on the Moon Of a Fire on the Moon (, ) is a work of non-fiction by Norman Mailer which was serialised in "Life" magazine in 1969 and 1970, and published in 1970 as