Results of Astronomical Observations Made During the Years 1834, 5, 6, 7, 8, at the Cape of Good Hope; Being the Completion of a Telescopic Survey of the Whole Surface of the Visible Heavens, Commenced in 1825.

HERSCHEL, Sir John Frederick William.

Edité par London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1847

A propos de cet article

First and only edition, one of 350 presentation copies, of the first great star atlas of the southern hemisphere, "a splendidly printed volume funded by the duke of Northumberland. Honours and praise were showered on the volume" (ODNB). This copy is lavishly bound by James Hayday and was gifted to King Leopold I of Belgium. At the time of publication, Herschel (1792-1871) was the most eminent scientist in Britain. Determined to expand beyond the confines of objects visible from England, and hoping to supplement his father William's catalogue of the northern celestial hemisphere, Herschel embarked on an astronomical expedition to the southern hemisphere. In November 1833 he and his family sailed to the Cape of Good Hope, where he constructed a 20-foot reflecting telescope and a 7-foot equatorially mounted refractor. "In Herschel's slightly more than four years at the Cape he observed and catalogued 1,708 nebulae, all but 439 of which had not previously been reported. With Herschel's survey of the southern skies, he became and would long remain the only astronomer who had personally scrutinized with a major telescope the entire heavens" (ODNB). The family returned to England in 1838. It took Herschel nearly a decade to prepare his Cape observations for print. The resulting publication - a large quarto volume generally referred to as the Cape Results - pairs extensive astronomical catalogues of nebulae and double star systems with descriptive chapters on Halley's Comet, the Saturnian system, solar spots, and the Magellanic Clouds, among other phenomena. By combining his observations of the hemispheres, Herschel demonstrated that nebulae lie towards the poles of the Milky Way, which disproved the contemporary belief that nebulae were separate "island universes" - an early conceptualization of galaxies. "He also introduced numerical measurements into stellar photometry by means of the astrometer, a device of his own invention which allowed him to compare the brightness of stars with an image of the full moon" (Norman). The third and fourth dukes of Northumberland, Hugh Percy (1785-1847) and his younger brother Algernon (1792-1865), funded the book. Hugh, a patron of the sciences, died shortly before it went to print; Herschel dedicated the book to his memory. Algernon, who financed and accompanied Herschel on his expedition to Cape Town, took up the project on his brother's passing. The lithographic presentation leaf in this copy reads: "Presented by Algernon Duke of Northumberland to His Majesty the King of the Belgians", the recipient's name completed in ink in a secretarial hand. "Five hundred copies of the first and only edition of the Cape Results were printed. Three hundred fifty were given away by Herschel and [Algernon] Percy, including elaborate presentation copies distributed to royalty and heads of state across Europe and less elaborate copies to observatories around the world. The remaining one hundred fifty copies were allotted to the publisher for public sale. It was lauded as a magnificent achievement, a legacy that took two generations of Britain's greatest astronomers to complete" (Ruskin, p. 94). It won Herschel his second Copley medal, the Royal Society's most prestigious award. James Hayday (1796-1872), Dickens's favourite bookbinder, "produced extremely fine leather bindings which must be among the very best of the 19th century" (McLean, p. 224). He ran one of the larger London firms for nearly 30 years from 1833. Works bound by him "became famous and increased in monetary value" (ODNB). Norman 1056. Ruari McLean, Victorian Book Design and Colour Printing, 1972; Steve Ruskin, "Stargazer at World's End", The Cambridge Companion to John Herschel, 2024. Large quarto (302 x 241 mm). Lithographic frontispiece, 17 engraved plates (4 folding), vignette tailpiece, diagrams and charts in text. Additional lithographic presentation leaf at front, errata leaf at rear. Bound by James Hayday in contemporary dark purple crush.

N° de réf. du vendeur 170815

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Results of Astronomical Observations Made During the Years 1834, 5, 6, 7, 8, at the Cape of Good Hope; Being the Completion of a Telescopic Survey of the Whole Surface of the Visible Heavens, Commenced in 1825.
• Éditeur: London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1847
• Édition: Edition originale