"On Diffraction Spectrum Photography," in American Journal of Science and Arts. ++A Benchmark Paper in 19th Century Solar Astronomy and Astronomical Photography++

++A Benchmark Paper in 19th Century Solar Astronomy and Astronomical Photography++ Draper, Henry. "On Diffraction Spectrum Photography," in American Journal of Science and Arts, 3rd ser., 6 (1873), pp 401409 offered in the full volume of 480pp, with the famous folding Albertype plate at rear. [++Recently rebound in a very respectable cloth, with antiqued boards. Very sturdy/lovely rebinding work. [++]In this paper Draper utilizes the Albertype process to reproduce his photographs of the solar spectrum directly into without having to reproduce the sense of the photo via drawing the image and reproducing it via engraving or lithography. As Hentschel points out "the pictorial process was used in photography were revolutionized when the images could be transferred directly into print".-- K. Hentschel, "Photography of the Solar Spectrum 1864-1900, Jnl Hist Astro, 1999. [++] Draper completed medical school at 20, and while waiting out the year waiting to turn 21 (mandatory age for receiving a MD certificate) he found interests elsewhere, mainly in astronomy and chemistry. He was a pioneer in astrophotography and spectroscopy, and among the many "'firsts' for Draper were the first stellar spectrum photograph, which he took of Vega in August 1872, the first wide-angle photograph of a comet's tail, and the first spectrum of a comet's head, both of these with Tebbutt's Comet in 1881. In addition, Draper obtained many high-quality photographs of the Moon in 1863, a benchmark spectrum of the Sun in 1873 [the paper offered here], and spectra of the Orion Nebula, the Moon, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and numerous bright stars. He also invented the slit spectrograph and pushed the state of the art in photography, instrumental optics, and telescope clock drives, the steadiness of which is essential for long photographic exposures."--Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, edited by Thomas Hockey Draper's ".work on a twenty-eight-inch reflecting telescope continued from 1867 to 1872; it was interrupted by the ruling of gratings and by preliminary studies of the spectra of the elements, especially carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen. As a reference scale for the determination of wavelength, Draper photographed the solar spectrum; and his results far surpassed the best spectra available from 1873 until 1881, attesting to the combined power of photography and his ingenuity.By August [1872] his technique had improved, and he was rewarded with the first photograph of stellar spectrum lines. Later he devised and named a spectrograph, similar to Huggins visual spectroscope, employing an entrance slit to purify the resulting spectrum and to permit the impression of reference spectra for the identification of the celestial elements."Complete DSB online. [++] This paper would also appear in  Philosophical Magazine, 4th ser., 46 (1873), 417425; Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 151 (1873), 337350; and Nature, 9 (1873). Other papers in this volume include: Wolcott Gibbs, J.D. Dana "Results of the Earth's Contraction from Cooling, in several but incomplete parts, including Igneous Ejections, Volcanoes; Benjamin Silliman, "Meteoric Iron from California"; O.C. Marsh, "New Observations on Dinocerata", plus works Edward S. Holden, R.P. Stevens, and others.…