Cycle Celestial Objects by Smyth William Henry, First Edition (4 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 8vo (255 x 160 mm). ix, [4], 14-96 pp., one color plate, text diagrams and tables. Publisher's blue cloth, "Colours of Double-Stars" stamped in gilt on front board and spine, original yellow endpapers (head of spine with minor repair), cloth spotted and stained, corners bumped, light wear to extremities). Pages opened bu uncut. Text little age-toned, but in all clean and bright throughout. Provenance: William Parsons, 3rd. Earl of Rosse, Birr Castle (armorial bookplate of Smyth to front pastedown), presented from the author and inscribed on front pastedown, 'Presented to Lord Rosse, F.R.S. etc. etc. etc. with the respects of Admiral Smyth & D. Lee, Hartwell, 10 December, 1864." ---- RARE FIRST EDITION, and one of a few copies printed for presentation, of the work on the color and brightness of stars, published one year before the author's death. William Henry Smyth was an admiral of the Royal Navy and a British astronomer. In 1817 he met the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi in Palermo and visited his observatory. This awakened his interest in astronomy. So in 1825 he took leave of the Navy and established a private observatory in Bedford, England. Smyth's Sidereal Chromatics can be regarded a landmark work in 19th century astronomy, providing the most precise observations of the colors of double stars ever recorded. The work provides both a theory of the origin of the colors of double stars and a method for describing them as accurately as possible. Detailed diagrams compare Smyth's measurements of more than one hundred double stars with his own previously published observations and those of his astronomy colleague, Father Benedetto Sestini. This edition also includes Smyth's famous color chart, an attempt to standardize the process of identifying double star colors. - Visit our website to see more images! Inscribed by Author(s).

Hardcover. 1st Edition. 4to., (11 4/8 x 9 1/8 inches). Title-page with engraved vignette. 6 fine engraved plates, including one in colour, and numerous illustrations in the text. Contemporary maroon half morocco, gilt (extremities worn with minor loss). Provenance: with the bookplate of William H. Pulsifer on the front paste-down. First edition. Smyth, a naval officer and surveyor, one of the founders of the RGS, he was the author of many volumes, including an earlier astronomical work "The Cycle of Celestial Objects for the Use of Naval, Military, and Private Astronomers" (1844), for which he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and "Aedes Hartwellianae" in 1851. The astronomical observatory at Hartwell described in great detail in this book was built between 1830 and 1839 by John Lee (who also funded the printing of this volume) to Smyth's specifications.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good with no dust jacket. First English Edition. 6 lbs B&W Illustrations; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; viiii,[4],516,4pp. ads; xx,560 pages; Numerous text illustrations. Half-titles; publisher's 4-page catalogue at end of Volume 2. 2 volumes. 8vo, modern gilt-lettered black cloth; old institutional stamps on titles. First edition of a classic guide to amateur astronomy. The first volume is a general introduction to the subject; the second, known as the Bedford Catalogue, records 850 objects seen from the author's private observatory at Bedford. A career naval officer, Smyth (1788-1865) devoted his attention to astronomy from 1830 onward. One of his sons was Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900) , astronomer royal for Scotland. BEA, page 1070. Illustrated with a large number of textural engravings and drawings.

Condition: fine. 1st Edition. viiii,[4],516,4pp. ads; xx,560pp. Octavo. Illustrated with numerous engravings and drawings in text. Rebound in green quarter leather with marbled boards and gilt lettering on spine. New endpapers. Small rubber stamp on title page of each volume. A very attractive set. fine The true first edition ofWilliam Henry Smyth's classic handbook intented for amateur astronomers. Very Scarce.