Photographs of the Spectrum of Nova Persei - Six Plates with Notes, in Portfolio

1905 1st edition. Six loose plates in portfolio. Overall condition is fair, but the six plates are in good condition with minor spotting/soiling, minor creasing and a couple of small edge tears, whilst the portfolio cover is poor. All six sepia-tone plates are present and there is a sheet providing a description of each plate pasted inside the front cover of the portfolio. For ease of reference, the plates are numbered in the top right hand corner. Nova Persei, now known as GK Persei, was a bright nova first observed in 1901 and, at the time was wrongly believed to be the first new star of the 20th century. Until 1918 it was the brightest nova of modern time. It has since faded but continues to have regular outbursts. Frank McClean (1837-1904) trained as and pursued a successful career as an engineer. He retired in 1870 in order to concentrate on his passion for astronomy and spectroscopy. He undertook important spectrographic work in astronomy, inventing a star-spectroscope, observing solar prominences, surveying the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere and photographing stars in the southern hemisphere. In 1899 he was presented with the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. This is a scarce publication.…