HERSCHEL, Sir John Frederick William.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Results of Astronomical Observations Made During the Years 1834, 5, 6, 7, 8, at the Cape of Good Hope; 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 astrono

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.