 Rare and unusual books! |  |
Rare and unusual books! | |
| Book Title: | The Marvels Of The Heavens |  |
| Author: | Camille Flammarion, trans. Mrs Norman Lockyer | |
| Publisher: | Richard Bentley, London | |
| Year: | 1870 | |
| First Edition, 12mo., dark red cloth with gilt and black embossed lettering and designs to front, back and spine, 289 pp., frontis in colour with 45 monochrome illustrations, attractive black paste-downs, owner's name inscribed ffep, extremities slightly bumped and frayed, cover to spine frayed top and bottom with closed tear, back hinge cracked but not detached, starting elsewhere, tender, complete, w/o dust cover, o/w good. Very scarce, first edition of work better known as "The Wonders Of The Heavens", New York, Charles Scribner's Sons 1871. | ||
| Nicolas Camille Flammarion (1842-1925) was born at Montigny-le-Roi, in the department of Haute Marne, France. He first studied theology, but early got interested in astronomy. At age 16, in 1858, he wrote a 500-page manuscript, Cosmologie Universelle, and became an assistent of LeVerrier (the man whose calculations had led to the discovery of Neptune) at Paris Observatory. From 1862 to 1867, he temporarily worked at the Bureau of Longitudes, then returning to the Observatory where he got involved in the program of double star observing. This project resulted in publishing a catalog of 10,000 double stars in 1878.
Besides, Flammarion observed the Moon and planet Mars. In 1873 and 1885, he brought up the hypothesis that Mars' color might be attributed to vegetation. He published several popular books (L'astronomie Populaire in 1879, of which over 100,000 copies were sold and an English translation by J.E. Gore appeared in 1894, as well as a book on Mars, La Plančte Mars, supporting the existence of "canals", built by an advanced civilisation, Vol. 1 in 1892 and Vol. 2 in 1909), and encouraged amateur astronomy. In 1877, Flammarion founded the Astronomical Society of France. In 1882, he was donated a private observatory and estate by a M. Meret who admired his work. In 1922, he was made a Commander of the Legion of Honor for his astronomical life-work. Camille Flammarion passed away on June 3, 1925 in Juvisy-sur-Orge (Essonne, France). | ||
| Price: £99.99 | ||
| ||
