Item No: #35287 Results of Astronomical Observations Made at the Sydney Observatory, New South Wales, in the Years 1877 and 1878. H. C. Russell, Henry Chamberlain.
Results of Astronomical Observations Made at the Sydney Observatory, New South Wales, in the Years 1877 and 1878
Results of Astronomical Observations Made at the Sydney Observatory, New South Wales, in the Years 1877 and 1878

With a Pacific Northwest Connection?

Results of Astronomical Observations Made at the Sydney Observatory, New South Wales, in the Years 1877 and 1878

Notes: 77 pages; plus two plates showing equipment and a large fold-out plan of the Sydney Observatory. Includes reports on the calculation of the longitude of the observatory in Sydney and extensive tables of mean right ascensions and north polar distances of stars observed in 1877 and 1878.

Russell, according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, was a very active director of the Sydney Observatory, coordinating expeditions, creating a network of amateur weather observers and outfitting them with equipment of his own design, as well as publishing a series of astronomical observations.

Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing). Cloth somewhat spotted; repaired tear to observatory plan; generally very good. This copy is inscribed by the author's second wife: "Ambrose James Russell, with aunt Emily's love. Sydney, N. S. Wales, March 1883." It seems likely that the recipient was a noted Tacoma, Washington, architect. Your humble cataloguer did not work out the full Russell family tree, but the dates and places connecting the NSW Russells with those in Tacoma are plausible and this copy was acquired in the Tacoma area.

Publication: Sydney: Thomas Richards, Government Printer, 1881.

Item No: #35287

Price: $100

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