E E Barnard reprinted.

[ollypenrice]

Thanks to Steve Richards' review in Sky at Night I've just treated myself to the newly released re-issue of Barnard's great work, his Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of The Milky Way.

http://www.amazon.com/Photographic-Atlas-Selected-Regions-Milky/dp/0521191432/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346835096&sr=1-1-fkmr1&keywords=ee+barnard+photographic+atlas+of+the+milky+way

Yes, it's a bit of a treat but I'm fascinated by astronomy history, I spend much of my life taking astrophotos and I worship E E Barnard both as an astronomer and as a marvellous man - so hang the expense! His biography by William Sheehan is one of those inspiring reads, too.

http://reviews.rsarchive.net/blog/2012/06/19/the-immortal-fire-within-the-life-and-work-of-edward-emerson-barnard/

Barnard was, perhaps, the last of the great professional visual observers and the first of the great professional astrophotographers and the new book reproduces his black and white images taken, I think, with 'portrait lenses' or Petzvals such as the Takahashi FSQ of the modern era. I'll say a bit more when it arrives - if it arrives. (An iOptron GEM has recently vanished without trace on its way here!!)

Olly