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Whats the oldest astro book you have

greencat

By greencat
in The Astro Lounge

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greencat

greencat

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I always look for old astronomy books in secondhand bookshops.

The oldest I've found so far is called "Flowers of the sky" & I've dated it to around 1883 or thereabouts.

I was reading the Mars section the other night as it had clouded over.

Its great to read how the auther could say that there "definately" existed oceans on Mars & then his ponderings on possible life on the planet.

Anybody else as sad as me?

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OXO

OXO

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Elementary Lessons in Astronomy by J.Norman Lockyer who was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.1868. It's full of wonder sketch's from the 18th/17th centrynot had chance to read it yet but i will be doing soon.

Its a wonderfull feeling holding this book in my hands and a great piece of astro history.

James

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Ant

Ant

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I used to collect astro books. I had about 500 books which were mostly old. I ran out of room and donated them to a local Astro Club (what a [removed word] head?).

But I kept a couple.

So the oldest that I have now are actually the same book - can't remeber the name (I'm at work) but it was by a guy called Boyle I think. The good thing is that I have two copies one by Mr Boyle and the other by Sir Boyle. The bloke was knighted between editions...

I think it dates back to around 1864 - but I'll check tonight.

Ant

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Ant

Ant

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There is no way that would date back to the 17th century James! That would be 200 years before the book that I have. I think that he was knighted in the 1860's - so a book dated in the 1600's couldn't be from the same guy.

But I love to hear about your book from the 1600's...

BTW yes it is Sir Robert Boyle :clouds2:

Ant

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OXO

OXO

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Hi Ant,

There is no way that would date back to the 17th century James! That would be 200 years before the book that I have. I think that he was knighted in the 1860's - so a book dated in the 1600's couldn't be from the same guy.

Maybe he lived a long time :clouds2: :clouds2: :clouds2:, mmmmmm there was a chap called Richard Boyle of who did some Astro Books maybe it's him i am getting mixed up with been so long since i have seen the book but i will dig it out tonight and let you know about it. Could have some interesting facts in it.

One of the things that blows my mind looking at these books is the thought if you could travel back in time and let them know about all the advances in astronomy now and see there reaction :clouds2: Also when you look at Old photos from the 40's etc etc and you now how the Equipment to do better with a 4 and half inch scope than they did with a 200" scope :clouds2:. The facts are the best thing though like the amount of planets in the solar system and so forth.

James :clouds2:

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greencat

greencat

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One of the things that blows my mind looking at these books is the thought if you could travel back in time and let them know about all the advances in astronomy now and see there reaction :clouds2: Also when you look at Old photos from the 40's etc etc and you now how the Equipment to do better with a 4 and half inch scope than they did with a 200" scope :clouds2:. The facts are the best thing though like the amount of planets in the solar system and so forth.

James :clouds2:

I had a very similar thought whilst walking my dog the other night.

Wouldn't it be great if you could show Galileo what can now be seen through telescopes of today.

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Ant

Ant

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I suppose the natural move from this thread would be the question.

If you could go back in time and speak to one (astronomical) person and tell them one thing, who would it be and what would you tell them.

Ant

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The Warthog

The Warthog

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I bought a copy of Sir Patrick's Survey of the Moon (1965) last summer, in a used bookstore. As I read it, I realized that I had read it when I was a teenager, shortly after it was published, and most of the things I know about the moon are in that book. I am making it my personal mission to see crater Moore. I have seen older astronomy books, but I see little point in collecting them, as they are mostly textbooks, not anything earth-shattering.

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The Warthog

The Warthog

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It interesting to see how the ideas and theories would hold up today in some of those old books, even ones from the 70's have dated very badly.

Yep. Patrick Moore was a proponent of the volcanic theories of crater formation on the moon, but now cheerfully admits that he was wrong about that. That's over 40 years.

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AstroTiger

AstroTiger

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my oldest astro book is a copy of the Amateurs Astronomers Hanbook by JB Sidgewick. 1955 ed

It was given to me by a fellow named bob Marriott, who is also on the council of the BAA and secretary of the local astro soc i also attend.

I do find with astronomy books after a while that they all tend to say the same thing. This is perhaps why i do not buy anymore now. I find these days that wen u have a book on the stars and planets then thaT Is prob all u will ever need. Or am i being just too cynical there?

Al

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col

col

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hi all, im new to the forum, but im finding it addictive, any way the oldest book i have is the popular star atlas(epoch 1950) with 16 maps,by rmg inglis, published in 1961, one year older than me, so its a youngish spritely book methinks, : :clouds2:

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