Description: 1841 Geography of the Heavens and Class Book of Astronomy Accompanied by A Celestial Atlas by BurrittSuper cool antique book that's in good as-shown condition. Covers all subjects you can image in astronomy - constellations, moon phases, supernova. From Astronomy Magazine: The Geography of the Heavens, along with the atlas designed for it, appeared in 1833 and single-handedly changed the landscape of astronomy education. Its author, Elijah Hinsdale Burritt, wrote in a more understandable style than was common in the textbooks of the day. More importantly, he stressed observation over theory. Burritt created this combination textbook and set of maps specifically to get students out under the stars.Despite being relatively easy reads, the two publications carried impressive titles: The Geography of the Heavens, orFamiliar Instructions for Finding the Visible Stars and Constellations; Accompanied by a Celestial Atlas, with a View of the Solar System, Illustrated by Engravings and Atlas Designed to Illustrate Burritt’s Geography of the Heavens. Each cost $1.25 in 1833, a bit pricey for the textbook, but a steal for the atlas.The set was a smash hit. In the 16th edition, published in 1876, the preface stated that more than 300,000 copies had been sold. That number makes it the most popular star atlas of the 19th century. In fact, it wasn’t surpassed in sales until the mid-20th century, after numerous editions of Arthur Philip Norton’s Star Atlas and Reference Handbook, first published in 1910, had appeared. Elijah Hinsdale Burritt (his middle name was his mother’s maiden name) was born April 20, 1794, in New Britain, Connecticut. He was the first of 10 children.When he was 18, Burritt ventured to a nearby town to study for two years to become a blacksmith. Unfortunately, he suffered an accident. That, along with motivation from his friends, caused him to enroll in Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he studied astronomy, a subject he’d read a lot about during his recovery.After a year, his finances forced him to take up a teaching job in 1817 to earn money to continue his studies. He then went back to college, but in 1819, he left to teach school (among other pursuits, including editing a weekly newspaper) in Milledgeville, Georgia. He remained there for 10 years before moving back to New Britain. While in Georgia, he married Ann Williams Watson, with whom he had five children.Upon returning to Connecticut, he converted some property he owned, called the Stone Store, into a school. As part of the conversion, Burritt installed an observatory, featuring a telescope he had purchased, on the top floor.Once back in Connecticut, Burritt began writing The Geography of the Heavens. He had one major book under his belt already, having authored Logarithmick Arithmetick in 1818. The first half of this work was a textbook on arithmetic. He followed it with a section on astronomy, and devoted the final 40 pages to a table of logarithms from 1 to 10,000, each calculated to seven decimal places. Burritt also included a method for students to calculate the logarithms of numbers up to 10 million.In 1821, Burritt wrote a 28-page pamphlet: Astronomia, or directions for the ready finding of all the principal stars in the heavens which are named on Carey’s Celestial Globe. He followed this work in 1830 with another pamphlet that showed how to compute interest, both simple and compound.The book that made Burritt famous, however, was The Geography of the Heavens. He wanted to call it Uranography, but his publisher (probably wisely) insisted on Geography. Apparently buying into this notion, Burritt writes in the preface that he wants the book to be to the heavens what geography is to Earth.Burritt devotes the main part of the book to the constellations. He describes each star figure, recounts its mythology and history, and lists the brightest stars it contains, giving their magnitudes and other facts.The next section deals with the solar system, followed by a number of problems for readers (mainly students) to solve, and then an appendix with 13 astronomical tables.The Atlas contains seven maps. Four of them show constellations in the equatorial regions by season, two illustrate the star figures in the polar regions, and one is an all-sky chart that shows the Sun’s position on the ecliptic throughout the year. Burritt drew all the maps and supervised their engravings. But although he drew them, he didn’t create them — he copied all the constellation figures from English astronomer Francis Wollaston’s A portraiture of the heavens, as they appear to the naked eye: constructed for the use of students in astronomy, which appeared in 1811. Later editions of the Atlas included an additional spread showing the relative sizes and distances of the Sun, Moon, and planets, along with many other solar system facts.Burritt also added material to the second (1835) and third (1836) editions of the textbook, but he died before further editions were printed. The next four editions (1841, 1844, 1846, and 1849) were reissues of the third edition. In 1852, American astronomer Hiram Mattison revised the Geography, and added two pages containing 80 drawings of double stars, comets, clusters, and nebulae to the Atlas. Mattison produced nine editions, the last one in 1876.
Price: 14 USD
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
End Time: 2025-02-10T01:27:55.000Z
Shipping Cost: 4.63 USD
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Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Binding: Hardcover
Language: English
Special Attributes: Illustrated
Topic: Atlases
Subject: Science & Medicine
