The Acquisitions Table: The Spectroscope and Its Applications

Lockyer, J. Norman. The Spectroscope and Its Applications. London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1873.

529791_0001This manual on the spectroscope is part of Macmillan’s Nature Series and is bound in publisher’s brick red cloth with gilt and black stamped front cover. Pasted onto the title page is a colorful watercolor spectrum with the initials “J.B.L.” next to it. The frontispiece is a tri-fold colored plate of spectra and there are sixty figures in the text, many illustrating types of spectroscopes. The front pastedown endpaper has the signature of previous owner David Peck Todd (1855 – 1939). An American astronomer and director of the observatory at Amherst College, Todd was chief astronomer at the Lick Observatory during the transit of Venus in 1882 and created the first known photographs of the transit. Spectroscopic measurements helped confirm the theory of the existence of an atmosphere on Venus, which appeared as though surrounded by a halo of light.

Published by

Elizabeth Watts Pope

Curator of Books, American Antiquarian Society

One thought on “The Acquisitions Table: The Spectroscope and Its Applications”

  1. Elizabeth:

    John Crichton at Brick Row Book Shop recommended I get in touch with you with regard to a book I purchased recently from a bookseller. The book evidently was part of the AAS library some time ago, and my understanding is that in decades past, the AAS de-accessioned a number of books from its collection, so there are some books “out there” which have the AAS inkstamp on their opening page or so. In my case, the book I bought has the AAS stamp, but it is MISSING the title page and appears to be missing some final pages too. But I wanted to confirm whether yes, indeed the AAS did de-accession books in the past, and I’m guessing this might be one of them. The first page of the book (and I don’t know how many front matter pages are missing) is headlined “Liber Ad Emtores”, and that same page has the AAS inkstamp. The front blank endpaper has, in old handwriting, “50 Cents.” Would that be the price the AAS sold the book for when it was de-accessioned, assuming it was? Anyway, just wanted to verify that de-accessioning had taken place in the past. Thank you, Steve Miller

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