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The Science Observer. 1877 to 1881. Volume I–III.
The Science Observer. 1877 to 1881. Volume I–III.
The Science Observer. 1877 to 1881. Volume I–III.
The Science Observer. 1877 to 1881. Volume I–III.

The Science Observer. 1877 to 1881. Volume I–III.

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First three volumes, complete, of this monthly journal for amateur scientists published by the Boston Amateur Scientific Society, later the Boston Scientific Society.

The contents are devoted to astronomy and meteorology: comets and meteors and planetary and stellar observations. Each volume is separately indexed and there is some notice of local natural history societies and observatories. Includes the Constitution of the Boston Scientific Society.

Editor John Ritchie, Jr. was an authority on the orbits of comets and a proponent of the systematic search for comets. To facilitate the transmission of astronomical data by telegraph he and his colleague, Seth Carlo Chandler, Jr., proposed a number code system called the Science Observer Code. Their article reporting on five ocean tests of the system, “On the Telegraphic Transmission of Astronomical Data,” is found here in Volume III, Nos-9–10. The two men later worked closely with the Smithsonian and the Harvard College Observatory to promote the international exchange of astronomical information.

Very scarce to commerce.

Description: The Science Observer. 1877 to 1881. Volume I–III.

Boston: Boston Amateur Scientific Society, June 1877 – March 31, 1882. Three volumes in one. 84pp; 96pp; and 107pp. Modestly illustrated. Half sheep with marbled boards. Deaccessioned from the Observatory at Haverford College with their nineteenth-century bookplate and various library markings. Loss to head of very-rubbed spine and edges of corners of both boards. Tight and sound and with clean contents.

 [3731716]

Ref. The Science Observer Code (Boston, 1888), p[1].

Price: $450.00

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