1741 · Pari
by Le Monnier, Pierre Charles
Pari: Briasson, 1741. [10],xcii,368,[2]pp. plus seven plates. Quarto. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt, leather label. Extremities rubbed. Library ink stamp on titlepage and verso. Light foxing to first and last few leaves. Very good. Le Monnier (1715-99) - a professor at the College Royal and a member of the Royal Society, the Berlin Academy, and the Academie de la Marine - accompanied Clairaut and Maupertuis on the 1736 expedition to Lapland to measure a degree of an arc meridian. This work contains a general account of all the observations made at the Paris Observatory since its foundation in 1666. This observatory was one of the most important in Europe, and many of the observations collected here are among the most significant of the time. Two of the fine plates depict astronomical instruments, including a telescope constructed by George Graham
(Inventory #: WRCAM47303)