This fascinating selenology was created by James Nasmyth in collaboration with James Carpenter and features 26 plates depicting the moon, including 25 Woodburytypes and one tinted plate. Patented in 1864 by English inventor and photographer Walter Bentley Woodbury, the woodburytype photomechanical reproduction process became widely used in fine book illustration in the latter part of the 19th century as the only commercially successful method of replicating the details of a photograph. Nasmyth was a British engineer and passionate amateur astronomer who spent several decades making observations of the moon. The images included in this work are based on Wilhelm Beer and Johann Heinrich Mädler's 1834 map of the moon, updated based on Nasmyth and Carpenter's observations and enhanced to reflect the topography of the surface of the moon. Nasmyth was intent on creating images that better reflected how the moon looked through a telescope; however, astrophotography was not yet advanced enough at the time to capture crisp, detailed images through a telescope. Nasmyth resolved this issue by creating plaster-of-Paris models of certain regions of the moon, placing them in front of black backgrounds, and then photographing them with light illuminating them to mimic the sun. The result was realistic-looking photos that portrayed the surface of the moon in great detail, albeit with slightly exaggerated features.

This is the third edition in octavo format; the first two editions were both published in 1874 in quarto format. Despite being a slightly smaller format, the third edition includes more Woodburytypes than the prior two. Octavo; title page; dedication; preface (vii-x); table of contents; list of plates; 213 pp.; 26 plates. Hardbound in contemporary blue cloth covers; black and silver embossed lunar craters on front cover; gilt titling on spine.

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Condition: A

There is minor edge toning on the plates and Plate III is nearly detached. The covers have bumped corners and shelfwear along the bottom edge.