Description
Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Publishing, 2006. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Like new (Removed from shrink-wrap for cataloguing.. The format is approximately 9.25 inches by 11.5 inches. Two-Volume Set. Volume One A-K, [2]viii, [2], 1-512, [1] pages. Volume Two L-Z, [4], 513-1048 pages. No dust jackets present. While primarily in English, this work contains bibliographic information in the major European languages and a few others. These printed catalogues and lists represent 53 separate alphabetical lists and about 4,500 chronological groups were were transcribed by hand and realphatetized and reordered by date into this single alphabetical author and chronological title compilation. About 15,000 separate titles are recorded here, represented the work of about 4,000 authors spanning the period from about 1450 through about 1940 and printed in all the major and some minor European languages. The original catalogues and lists include a few titles in Greek, but they did not include any titles in Asian languages, Hebrew, Cyrillic or other non-European orthographies. As a literal transcription of a series of catalogues and lists of a single library, the final product retains all the archaic, idiosyncratic and out of date elements of the original, as well as all the advantages and disadvantages of library catalogues in general and this highly regarded one in particular. This catalogue gives a reasonably accurate picture of what the collection looked like from about 1822 to 1940. It revels what the librarians (themselves all active RAS members and astronomers) at the society thought the membership need to know about its holdings. The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science.[2] Its headquarters are in Burlington House, on Piccadilly in London. The society has over 4,000 members, known as fellows, most of whom are professional researchers or postgraduate students. Around a quarter of Fellows live outside the UK. The society holds monthly scientific meetings in London, and the annual National Astronomy Meeting at varying locations in the British Isles. The RAS publishes the scientific journals Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Geophysical Journal International and RAS Techniques and Instruments, along with the trade magazine Astronomy & Geophysics. The RAS maintains an astronomy research library, engages in public outreach and advises the UK government on astronomy education. The society recognizes achievement in astronomy and geophysics by issuing annual awards and prizes, with its highest award being the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. The RAS is the UK adhering organization to the International Astronomical Union and a member of the UK Science Council. The society was founded in 1820 as the Astronomical Society of London to support astronomical research. At that time, most members were 'gentleman astronomers' rather than professionals. It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving a Royal Charter from William IV. Between 1835 and 1916 women were not allowed to become fellows, but Anne Sheepshanks, Lady Margaret Lindsay Huggins, Agnes Clerke, Annie Jump Cannon and Williamina Fleming were made honorary members. In 1886 Isis Pogson was the first woman to attempt election as a fellow of the RAS, being nominated (unsuccessfully) by her father and two other fellows. All fellows had been male up to this time and her nomination was withdrawn when lawyers claimed that under the provisions of the society's royal charter, fellows were only referred to as he and as such had to be men. A Supplemental Charter in 1915 opened up fellowship to women. On 14 January 1916, Mary Adela Blagg, Ella K Church, A Grace Cook, Irene Elizabeth Toye Warner and Fiammetta Wilson were the first five women to be elected to Fellowship. One of the major activities of the RAS is publishing refereed journals. It publishes three primary research journals: the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society for topics in astronomy; the Geophysical Journal International for topics in geophysics (in association with the Deutsche Geophysikalische Gesellschaft); and RAS Techniques & Instruments for research methods in those disciplines. The society also publishes a trade magazine for members, Astronomy & Geophysics. The Royal Astronomical Society has a more comprehensive collection of books and journals in astronomy and geophysics than the libraries of most universities and research institutions. The library receives some 300 current periodicals in astronomy and geophysics and contains more than 10,000 books from popular level to conference proceedings. Its collection of astronomical rare books is second only to that of the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh in the UK. The RAS library is a major resource not just for the society but also the wider community of astronomers, geophysicists, and historians. The Royal Astronomical Society has been collecting books and manuscripts since it was established in 1820. It now has a core collection of 4300 rare books, purchased or donated by Fellows. The 1922 bequest of the astronomer and soldier Colonel Edmond Grove-Hills is one of the most valuable donations: more than 500 books dating from 1472 to 1700. The collection includes 36 incunables, books printed in Europe before 1501 in the earliest days of the printing press. The incunables in the Grove-Hills collection represent an interweaving of knowledge and skill spanning centuries: the learning of the classical and medieval scholars whose works were transmitted in manuscript and then in print. They include examples of innovations in scientific publishing - multicolored figures and paper instruments - that made these volumes the cutting-edge scientific tools of their day. Now they provide a window into 15th-century scientific thought that is valuable for outreach as well as research.
