LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 October Rare Books & Manuscripts #675  / 

30940

Ames Almanack for 1759, printed pamphlet

Currency:USD Category:Antiques Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 500.00 USD
Ames Almanack for 1759, printed pamphlet
<B>Ames Almanack for 1759,</B></I> printed pamphlet (Boston: Printed and Sold by Draper, Green & Russell, & Fleet, 1759), 24 pages, 4" x 6.5". Ames's Almanack for 1759, picturing "the Path of the remarkable Comet expected this Year" (later called "Halley's Comet"). A 2.75" by 2.5" diagram of "The Solar System" on the cover page depicts six planets orbiting the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter & 4 Moons, and Saturn & 5 Moons and a comet. A letter from publisher Nathaniel Ames, dated September 15, 1758, on page two begins: "Kind Reader, I Here present you with my Thirty-fourth Almanack published. Although a Perhaps, with Justice, might always be added to what I say of the Weather, yet I have collected the best Rules that Experience has taught me in that Affair, from the Aspects and Configurations of the Planets: I am therefore constantly obliged to trace the rambling Moon, and wandering Planets, in all their intricate Paths, which costs me much Labour and hard Study...." Three pages are devoted to the Solar System with one full page describing comets. Ames also includes the orbit of "the Path of the remarkable Comet expected this Year". In 1705 English astronomer Edmond Halley (1656-1742) applying historical astronomy methods, published Synopsis Astronomia Cometicae, which stated his belief that the comet sightings of 1456, 1531, 1607, and 1682 related to the same comet, which he predicted would return in 1758. When it did it became generally known as Halley's Comet. Halley did not live to see the comet's return, having died in 1742. Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, more generally known as Halley's Comet after Edmond Halley, is a comet that can be seen every 75-76 years. It is the most famous of all periodic comets, even though in every century many comets appear brighter and more spectacular. Halley's comet last appeared in the inner Solar System in 1986, and will next appear in the summer of 2061. The pamphlet is in about good condition.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Flat Material, Small (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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