Beschreibung:

2 Bll., 176 S. 7 gefalt. Kupfertafeln. 8°. Pp. der Zeit mit Rückenschild (bestoßen).

Bemerkung:

Erste deutsche Ausgabe des erstmals 1764 auf Englisch erschienenen Werks "An easy introduction to astronomy". - Houzeau-L. 8041. Wegehaupt II, 911. - James Ferguson (1710 - 1876) is known as the inventor and improver of astronomical and other scientific apparatus, as a striking instance of self education and as an itinerant lecturer" (Wikipedia Abruf vom 28.05.2021). "... Subsequently he settled at Inverness, where he drew up his Astronomical Rotula for showing the motions of the planets, places of the sun and moon, &c., and in 1743 went to London, which was his home for the rest of his life. He wrote various papers for the Royal Society, of which he became a fellow in 1763, devised astronomical and mechanical models, and in 1748 began to give public lectures on experimental philosophy. These he repeated in most of the principal towns in England. His deep interest in his subject, his clear explanations, his ingeniously constructed diagrams, and his mechanical apparatus rendered him one of the most successful of popular lecturers on scientific subjects. It is, however, as the inventor and improver of astronomical and other scientific apparatus, and as a striking instance of self-education, that he claims a place among the most remarkable men of science of his country" (Encyclopedia Britannica). "One of his most popular works, ?The Young Gentleman`s and Lady`s Astronomy, familiarly explained in Ten Dialogues between Neander and Eudosia,? was published in 1768. It is written with such clearness that, as Madame de Genlis remarked, ?a child of ten years old may understand it perfectly from one end to the other.? The interlocutors represent Ferguson himself and his gifted pupil Anne Emblin, afterwards the wife of Mr. Capel Lofft, who hence entitled his poem on the universe (1781) Eudosia" (Dictionary of National Biography). - Etw. gebräunt und fleckig. Titel mit Quetschfalte und minimaler Randläsur (ohne Verlust).