Historia Coelestis by John Flamsteed: Rare Book of the Week

This week's Rare Book of the Week is copy of the first Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed's Historia Coelestis which was bought by the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology in Texas at the Christie's auction earlier this year of astronomer Owen Gingerich's library.

In late April of 1716 at the Royal Observatory on Greenwich Hill in London, Flamsteed made a bonfire of 13,500 sheets of printed paper, the printed catalog of astronomical observations and positions made by Flamsteed and his assistants at the Observatory.

Flamsteed lit the fire, fueled by pages from the 1712 edition of Flamsteed’s Historia Coelestis which had appeared despite Flamsteed’s own objections. Edited by Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley, the book drew upon observations Flamsteed saw as erroneous and obtained under false pretenses. However, Newton and Halley arranged for 400 copies to be printed. About 60 complete copies of the book circulated in 1712, and one of those complete copies was acquired by the Linda Hall Library in 1965. 

In that 1716 fire, Flamsteed partially destroyed the sections of the book he objected to including Halley’s unsigned preface, the catalog of the fixed stars, and his observations made with his mural arc. However, with a handful of copies, he set aside the objectionable parts, intending to add his own corrections to the text. It was at the Christie's sale that the Library acquired one of those copies, joining the complete 1712 edition, the 1725 edition, and his 1729 Atlas Coelestis.
 
Of the roughly 60 copies of the 1712 edition extant, there are four known copies that he kept for his friends. The Library’s newly acquired copy is one of those four copies, comprised solely of the sections of the book to which Flamsteed objected. The other known incomplete copies are at the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum, the library of the Royal Astronomical Society, and the Greenwich Heritage Centre. These copies are similar, some with the inclusion or exclusion of engraved plates, but generally their contents are the same. The Linda Hall copy is the only one of this group with extensive annotations.

Those annotations are contemporary, only in the first 60 pages of the book, and are in two hands, those of Flamsteed himself, and of his colleague, Joseph Crothswait.  
    
The Linda Hall copy of the book is bound in blue paper over boards, with a modern calf spine. It has the binder’s ticket for the Green Dragon Bindery in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, who rebound the book for Gingerich. The book is now available to consult by appointment, and is also fully digitized in the Library’s catalog.

The Library’s Jason W. Dean is currently working with Emma-Louise Hill on a multi-essay project exploring existing complete and incomplete copies of the 1712 Historia Coelestis. The project will explore the copies’ survival rate and the bibliographical issues and states for the book. It will also explore how this copy can be used to better understand one of the most engaging conflicts in the early Royal Society.