[UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL AND ALBUM OF ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS RECORDING THE VOYAGE OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY AND BRITISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION FROM LONDON TO VADSO, NORWAY, TO VIEW AND STUDY THE 1896 SOLAR ECLIPSE]

[Arctic Photographica]: [Holden, Lawrence Neville]

Verlag: [Various locations on board the steamer Norse King, especially in Vadso, Norway, 1896

Manuscript journal written in purple pencil, [117]pp. (approximately 11,000 words), plus two stamps and three pressed flowers. Accompanied by an album of 257 original photographs of the expedition, each measuring approximately 3 x 3 3/4 inches and each with manuscript caption. Five photographic prints, each 4 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches, loosely laid in. Journal: 12mo. Contemporary limp patterned cloth. Spine a bit rubbed, light occasional tanning and foxing. Photo album: Oblong quarto. Original three-quarter black morocco and pebbled green cloth, spine and corners gilt. Some photographs a bit faded, a few with old fingerprints, generally crisp and clean. Very good altogether. In matching custom grey morocco and cloth clamshell cases with gilt leather labels. An unpublished manuscript journal recording the entirety of a steamship voyage by members of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and British Astronomical Association (BAA) to observe the 1896 solar eclipse from Vadso, Norway, accompanied by an album of original photographs taken by the keeper of the journal and his shipmates along the way. This is a significant and little-studied record in text and images of a late 19th century scientific expedition above the Arctic Circle, with much commentary on the people and topography of the region, as well as those who participated in the expedition. The 1896 excursion to Vadso on board the steam ship, Norse King, was the inaugural expedition for British Astronomical Association members organized by Edward Maunder, one of the BAA's founders and first presidents. The success of this trip, and the publicity it brought to the Association, encouraged Maunder to plan expeditions to India in 1898 and to Portugal, Spain, and Algeria in 1900. Maunder edited and published books recounting both of these later excursions, but no full published account of the first expedition to Vadso, documented in this journal and photograph album, exists. Despite not being presented in an official publication, the Norway eclipse expedition became well-known at the time. It was the subject of many contemporary newspaper articles, was reported on in the MEMOIRS OF THE BRITISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION for 1896, and was celebrated with a commemorative photo album (very different from the album present here) the following March. A brief summary taken from another passenger's journals was printed more recently in the JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION, in 1991. The author of this journal and compiler of the photo album was likely Lawrence Neville Holden (d.1940). Holden was coroner for Lancaster district for many decades as well as an avid, lifelong amateur scientist. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1890, where he maintained a particular interest in the Aurora Borealis and other meteorological phenomena, and was a founder of the Lancaster Astronomical and Scientific Society. The cruise of the Norse King to Vadso was meant as much for entertainment as for science, and Holden records the ins and outs of his daily amusements and interactions on the ship with candor and charm. Joining Holden and his charming but otherwise unidentified friend "Frank" on the Norse King were a wide cast of characters, including Edward Maunder and his wife, previous BAA president Arthur Downing, former Royal Astronomer of Ireland and famous mathematician, Sir Robert Ball, (who delivered lectures on board which began "very poor as far as astronomy went & even his jokes were rather feeble," but later became a cherished source of entertainment and education), the Bishop of Brechin (also Scottish Primus, and who Holden notes did not consistently attend Sunday services in the galley), French astronomer Andrew Crommelin, and a menagerie of other members of Britain's scientifically inquisitive high society. Despite complaints about the food, the weather, and the twenty-four hours of sunlight streaming in through the portholes, the attendees enjoyed a fantastical. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers WRCAM62861

Bibliografische Details

Titel: [UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL AND ALBUM OF...
Verlag: [Various locations on board the steamer Norse King, especially in Vadso, Norway
Erscheinungsdatum: 1896