The Moon Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite

Nasmyth's wonderfully evocative representations of the lunar surface are the most realistic ever produced by earthbound observers. James Nasmyth was not only the inventor of the steam hammer, that great symbol of victorian engineering, but was also an enthusiastic astronomer. He built a series of increasingly powerful telescopes and won a prize medal at the Great Exhibition for his drawings of the lunar surface (he had inherited a talent for drawing from his father, the painter Alexander Nasmyth.) He then made models of the lunar surface, based on his observations and drawings and the prints in this book are from photographs of these models taken in bright sunlight. Besides the plates the book is important for the discussion of the origins of the moon's physical geography.