WINTHROP, John (1714-1779). Two Lectures on Comets, Read in the Chapel of Harvard College, in Cambridge, New England, in April 1759. On Occasion of the Comet which appear'd in that Month... Boston: Green & Russell, 1759. 8o. (Lacking half-title.) Modern quarter calf. FIRST EDITION. Winthrop acts not just as an interested scientist, but as a prominent public intellectual, eager to calm the fears of his fellow Bostonians on the appearance of what came to be known as Halley's Comet. Evans 8522; Sabin 104857. -- Relation of a Voyage from Newfoundland, for the Observations of the Transit of Venus, June 6, 1761. Boston: Printed and sold by Edes and Gill, in Queen Street, 1761. 8o. 24 pages. Disbound; in a cloth folding case. Provenance: Rev. Dr. Wigglesworth (signature on title page). FIRST EDITION of Winthrop's account of his measurements of the 1761 transit of Venus. The last transit had not occurred since 1639 and scientists around the world readied themselves to monitor the event, from Winthrop and his two Harvard students at St. John's Newfoundland, to Mikhail Lomonosov in St. Petersburg, to Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason at the Cape of Good Hope. It was the first example of global scientific collaboration. Evans 9040; Sabin 104856. -- Two Lectures on the Parallax and Distance of the Sun as Deducible from the transit of Venus. Boston: Printed and sold by Edes & Gill in Queen Street, 1769. 8o. (Lacking half-title. F4 with 2 small holes repaired.) Modern half morocco. FIRST EDITION. Winthrop's two lectures, delivered on 1 March and 15 March 1769, as scientists around the world awaited the second--and last--transit of Venus to occur in their lifetime. Evans 11536; Sabin 104859. Together 3 volumes. (3)

Details

WINTHROP, John (1714-1779). Two Lectures on Comets, Read in the Chapel of Harvard College, in Cambridge, New England, in April 1759. On Occasion of the Comet which appear'd in that Month... Boston: Green & Russell, 1759. 8o. (Lacking half-title.) Modern quarter calf. FIRST EDITION. Winthrop acts not just as an interested scientist, but as a prominent public intellectual, eager to calm the fears of his fellow Bostonians on the appearance of what came to be known as Halley's Comet. Evans 8522; Sabin 104857. -- Relation of a Voyage from Newfoundland, for the Observations of the Transit of Venus, June 6, 1761. Boston: Printed and sold by Edes and Gill, in Queen Street, 1761. 8o. 24 pages. Disbound; in a cloth folding case. Provenance: Rev. Dr. Wigglesworth (signature on title page). FIRST EDITION of Winthrop's account of his measurements of the 1761 transit of Venus. The last transit had not occurred since 1639 and scientists around the world readied themselves to monitor the event, from Winthrop and his two Harvard students at St. John's Newfoundland, to Mikhail Lomonosov in St. Petersburg, to Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason at the Cape of Good Hope. It was the first example of global scientific collaboration. Evans 9040; Sabin 104856. -- Two Lectures on the Parallax and Distance of the Sun as Deducible from the transit of Venus. Boston: Printed and sold by Edes & Gill in Queen Street, 1769. 8o. (Lacking half-title. F4 with 2 small holes repaired.) Modern half morocco. FIRST EDITION. Winthrop's two lectures, delivered on 1 March and 15 March 1769, as scientists around the world awaited the second--and last--transit of Venus to occur in their lifetime. Evans 11536; Sabin 104859. Together 3 volumes. (3)

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