The larger-format issue of Rutherfurd's famous set of lunar photographs

RUTHERFURD, Lewis Morris.

Three views of the Moon, from New York, c. 1865-1870.

Manchester: Alfred Brothers, 1865.

1st Edition. No Binding. Very Good. Item #002617

Albumen prints mounted, (343 x 268 mm, 13.5 x 10.5 inch, on sheet 382 x 293 mm) unbound as issued. Printed & Published by Alfred Brothers of Manchester, [c. 1865-1870]. The photographs showing the full moon, about half ( illuminated on its left), and about half (illuminated on its right). Provenance: blind stamp in blank margin on recto of each sheet "Photo by L. M. Rutherford, Enl. by A. Brothers." ----

Ashworth, The face of the moon, Linda Hall 19; DSB XII, pp 36-7; Whitaker, Mapping and naming the moon 88d; Gernsheim, Incunabula 572 (for the reduced-size version) - Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, lawyer, American astronomer and pioneering astrophotographer, was regarded by his English colleague and admirer Richard Proctor as 'the greatest lunar photographer of the age'. Rutherfurd was among the first American astronomers to use photography in astrophysical research. For these large photographs which surpassed any photographs of the moon up to that time and for twenty years or so afterwards, Rutherfurd used a new 11.5-inch objective lens. In 1858, he built his garden observatory at his home at 11th Street and 2nd Avenue in New York, and spent the rest of his life working on astronomical photography and spectroscopy. Beside lunar photography, Rutherfurd produced outstanding photographs of the sun and planets, as well as star clusters and stars down to the fifth magnitude. He invented instruments for his studies, including the micrometer for measuring photographs, a machine for producing improved ruled diffraction gratings, and the first telescope designed specifically for astrophotography.These three photographs appeared in much reduced size in Proctor's popular work The Moon: her motions, aspect, scenery and physical condition (1873). The present series, however, was meant for astronomers and is quite rare. NUC lists a single copy with this imprint (Yale). - Visit our website to see more images!

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