Author
James Hall Nasmyth (Scottish, 1808 - 1890)Scottish, 1808 - 1890
Artist
James Carpenter (British, 1840–1899)British, 1840–1899
CultureBritish
Titles
- The Moon: Considered As A Planet, A World, And A Satellite
Date1885
MediumBook with 25 woodburytypes, one lithograph
DimensionsOverall: 9 1/8 × 6 3/4 × 1 3/8 in. (23.2 × 17.1 × 3.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of Anne Wilkes Tucker
Object number2009.1172
Not on view
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Department
PhotographyObject Type
Nasmyth, a Scottish engineer and amateur astronomer, and James Carpenter, an
astronomer with the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, published The Moon, Considered as a Planet, a World,
and a Satellite. Because photography was not advanced enough to take
close-up photographs of the moon, Nasmyth built elaborate plaster models of his
observations of the moon and photographed those for the book. He photographed
the models in raking light to faithfully reproduce the effects of light and
shadow he had observed through his telescope.
ProvenanceAnne Wilkes Tucker, Houston; given to MFAH, 2009.
Exhibition History"The Moon: 'Houston, Tranquility Base Here. The Eagle Has Landed'," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, September 27, 2009–January 10, 2010.
"Shooting the Moon: Photographs from the Museum's Collection 50 Years after Apollo 11," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 20–September 2, 2019.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Printed on the title page:
THE MOON: // CONSIDERED AS // A PLANET, A WORLD, AND A SATELLITE. // By JAMES NASMYTH, C.E. // AND // JAMES CARPENTER, F.R.A.S. // LATE OF THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH. // WITH TWENTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIVE PLATES OF LUNAR OBJECTS, PHENOMENA, // AND SCENERY: NUMEROUS WOODCUTS, &c. // LONDON: // JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. // 1885
Printed on the following pages (see photocopies in accession file):
TO // HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ARGYLL, // IN RECONGNITION OF HIS LONG CONTINUED INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT // OF WHICH IT TREATS, // THIS VOLUME // ... // THE AUTHORS.
LONDON: // BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
LIST OF PLATES. // ... // GASSENDI . . . . . Frontispiece.... " I. thru XXIV. (titles of each plate - see photocopy in accession file)
THE MOON: // CONSIDERED AS // A PLANET, A WORLD, AND A SATELLITE. // By JAMES NASMYTH, C.E. // AND // JAMES CARPENTER, F.R.A.S. // LATE OF THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH. // WITH TWENTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIVE PLATES OF LUNAR OBJECTS, PHENOMENA, // AND SCENERY: NUMEROUS WOODCUTS, &c. // LONDON: // JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. // 1885
Printed on the following pages (see photocopies in accession file):
TO // HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ARGYLL, // IN RECONGNITION OF HIS LONG CONTINUED INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT // OF WHICH IT TREATS, // THIS VOLUME // ... // THE AUTHORS.
LONDON: // BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
LIST OF PLATES. // ... // GASSENDI . . . . . Frontispiece.... " I. thru XXIV. (titles of each plate - see photocopy in accession file)
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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