The Description and Use of the Globes, and the Orrery
To Which Is Prefixed, by Way of Introduction, a Brief Account of the Solar System

A popular 1731 introduction to the solar system, with instructions on the use of globes and orreries for astronomical calculation.

Joseph Harris (Author)

9781108080187, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 November 2014

218 pages, 7 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 1.3 cm, 0.28 kg

Born in rural Wales, to which he always felt a close connection, Joseph Harris (c.1704–64) moved to London in 1724, presenting the Astronomer Royal, Edmond Halley, with a testimonial of his mathematical ability. Harris then found work as an astronomer and teaching of navigation; his observations of magnetism and solar eclipses taken in Vera Cruz in 1726 and 1727 were relayed to the Royal Society by Halley. Harris' illustrated introduction to the solar system was originally printed for the instrument-maker Thomas Wright and the globe-maker Richard Cushee; it is here reissued in its 1731 first edition. Clearly describing the use of astronomical apparatus such as globes and orreries, it proved very popular, going through fourteen printings by 1793. Harris starts with an overview of the solar system and the fixed stars, and then shows how to solve astronomical problems using globes and orreries.

Part I. The Introduction: 1. Of the order, and periods of the primary planets revolving about the sun, and of the secondary planets round their respective primaries
2. Of the fixed stars
Part II. The Description and Use of the Celestial and Terrestrial Globes: 1. An explanation of the circles of the sphere, and of some astronomical terms arising therefrom
2. Geographical definitions
3. The use of the globes
Part III. The Description of the Orrery.

Subject Areas: Astronomy, space & time [PG]