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Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
PINGRÉ, ALEXANDRE-GUY. Cométographie; ou, Traité Historique et Théorique des Comètes. 7 engraved plates. xii, 630, [2]; viii, 518 pages, including errata leaf at end of Volume 1. 2 volumes. 4to, 237x184 mm, contemporary tree sheep gilt, faint crack in Volume 2 spine; occasional toning and minor foxing, marginal dampstaining on opening leaves of Volume 1. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1783
first edition of Pingré's magnum opus. "This monumental work was divided into four parts, the first of which was a history of astronomy from Babylonian and Egyptian times, with particular reference to ideas about comets. The second part was a catalog of all comets observed since antiquity . . . The third section discussed cometary returns, theories about the nature of comets, and the physical effects likely to ensue from their close approach to the earth. The fourth part concerned cometary orbits and methods for computing them" (DSB). Brüning 1852; DSB X, 615.
