Johann Repsold, Zur Geschichte der astronomischen Messwerkzeuge von Purbach bis Reichenbach, 1450 bis 1830 WITH Zur Geschichte der astronomischen Messwerkzeuge, von 1830 bis um 1900.  Leipzig: Emmanuel Reinicke, 1908 & 1914.

Extremely rare folio first editions of BOTH volumes of Johann Repsold’s massive and lavishly-illustrated reference work on astronomical instruments and the history of astronomy.  The volumes were issued separately, Volume I in 1908 and Volume II in 1914; together they house 323 extraordinary plates.  Individual volumes are rare, complete sets nearly unheard of. With most existent volumes housed in institutional libraries, we could not locate any for sale on the Internet. 

Volume I is a detailed survey and analysis of the development of astronomy, including astronomers and instrument makers from the years 1450 to 1830.  Volume II surveys the bulk of 19^th century advancements, covering the years 1830 to 1900.

Among the astronomers and instrument makers surveyed in these two volumes are:  Ptolemy, Geber, Purbach, Regiomontan, Copernicus, Apian, von Hessen, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Scheiner, Galilei,  Hevel (Hevelius), Gascoigne, Picard, Auzout, Cassini I-IV, Romer, Flamsteed, Halley, Marinoni, Ramsden, Cary, Troughton, Reichenbach, Fraunhofer, J.G. Repsold, Ertel, Merz, Mahler, Pulkowa, Repsold & Sohne, Breithaupt, Starke, Pistor, Martins, Dad Mechanische Institut, Steinheil, Oertling, Meyerstein, Krille, Schroder, Nagel, Dollen-Brauer, Moller, Bramberg, Heyde, Fuess, Reichel, Pessler, Riefler, Jaederin, Gill, Gaultier, Wolf, Beck, Sterneck, Sterneck, Harzer, Hoppe, Troughton & Simms, Th. Jones, G. Dollond, Cary, Elliot, G.B. Airy, Ransome & May, Earl of Rosse, W. Spence, Nach Lassell, T. Cooke and Sons, Horace Darwin, Thomas Grubb, Howard Grubb, Gill, Browning, Gambey, Le Noir, Jecker, Silbermann, Arago, Foucault, Secretan, Eichens, Porro, Sechi, Salmoraghi, Brunner, Huetz, Jobin, Gautier, Talcott, Rogers, Roland, Alvan Clark & Sons, C.L Berger, Fauth & Co., Saegmuller, Warner & Swasey, Chandler, Fargis, Howe, Ritchey, Wadsworth, Perrine, and more.

Johann Adolf Repsold (1838-1919) was the son and grandson of two pioneering German scientific instrument makers.  Regarding the House of Repsold: “In all that relates to the mounting of telescopes or the construction of instruments intended for accurate measurements, in all that increases their convenience or adds to their efficiency, the firm of Repsold has won a world-wide reputation, and the book before us indicates in some measure the reason for this marked success. The head of the firm has been a keen and interested student of the history of past construction. For more than forty years…[the author] has been engaged in furthering the progress of instrumental construction, and in this time he has given close study to all that has effected the gradual development of this branch of engineering technique.  He has assimilated all that experience can teach, has learnt the strength and weakness of the work of past masters, and had profited by their example and attainments.  We now in our turn have the opportunity of benefiting fy the results of this close study, perfected by much examination and sifting, and in addition to tracing the evolution of modern instruments we get glimpses of the history of astronomy, viewed from a new and interesting standpoint.  Obviously, the connection between the progress of astronomical science and the improvement in instrumental equipment must be continuous and intimate, but how close the tie is can hardly be apprehended until we make a historical survey of the principles of instrument construction, on a plan which reveals the part played by successive makers, and makes us understand to what extent astronomy has been forwarded by their endeavors.

“Although the author limits his review from 1450, when Purbach strove to give expression to his mechanical ideas, to 1830, when Troughton in England and Gambey in France were representatives of the art of instrument making, the survey cannot be restricted to these precise dates.  At one end we listen to the description of the contrivances of Ptolemy, which served for models through so many centuries, and at the other we are permitted to see the beginnings of the famous house of Repsold, destined to influence the methods of future artists.

“…Frequent reproduction has made us somewhat familiar with the forms of the instruments used by Copernicus and Tycho, who with Hevel, may be regarded as the last representative of the pre-telescopic age.  But there, in addition to very complete illustration, we have from the pen of a competent authority a full technical description of those contrivances, accompanied by acute and illuminating remarks on the adequacy of the design to secure the end contemplated, the faults of the construction, and oftentimes the reason for the adoption of particular methods.  Down the stream of time this discriminating but generous criticism is pursued, necessarily affording a clearer insight into the difficulties and successes of individual artists.

“The introduction of the telescope offered a new set of problems for solution.  The continual increase in focal length compelled makers to abandon the sector form of instrument, such as the quadrant, and forced upon them the necessity of devising more appropriate means for measurement, though Halley and Bradley both used 8-feet quadrants.  The employment of complete circles and the designing of instruments of greater symmetry in their several parts were the consequence, and no one displayed more ingenuity or foresight than did Romer.  With justice, the author carefully discusses the work of this astronomer, whose claims to recognition have been very tardily admitted, mainly owning to Delambre’s jealous partisanship of Picard.  But Dr. Repsold has known how to do justice to the one without injury to the other” (“The Evolution of Astronomical Instruments”, Nature, Volume 77, No. 2001, pp. 409-410).

As said, Johann Repsold was the son and grandson of instrument makers. Johann Georg Repsold (1771-1830) established a small shop in Hamburg around 1799 and began making precision instruments for astronomy and geodesy. In 1831, shortly after Repsold's death, his sons Georg (1804-1885) and Adolf (1806-1871) began trading as A. & G. Repsold. In 1867, when Georg retired and Adolf's two sons joined the firm, the name was changed to A. Repsold & Sohne. In his 1882 price list of important astronomical instruments, Elias Loomis noted that "Astronomical instruments of the first class are made by several other manufacturers in Europe, particularly by A. Repsold and Son, of Hamburg, Germany; but the latter firm does not publish a catalogue, and it is necessary to make a special contract for such instruments as may be required." This problem notwithstanding, Repsold instruments were fairly well known in the United States. The Repsold firm came to an end in 1919.

“Johann Adolf Repsold’s own designs contributed significantly to the progress of contemporary astronomy.  In 1879 he invented a spring pendulum for regulating timing mechanisms in parallactic mountings, and in 1890 he devised a micrometer that eliminated subjective bias.  He also wrote important biographical and technical works on the history of astronomy” (Dictionary of Scientific Biography, XI, p. 378).

CONDITION & DETAILS

Folio. Volume I: 13 by 10 inches (325 x 250mm). [viii], 132 pages. 
The pagination is misleading because the 171 plates are not included in the page count.  Volume II: 13 by 10 inches (325 x 250mm).  [xiv], 2, [161 pages], 3.  Again, the pagination is misleading because it does not include this volume’s 152 plates. 

ILLUSTRATION: Volume I has 171 plates; Volume II, 152 plates. Included are both illustrations and photographs.  All are in near fine condition. In total, the set includes 323 plates.

BINDING: Newly and very handsomely rebound in half calf over marbled boards.  Black morocco, gilt-lettered spine labels.  The bindings are tight and solid.  Pristine.

INTERIOR:  New endpapers.  Volume I bears an ownership inscription on the title page.  It is difficult to make out, “Dr. Wolfgang (unreadable), 1944 Juli 24, (unreadable).”  Volume II has a very (very) small stamp reading “The Gaertner Scientific Corp’n, Chicago, Ill.” appears on the first, third and fourth pages. Bright and very clean throughout. Both volumes are in near fine condition in every way.