SECCHI, Pietro Angeli (1818-78). Le Soleil.

SECCHI, Pietro Angeli (1818-78).  Le Soleil. Exposé des Principales Découvertes Modernes sur la Structure de cet Astre, son Influence dans l’ Univers et ses Relations avec les Autres Corpes Célestes. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1870. Large 8vo (204 x 135mm). Half title, illustrations, diagrams and tables, 3 folding plates at the end, including 2 of coloured spectrums (some spotting and staining, more pronounced to the first few leaves and plates). Contemporary leatherette-backed marbled paper boards (rubbed). Provenance: from the Collection of Peter and Margarethe Braune. FIRST EDITION of one of the most important 19^th-century treatises on the sun. The author, an Italian Catholic priest, was a pioneer in astronomical spectroscopy and was one of the first scientists to state authoritatively that the Sun is a star. Poggendorff II, 884-885; Sommervogel-De Backer VI, 993-1039.