BLUNT, Charles F. (fl.1811-45). The Beauty of the Heavens, London, 1845, 4to, 104 FINE coloured aquatint and chromolithographed plates by Charles Blunt, contemporary burgundy half morocco gilt.

BLUNT, Charles F. (fl.1811-45).  The Beauty of the Heavens. A Pictorial Display of the Astronomical Phenomena of the Universe. Exhibited in One Hundred and Four Scenes, Accompanying and Illustrating A Familiar Lecture on Astronomy. From Original Drawings, Paintings, and Observatory Studies [by Charles F. Blunt]. London: David Bogue, 1845. 4to (200 x 160mm). 104 FINE coloured aquatint and chromolithographed plates by Charles F. Blunt, plate 104 bound as a frontispiece (without a half title [?as issued], a few plates bound out of sequence, but all present, some light spotting, staining and browning, the plates lightly offset onto the text). Contemporary burgundy half morocco gilt, spine gilt in compartments, marbled edges and endpapers (covers and extremities rubbed, patch of wear to upper cover, inner hinges broken). Provenance: Sigurd von Numers (modern signature on the front free endpaper; please see note to lot 304); "Fanny Bowyer - The gift of her dear Mother - Brighton" (old inscription on the front free endpaper). "The Illustrations form the miniature scenery of a public exhibition, such as is occasionally witnessed in lecture-rooms; the text presenting the substance, the order, and the actual delivery of what becomes, in the present instance, a family astronomical letter. The prominent features of the present Work are, the novelty and simplicity of the plan, and the elegance of its execution. With its aid a family need not henceforth quit their own parlour, or drawing-room fireside, to enjoy the 'sublime beauty of the heavens'; but, within their domestic circle, may, without any previous acquirements in Astronomy, become their own instructors in a knowledge of its great and leading truths and phenomena. The Lecture may be read aloud by a parent, teacher, or any member of a party, the Scenes being exhibited, at the same time, in the numerical succession corresponding to their order of description. It would be impossible to devise a more rational, or, to a well-regulated mind, a more cheerful mode of passing an evening ..." (from the Introduction). This work of popular astronomy was first issued as a set of 104 pictorial cards with an accompanying booklet of lectures numbered accordingly; a "New Edition", in book form, is recorded in 1842, printed by "Tilt and Bogue", but no edition is stated in the present copy of 1845, which is sometimes mistaken for the first. The plates range from planetary, stellar and astrological diagrams to striking celestial, atmospheric and climatic phenomena set in various picturesque landscapes across the world, sometimes reminiscent, with their rainbows and bursts of light, of Turner. The brief lectures that accompany them are direct and free of scientific jargon, intended, as the Introduction makes clear, for a family audience. Little is known of the author: the title page describes him as "Lecturer on Astronomy and Natural Philosophy: Author of 'The Wonders of the Telescope,' an 'Elementary Lecture on Astronomy,' &c. &c."