FERGUSON, James (1710-76). Astronomy Explained upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles, London, 1790, large 8vo, engraved frontispiece and 17 folding plates, contemporary calf (worn). The Eighth edition.

FERGUSON, James (1710-76).  Astronomy Explained upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles, And made Easy to those who have not studied Mathematics. To which are added, a Plain Method of Finding the Distances of all the Planets from the Sun, by the Transit of Venus over the Sun's Disc, in the Year 1761. An Account of Mr. Horrox's Observation of the Transit of Venus in the Year 1639: and, of the Distances of all the Planets from the Sun, as deduced from Observations of the Transit of the Year 1761 ... The Eighth Edition. London: "Printed for J. F. and C. Rivington [and others]," 1790. Large 8vo (209 x 125mm). Folding engraved frontispiece of "The Orrery, made by James Ferguson", 17 folding engraved plates, tables (small pale blue stain to the frontispiece, 2 leaves bound out of sequence at the end [see note], some light mainly marginal spotting and staining). Contemporary calf (worn, joints split, parts torn away from the head of the spine, rubbed and scuffed). Provenance: Sigurd von Numers (modern bookplate, and signature on front free endpaper; please see note to lot 304); Humphrey Moore (old signature with pen flourishes on the front free endpaper). Two leaves from the front of the book are inexplicably misbound at the end: these comprise the one-page dedication to George, Earl of Macclesfield, with a page of publisher's advertisements for works by the same author on the verso, and the first leaf of the contents. "Ferguson's 'Astronomy explained on [sic] Sir Isaac Newton's Principles' was published in July 1756, and met with immediate and complete success ... Although containing no theoretical novelty, the manner and method of its expositions were entirely original. Astronomical phenomena were for the first time described in familiar language. The book formed Herschel's introduction to celestial science" (DNB). cf. Bibliotheca Chemico-Mathematica 1317 (citing the fifth edition of 1772); Gascoigne A Chronology of the History of Science 1450-1900 4556.