A short list of heavenly items inspired by the Great Eclipse of 2024.
Newport [RI]: Printed by Solomon Southwick. 1774. 6 3/4 x 4 1/4. The title cut of this barely pre-Revolutionary War almanac is an elaborate woodcut of an astronomer seated behind a globe and looking through a telescope as two fanciful creatures fill the night sky. As if looking into the..... More
Boston: Printed and sold by John W. Folsom, No. 10, Union-Street. Prolific Boston printer, publisher and bookseller John Folsom issued this almanac for just this one year. This is the second edition of the almanac which O’Neal describes as “very scarce.” O’Neal speculates that the Osgood Carleton was the primary..... More
Boston: Gray and Bowen. Map dimensions: 8 ½ x 8.”. The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge was a Boston-based almanac published for the years from 1830 through 1862. Sabin describes it as “a compendious annual register… well worthy of being preserved as a book of reference.” This is..... More
Springfield, Mass: Art Photo Company [manufacturer]. 1932. 3 ½ x 5 ¼.”. An early eclipse-viewing apparatus on the occasion of the August 31, 1932 eclipse of the sun which crossed New England. The cardboard viewer has eye holes covered by a “Non-inflammable Filter.” The printed envelope for the “scope” features..... More
