Description

The astronomer John Lee (1783-66) inherited Hartwell House in Buckinghamshire in 1827. During its colourful history, the mansion had notably been occupied between 1809 and 1814 by the exiled court of Louis XVIII. Lee turned the house into something of a museum for his antiquarian and scientific interests, constructing an observatory to the design of the his close friend William Henry Smyth (1788-1865), after whom Lee named a lunar sea. A naval officer, Smyth had helped to found the Royal Geographical Society in 1830. His Sidereal Chromatics (1864) and The Sailor's Word-Book (1867) are also reissued in this series. This charming history and description of Hartwell, its grounds, buildings and contents, appeared in two volumes between 1851 and 1864, illuminating especially the practice of contemporary astronomy. Illustrated throughout, the second volume (1864) serves as a supplement, recording Smyth's researches in the years since the first volume went to press.