Catalogue of the Crawford Library of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh.

Edinburgh:: Published by Authority of Her Majesty's Government, 1890., 1890. Tall 4to. viii., 497, [3] pp. Contemporary full brick-red gilt-stamped cloth; title-page punctured and torn as a result, with the verso put together with cellophane tape. Ownership embossed stamp of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Mount Wilson Observatory. Very good copy (begging pardon for the titlepage condition, though rendered good for most any use). 2 volumes: CATALOGUE OF THE CRAWFORD LIBRARY OF THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, EDINBURGH. The first catalogue of the complete Crawford Library collection which incorporated the Library of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, one of the greatest of all collections in the history of science. With the SUPPLEMENT issued in 1977. (112 pp.). / This vast and rich astronomical book collection was maintained by the Library of Dun Echt Observatory (19872-1888), then presented by Scottish astronomer James Ludovic [Lindsay], the 26th Earl of Crawford, to the Edinburgh Royal Observatory. The preface was contributed by Lord Ralph Copeland FRSE FRAS (1837-1905), the third Astronomer Royal for Scotland. / "The Crawford Collection of books and manuscripts at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, one of the most extensive and valuable astronomical libraries in the world, was the gift of James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (formerly Lord Lindsay) in 1888. Lindsay was a distinguished amateur astronomer who set up a private observatory on the family's country estate at Dun Echt, Aberdeenshire, in the north of Scotland, in 1872 . . . Dun Echt Observatory flourished for almost twenty years but, in 1888, on learning that Scotland's modest Royal Observatory, Calton Hill, in the centre of Edinburgh was under threat of closure Lindsay, now 26th Earl of Crawford, saved the day by magnanimously donating the entire contents of his observatory including its by now priceless library to the nation. The whole was housed in a new Royal Observatory building, completed in 1896, which remains the home of Edinburgh astronomy with Edinburgh University's Institute for Astronomy and, the United Kingdom Astronomy Technology Centre." – Crawford collection at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh (online). (Inventory #: S14308)