Royal Observatory Greenwich: A History in Objects - Louise Devoy *****

Even as someone who rarely gets on with 'bitty' books, I was captivated by this collection of articles based primarily on objects in or relating to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. After some introductory material introducing the observatory, the Astronomers Royal and the search for means to identify longitude that was instrumental in the setting up of the Royal Observatory in the 1670s, Louise Devoy splits her history across the first ten Astronomers Royal, taking the reader from 1675 to 1955.

Each of these sections starts with a pen sketch of the relevant astronomer, from nazmes likely to be known by popular astronomy readers such as Flamsteed and Halley to the more obscure Pond and Spencer Jones. We then get an illustrated guide to a host of objects that are located in the observatory, picture it, or are relevant to it, such as the magnificent-looking Longitude Act of 1714.

Inevitably some of the objects are more interesting than others, so, for instance, I couldn't get too excited about a 'chart of the Southern Celestial Hemisphere' produced by Edmond Halley and James Clerk in 1678 - it's an important star chart for the period, but visually somewhat dull. Many of the objects, though, were genuinely intriguing. Randomly, I'd pick out Flamsteed's hefty 7 foot sextant (sadly a drawing rather than the object itself), Harrison's H1 chronometer, Caroline Herschel's dress and bonnet, the Airy Transit Circle and the delightful example of ephemera in an 1890ish 'Greetings from Greenwich' postcard, sent in 1907 by 'a young girl called Maud... to convey birthday wishes to her cousin Winnie in Portsmouth.'

Greenwich has always been associated with time, not just in pinning down longitude, but as the home of the Greenwich meridian (hence GMT) and the famous time ball, first installed in 1833, which drops at 1pm each day. Not surprisingly, then, there are quite a few entries for clocks and a general introduction to how mechanical clocks work, alongside a number of other 'in focus' articles, such as one looking at 'the age of magnetism' and Greenwich's role in investigating variations in the Earth's magnetic field.

This is physically a very handsome book (priced accordingly), though it's a shame the pages are matte rather than glossy, making the illustrations look less striking than they could have done. Nonetheless, they are high enough quality to work effectively. I still struggle a little to know how to read a book like this that sits part way between a text-based history of science and a coffee table book. I did work through it end to end, but I think it is more like to be enjoyed by dipping in now and again - though the text is too detailed not to appreciate it carefully. I was concerned when I first saw it that it might be the kind of vanity project institutions like to publish about themselves, but thankfully it is far more than that.

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here