Scientist of the Day - Amédée Guillemin
Amédée Guillemin, a French science writer, was born July 5, 1826. Guillemin wrote a number of books on astronomy intended for the general public, such as Le ciel (1866), La lune (1868), and Le soleil (1873). The books were so popular in France that British publishers took notice, and nearly all of Guillemin's books appeared almost immediately in English translation. Above we reproduce images from Les cometes (1875) and its English version, The World of Comets (1877), and one can see at once why Guillemin's books were so appealing, with their wood engravings and handsome colored lithographs. The first three images are from the French edition and depict, in order, Donati's comet over Paris in 1858; the Great comet of 1843; and Cheseaux's comet of 1744. The next three images shows the cover of the English edition, with Donati's comet stamped in gold on the blue cloth; Cheseaux’s comet again, in its English version; and a beautiful mezzotint that does not appear in the French edition, depicting the Great comet of 1861.
Both volumes are large, thick quartos containing hundreds of additional text wood engravings, and we are happy to have them in our History of Science collection, along with 9 other works (including translations) by Guillemin.
Dr. William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw@umkc.edu.
