ASTRONOMY EXPLAINED UPON SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S PRINCIPLES, and made easy to those who have not studied MATHEMATICS. by FERGUSON, James.: - 1764

London, printed for A. Millar, 1764.. To which are added, a Plain Method of finding the Distances of all the Planets from the Sun, by the Transit of Venus over the Sun's Disc, in the year 1761. An Account of Mr. Horrox's Observations of the Transit of Venus in the year 1639: And, of the Distances of all the Planets from the Sun, as deduced from Observations of the Transit in the Year 1761. THIRD EDITION 1764. 4vo, approximately 255 x 210 mm, 10 x 8¼ inches, folding engraved frontispiece of Ferguson's famous orrery, 17 large folding engraved plates, complete, pages: (8), 1-354, (10) - index, bound in full old calf, double ruled gilt border to covers, rebacked to style, raised bands and gilt rules, original slightly chipped gilt lettered red morocco label, all edges red. A few small scrapes to covers, corners slightly worn with tips rounded, engraved armorial bookplate of Lady Frances Scott (Douglas) (17501817) and the town Petersham in old ink (where she took up residence in 1779), on front pastedown, some faint offsetting from plates onto facing text, minute worm track in outer margin of frontispiece, 2, 3 and 4 tiny wormholes in fore-edge margin from front endpaper to page 81, including plate margins, from there to the end persisting as 1 minute hole, another tiny worm track in lower margin of page 123 and adjacent plate VII, contents very clean. A very good sturdy copy. Ferguson's work was first published in 1756 and was an immediate success, going through 13 editions by 1811. "Ferguson (1710-1776), an original scientist of considerable talent, here makes one of the earliest and most successful attempts to explain Newtonian ideas in popular terms", Babson, Catalogue of the Works of Sir Isaac Newton, page 31, No. 58. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE, FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.