ASTRONOMY


Collection of nineteen letters and documents relating to the lives and work of astronomers John Goodricke, Nathaniel Pigott and his son Edward Pigott, including:(i) Two autograph letters from astronomer Anthony Shepherd to John Goodricke's father Henry, the first written following his attendance at a reading at the Royal Society by "Mr Herschel" on the variable star Algol ("Argol"), saying he is mystified he had not received John Goodricke's paper on the subject which "Sir Joseph said... should have been read first", and reassuring him that Mr Pigott "and the whole company present" were satisfied it was his discovery and not that of Herschel, a discovery which is "of more importance than you are aware of – Pray let your son have the honor due to him", 2pp, 4to, Newman Street, 6 May 1783; the second signed ("A. Shepherd"), writing on returning from the reading of Goodricke's paper to the Royal Society which was "received with universal approbation", sending his congratulations with those of Sir Joseph Banks and extending an invitation from the Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyn, to visit him at the Royal Observatory, 1 page, 4to, Newman Street, 15 May 1783(ii) Autograph letter signed ("Henry C. Englefield") to Nathaniel Pigott, asking him to persuade [Jesse] Ramsden to finish a portable barometer for him "as I am going to the North" together with a "small compass & a little achromatic", mentioning he could not see the Occultation of Venus for cloud, and that he has spoken to Magellan [the Portuguese agent of scientific instruments J.H. Magelhaens] about the pendulum, 3pp, 4to, integral address panel, Whiteknights, 14 July 1777(iii) Documents relating to the imprisonment of Edward Pigott at Fontainbleu as a prisoner of war, 1806; with passport for Edward Pigott 'Gentilhomme Anglais...Prisonier de Guerre', signed, giving permission to travel to England via Rotterdam, Paris, 7 July 1806; a group of documents relating to Nathaniel Pigott's membership of the Paris and Brussels Academies of Science, including his certificates of appointment (May 1773 and June 1776); and other papers including a manuscript plan of the Bastille, annotated with remarks about the accommodation of prisoners, tipped into pigskin-backed marbled boards, bookplate of Fairfax of Cameron (to whom the Pigotts were related), folio, 1777-1806
|'A DISCOVERY OF MORE IMPORTANCE THAN YOU ARE AWARE OF... PRAY LET YOUR SON HAVE THE HONOR DUE TO HIM': Goodricke, the young prodigy, takes the credit and the approbation of his peers for his work on variable stars, for which he was awarded the Copley Medal, and remains to this day its youngest recipient. Edward Pigott and John Goodricke, distant cousins and neighbours, worked closely together on the discovery of periodicity and variation of certain stars, their partnership ended by Goodricke's death in 1786 at the age of twenty-one, just two weeks after being elected to the Royal Society. Provenance: Bonhams, Papers & Portraits, The Roy Davids Collection Part II, 29 March 2011, lot 339.