William Herschel (1738-1822) - photo 1
William Herschel (1738-1822) - photo 2
William Herschel (1738-1822) - photo 3
William Herschel (1738-1822) - photo 4
William Herschel (1738-1822) - photo 5
William Herschel (1738-1822) - photo 6

William Herschel (1738-1822)

Lot 351
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1109153
Lot 351 | William Herschel (1738-1822)
Estimate value
£ 1 800 – 2 500
William Herschel (1738-1822)
Two autograph letters signed (‘W Herschel’), Slough, 24 May 1795 and 16 September 1801
Two letters to unnamed recipients (’Gentlemen’ and ‘Sir’); with an autograph letter from Herschel’s grandson Alexander Stewart Herschel signed (‘ASH’) to Rev. John Challis, Collingwood, 15 February 1963. Seven pages total, various sizes, from 113 x 180mm. Provenance: Sotheby's, 31 March 1998, lot 203.

Announcing the completion of his telescope; another letter informing his correspondent that ‘I am at present engaged with Mr Piazzi’s star, and have laid out a series of observations which, if it has a planetary existence will in a short time bring it into my view’. The same letter – addressed only 'Sir' – concerns a passport application for Lieutenant General Komarzewski alongside observations on ‘Mr Piazzi’s star’: 'the place where it is expected to be is still too much involved in horizontal vapours to permit me to look for it’. The letter addressed ‘Gentlemen’ concerns the completion of the [Herschel] telescope, which is ‘quite finished and packed up. I shall endeavour to get it to come to you by the Windsor Waggon’, and expressing concern for the safe arrival of the instrument: ‘I shall be in town some day in the course of next week, will not fail to bring the box which contains the mirror; or if I cannot come myself will endeavour to send it by a careful person’. The letter from Alexander Stewart Herschel on Zodiacal Light which ‘was very bright tonight [...] from the Western horizon the Zodiacal Light shot upwards towards the south with very much the appearance of a second Milky Way’, incorporating a small sketch and concluding: ‘I will look out on clear nights during the week for a still better exhibition’.

Although not as prolific as his grandfather, Alexander Herschel achieved pioneering work in meteor spectroscopy.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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United Kingdom
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