HERSCHEL, Caroline (1750-1848). Catalogue of Stars, taken from Mr. Flamsteed’s Observations contained in the second volume of the Historia Coelestis, and Not Inserted in the British Catalogue. London: Peter Elmsly, 1798.

First edition of an important astronomical work by Caroline Herschel. This publication was intended to be an index of the five or six hundred stars observed by John Flamsteed (1646-1719) in his work published in 1725, Historia Coelestis Britannica, which had escaped the notice of those who framed the British Catalogue. The introduction is by her brother, William Herschel, who points out that Caroline follows the same form in her star catalogue as he did in his catalogues of nebulae. Caroline had long been helping her brother record and organize his own findings, and in 1782 she further began to work her own telescope. In 1787 she was granted a salary as assistant to her brother, the royal astronomer. She is thought to be the first woman to earn income as a scientist. Her brother's marriage in 1788 freed her from domestic duties to William and she soon began the present work in earnest. Her importance to the field of astronomy was belatedly recognized in 1828 when she was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. The engraving at the end is a key to correlating Flamsteed's observations with Herschel's references in the index and is often lacking as it was intended to be excised and mounted on pasteboard for ease of use while making telescopic observations.

Folio (432 x 258mm). With errata leaf and engraved chart (soiling to first and last couple of leaves including title, occasional dust-soiling or finger smudges elsewhere, title and following leaf with repaired edge tears, scattered few other edge tears and tiny chips, pale browning). 19th-century cloth with seal of the Inner Temple library, rebacked and recornered in modern calf to style (front flyleaves detached). Provenance: Francis Maseres, 1731-1824, London solicitor and amateur mathematician (ownership signature on title dated 28 June 1800) – Inner Temple Library (supralibros; bookplate; inkstamps on title and elsewhere).