RABOURDIN, Louis (1858-1936). "Grande Télescope de Meudon," suite of 26 gelatin silver photographs, mounted to labeled cards.

A fine series of astronomical photographs, chiefly of nebulae, taken with the "Grand télescope" at the Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, between 1897 and 1910. Rabourdin, who was astronomer in residence at the observatory in Algiers between 1887 and 1891, was invited to Meudon by its director, Pierre Jules César Janssen, in 1897. It was through photographs such as these that Rabourdin classified the Dumb-bell nebula and the Ring nebula in Lyra as elliptical. "On comparing a number of photographs of these two objects he found that they have the same elliptical form, and that the stars enclosed in each are, generally speaking, similarly arranged. Consequently, he believes them to be objects which started with the same primal form, but have arrived at different stages in the order of their evolution. Several other well-known objects are placed by him in the same class, and he suggests that the nebulae generally may be of two general types only, viz. elliptical and spiral" ("The Dumb-bell Nebula," Nature LXXI, 1905, p 40).

27 photographs, all but one with labels mounted on card (average size of photos 170x125 mm, card mounts 240x180 mm), some of the mounts with circular stamp ‘Louis Rabourdin fecit’ on corner; printed labels have the observational details of each plate added in manuscript: name of object, right ascension, declination, length of exposure, date, etc. The 27th photograph is an unlabeled copy photo from a different series. (Some occasional faint spotting or silvering to photos; overall in very good condition). Original cloth-backed marbled board portfolio, ties (rubbed).