Malcolm, a volunteer, often shows me interesting items that he finds whilst cataloguing collections. This time it is an exquisite box filled with cards showing heavenly constellations! Tucked inside with the cards are a couple of inscriptions about a few of the cards…
Orion – A handsome giant hunter of whose adventures and death there are various accounts; he was eventually placed in the heavens with belt and sword as the constellation of Orion, the rising and setting of which was believed to be attended with storms and rain.
…and a letter and reply to the Royal Greenwich Observatory in 1951:
Letter written September 1st, 1951 from J. R. Harrison, Esq of “Homeside”, 11, Wellclose Terrace, West Cliff, Whitby, Yorkshire to H. Spencer jones, Astronomer Royal, Royal Greenwich Observatory, Herstmonceux Castle, Sussex.
Dear Sir,
At a meeting of the Library Executive Committee of the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society, yesterday, Miss M. Keighley, a fellow member brought in 25 coloured drawings on card of heavenly constellations. The drawings are 73/4 inches by 51/2 inches. They are signed “Sidy. Hall, sculpt” and may have belonged to a series. The positions and magnitude of the stars in their relation to the figures are shown on the drawings, and when the cards are held against the light the cards are seen to be pierced through the stars. Would you be kind enough to inform us whether these are merely a curiosity or have been used by pupils in their study of astronomy?
Of course, we understand that this is a matter quite outside the use of stars in navigation.
Reply: September 12th, 1951 from H. Spencer Jones to J. R. Harrison, Esq.
Dear Sir,
In reply to your letter of the 1st September, I cannot suggest for what purpose the drawings of the heavenly Constellations to which you refer were made. They may possibly have been used, as you suggest, for instructional purposes in the study of astronomy, but on the other hand they may have been made by someone with an interest in astronomy merely for his own use.
Sidney Hall was a London based British Engraver and Cartographer in the early nineteenth century; engraving maps of the United Kingdom and the ancient world. These 25 cards in our collection are part of a boxed set called Urania’s Mirror which actually should contain 32 cards and was published c.1825. Hall died in 1831 aged 42 and his widow, Selina, continued the business until 1853.
If you are interested in looking at this colourful collection of constellations cards, please contact library@whitbymuseum.org.uk.
By Claire Marris
Archive Development Officer
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