The astronomer John Lee (1783 66) inherited Hartwell House in
Buckinghamshire in 1827. During its colourful history, the mansion
had notably been occupied between 1809 and 1814 by the exiled court
of Louis XVIII. Lee turned the house into something of a museum for
his antiquarian and scientific interests, constructing an
observatory to the design of the his close friend William Henry
Smyth (1788 1865), after whom Lee named a lunar sea. A naval
officer, Smyth had helped to found the Royal Geographical Society
in 1830. His Sidereal Chromatics (1864) and The Sailor's Word-Book
(1867) are also reissued in this series. This charming history and
description of Hartwell, its grounds, buildings and contents,
appeared in two volumes between 1851 and 1864, illuminating
especially the practice of contemporary astronomy. Illustrated
throughout, the second volume (1864) serves as a supplement,
recording Smyth's researches in the years since the first volume
went to press."
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