STAR-LAND: Being Talks with Young People About the Wonder of the Heavens By Sir Robert Stawell Ball, F.R.S.Boston: Ginn & Company, 1899. Second, revised edition. 402 pages, 7.5"x5". Silver lettering to cover and spine, and a silver Jupiter with moons and orbit track on cover. Pebbled dark blue cloth has a little wear to tips, bump at tail, and very slight spine roll. Well bound and text very clean, many delightful illustrations. An exceptionally nice copy, of a book usually found in quite worn condition. This book consists of six "lectures" which Ball originally gave in 1881 and again in 1887. It was a tradition at the time for the Royal Institution of Great Britain to sponsor a series of lectures during the Christmas holidays specifically for young people. Ball gave talks on the sun, the moon, the inner planets, the giant planets, comets and shooting stars, and the stars. Along the way he answers many questions that children might have, such as how we know the sun is hot, why distant things look small, how to draw the solar system, etc. One can tell that Ball worked hard to make the lectures interesting to young people, using everyday things and situations for comparisons and bringing in little stories -- the result is a book that is still very enjoyable to read, supplemented by many good illustrations. Particularly interesting in that it gives a lot of insight not only into astronomy but the everyday life of the late Victorian period. Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1840-1913) was Irish Astronomer-Royal in 1874 and knighted in 1886. He was also Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at Cambridge University, and discovered a number of spiral nebulae (galaxies) using Lord Rosse's Leviathan telescope. His other best-known book, "Story of the Heavens" was immensely popular as an introduction to astronomy for the English public (and was mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses). Category: Science & Nature