Geology, Astrolithology. James Reynolds Gregory (1832-1899),...

Hammer

£1,700

Geology, Astrolithology. James Reynolds Gregory (1832-1899), Mems on Meteorites, n.d. [?January 1869-79], [xi], 124pp, an index of geographical find locations followed by some manuscript, presumably in Gregory's autograph hand, and enclosing a collection of approx. 393 meteorite tickets/labels from former dealers or collectors, letterpress &/or manuscript, almost all annotated with the date and location of the meteor shower or collection from the field, occasionally illustrated in pencil &/or pen-and-ink; the first leaf with accounts of three 18th c meteor showers, 26th May, 1751, Hradschina (?sic) nr. Agram in Croatia, 7th September, 1753, Lompnas, Ain France, and 13th September, 1768, Luce Maine, Sarthe, France, each with a brief narrative account, the latter event with two tickets for a specimen, the first presumably contemporary 18th c, the other 19th c for the same specimen then in the collection/stock of B. Stürtz in Bonn; later leaves including, 15 manuscript tickets for material from James Sowerby (1757-1822), naturalist and mineralogist, 'No. 810, Meteorite, Benares, India, Dec:r 13/19 1798. Shower, inscribed J. Sowerby, and later inscribed W. ?Terry coll, the leaf to which its mounted with a 19th c breakdown of its chemical composition - presumably relating to that specimen, further Terry collection labels include material from other noted collections, including Heualand; various annotated Rimington collection labels; further labels of private collections, dealerships, and institutions, domestic British and World, including William Phillips (1773–1828), the British Museum, mounted on paginated leaves, occasionally including analysis, of specimens from showers in Great Britain, mainland Europe, but also North and Central America, the Indian subcontinent, Australia, etc., p. 81 illustrated with a sepia albumen print photograph of a meteor, contemporary second-half 19th c roan over marbled boards, roan spine perished, 4to; and a leaf mounted with a James R. Gregory, Mineralogist, &c. ticket for a meteoric iron specimen from Central Arabia, Spring 1865, and his engraved business card, the verso of which is inscribed: Meteoric Iron containing diamond, found in 1891 at Canon Diablo, Yavapai Co., Arizona, U.S.A. Weight 27,365 grams [...], (2) 

Some of Gregory's other manuscript meteor catalogues and manuscript notebooks sold at Christie's, Deep Impact: Martian, Lunar and Other Rare Meteorites, 3rd-10th May, 2017, lot 40.