"The Practical Astronomer" 1845 by Thomas Dick
Thomas Dick was probably the most prolific writer of popular level astronomy books in the first half of the 1800's, and on account of that, his books are still widely available, usually at reasonable prices. Many of the prominent astronomers of the later 1800's credited Dick's books with sparking their interest in astronomy. Over the years, being a sort of nutcase amateur astronomer, I'd picked up an assortment of them, but generally only scanned them for interesting bits and pieces. A while back, I ran across the attached letter from him to his publisher of "The Practical Astronomer"... Nobody else wanted it, so it came cheap, and led me to read the book from cover to cover.
Dick was an active, serious observer, and gives descriptions of celestial objects that modern observers can appreciate, generally with a good dose of religious appreciation for God's works. In this book he also gives detailed descriptions of astronomical equipment, much of it now outdated and extinct. He was also a believer in life absolutely EVERYWHERE.
As might be indicated from his note, this book came out about four years later than he intended, but it worked out well, (at least for me,) because in 1845, he wound up adding an appendix with a detailed description of the Earl of Rosse's BRAND NEW Leviathan Telescope, with it's 6 foot speculum metal mirror. It would remain the largest telescope in the world until 1917.
